Interesting Read: Milwaukee Brewers: How this offseason could be trouble for them

[Matty V]

Fansided reflects the bad side of the new media. It has a professional look but clearly many/most/all of the articles are written by amateurs.

 

Sometimes I'll be researching a topic and click a Fansided article without thinking about it. Nearly every time I get about three sentences in and ask myself, "who wrote this?" Then I scroll up and see it's another Fansided article.

[clancyphile]

I haven't minded any of the moves Stearns has made individually. They have all made enough sense to kinda shrug and hope for the best as there hasn't been a lot of downside to any of them. However, I was/am hoping that we could make some trades to pick up more guys like Urias and Lauer rather than filling the roster with 1 or 2 yr FAs. We need to get younger cost controlled players to really build something solid to win consistently year after year.

 

Urias happened because we got a "sell high" point on Grisham who exploded.

Lauer's control took a very solid dependable 2 years of Davies.

Narvaez took the comp pick and Hill.

 

You don't get a lot of shots to pull those moves. DS hit multiples in one off season. He hits 3 every year on top of the draft and it's going to go a very long way.

 

I also think the farm is much more interesting that MKE's farm rank points out. MKE has raced guys to the majors. Hiura, Peralta, Burnes and Grisham (Urias) could still be in the farm if MKE wasn't as aggressive as they are at moving up guys who are succeeding. You look back on recent drafts and how some of the advanced age arms are producing and you realize there could be a few guys in MKE or knocking on the door by years end. Most don't profile as top 2 options but 3s through 5s galore. They have a ton of OF prospects that are athletic freaks who could blow up just like Harrison or Grisham any year.

 

There's quite a bit of cost controlled talent in this system. (MiLB and MLB) Throwing 3 more into that fray this year was a big boost.

 

Furthermore, getting 3-5 starters through the farm is valuable in and of itself.

 

While Keston Hiura looks like he will be a star, I would argue that the selections of Bowden Francis, Alec Bettinger, Max Lazar, and Dylan File could be just as important - and maybe more so when you consider them in the aggregate. Use them to fill the 3-5 spots from 2021-2024, and we don't have to turn to Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, or Matt Garza to fill the middle of the rotation.

 

That saves payroll. What happens there? Maybe you can make that free-agent splash for a year or two.

[TJseven7]

I would argue that the selections of Bowden Francis, Alec Bettinger, Max Lazar, and Dylan File could be just as important - and maybe more so when you consider them in the aggregate. Use them to fill the 3-5 spots from 2021-2024,

 

Not to down play the other two because they had very good years in AA but I'm very excited about File and Lazar. Lazar because he's embarrassed the competition. File because his pitches move so much he seems to cross the entire strike zone.

 

“I throw a fastball (90-93), curveball (73-76), slider (77-79), and a changeup (82-84). My slider is my best pitch, I throw it like Trevor Bauer and it moves about 13 inches from right to left. My curve is almost a 12-6 breaker.

 

And he's not joking about that. The slider sweeps the curve ball dives and the FB plays up because he can put it up in the zone and make it look like the curve until it doesn't tumble. One of his past coaches pointed out that he throws multiple pitches and they all look the same at the release.

 

He's just very interesting and he's improved as he's climbed up the ranks. I could see a big start in AA jump him into MLB considerations by the late season. It's not that he has a powerful arm but his movement and the late read hitters get on that movement is very promising. Unlike his slider model, he walks about half as many batters. He just has that vibe of a guy (who isn't even on pipeline) that is going to fly up the ranks and be in the rotation before they can adjust the rankings.

[wntrtxn21]

I would argue that the selections of Bowden Francis, Alec Bettinger, Max Lazar, and Dylan File could be just as important - and maybe more so when you consider them in the aggregate. Use them to fill the 3-5 spots from 2021-2024,

 

Not to down play the other two because they had very good years in AA but I'm very excited about File and Lazar. Lazar because he's embarrassed the competition. File because his pitches move so much he seems to cross the entire strike zone.

 

“I throw a fastball (90-93), curveball (73-76), slider (77-79), and a changeup (82-84). My slider is my best pitch, I throw it like Trevor Bauer and it moves about 13 inches from right to left. My curve is almost a 12-6 breaker.

 

And he's not joking about that. The slider sweeps the curve ball dives and the FB plays up because he can put it up in the zone and make it look like the curve until it doesn't tumble. One of his past coaches pointed out that he throws multiple pitches and they all look the same at the release.

 

He's just very interesting and he's improved as he's climbed up the ranks. I could see a big start in AA jump him into MLB considerations by the late season. It's not that he has a powerful arm but his movement and the late read hitters get on that movement is very promising. Unlike his slider model, he walks about half as many batters. He just has that vibe of a guy (who isn't even on pipeline) that is going to fly up the ranks and be in the rotation before they can adjust the rankings.

 

I saw File pitch when he was with the T'Rats and he really wasn't that impressive. He allowed more hits than IPs and didn't strikeout a lot of guys. More of a control type pitcher that other teams were hitting hard at times. Now he's improved at AA, but he really isn't anybody to get super excited about. Now Lazar is a different story. He was dominate with the T'Rats. Lots of strikeouts and I think his K to BB ratio was something like 5 or 6 to 1. He's a bigger guy with room to fill out even more. He could move up fast. We'll have to wait and see though. Many Brewer pitchers do real well in the lower minors only to get to AAA and fizzle out like a burnt match.

[clancyphile]

I saw File pitch when he was with the T'Rats and he really wasn't that impressive. He allowed more hits than IPs and didn't strikeout a lot of guys. More of a control type pitcher that other teams were hitting hard at times. Now he's improved at AA, but he really isn't anybody to get super excited about. Now Lazar is a different story. He was dominate with the T'Rats. Lots of strikeouts and I think his K to BB ratio was something like 5 or 6 to 1. He's a bigger guy with room to fill out even more. He could move up fast. We'll have to wait and see though. Many Brewer pitchers do real well in the lower minors only to get to AAA and fizzle out like a burnt match.

 

Thanks for the observations.

 

What matters a lot to me is where they found these picks: Not in the first or second rounds, but most are in the 5-25 range. This is where the Brewers need to hit.

 

Cooper Hummel, Brent Suter, Clayton Andrews, and other "draft steals" are what Milwaukee needs to get a lot of. Maybe a big part of this is finding "market inefficiencies" - ground-ball pitchers or control artists.

[clancyphile]

I saw File pitch when he was with the T'Rats and he really wasn't that impressive. He allowed more hits than IPs and didn't strikeout a lot of guys. More of a control type pitcher that other teams were hitting hard at times. Now he's improved at AA, but he really isn't anybody to get super excited about. Now Lazar is a different story. He was dominate with the T'Rats. Lots of strikeouts and I think his K to BB ratio was something like 5 or 6 to 1. He's a bigger guy with room to fill out even more. He could move up fast. We'll have to wait and see though. Many Brewer pitchers do real well in the lower minors only to get to AAA and fizzle out like a burnt match.

 

Thanks for the observations.

 

What matters a lot to me is where they found these picks: Not in the first or second rounds, but most are in the 5-25 range. This is where the Brewers need to hit.

 

Cooper Hummel, Brent Suter, Clayton Andrews, and other "draft steals" are what Milwaukee needs to get a lot of. Maybe a big part of this is finding "market inefficiencies" - ground-ball pitchers or control artists.