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Per Hahn at media scrum, Rodon has been cleared to start throwing next week.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 02:20 PM) So confusing now. Yelich Cain Santana Braun Broxton Thames for 4 spots If this was the dodgers we wouldn't blink but here's what I would do. - Platoon Thames and only play him vs Righties. Rotate him through OF and 1b. - Most often OF with Santana - Cain - Yelich with Braun at 1b Broxton as bench player with pop and defensive replacement for Santana. Hopefully have a versatile INF but may need two, carry 12 pitchers. Or get by with 1 backup MI and carry 13 pitchers.

Bob Nightengale ‏ Verified account @BNightengale 1m1 minute ago More #Brewers GM David Stearns confirms that they have talked to Ryan Braun about the possibility of moving to first base.

Also they still have Broxton who was their starting CFer.

So while not spectacular, Yellich is a center fielder. He may be less good than Cain, who is also a center fielder for now. Not sure where this corner outfielder stuff came from. They increased their CF production while = that defense, they improved their RF defense while = offensive production. They have upgraded.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 10:06 AM) I don’t really see why this trade is indicative of a “wait and see” approach...they basically went out and acquired Yelich and signed Cain despite having like 7 other OFs. I’m not a huge Domingo Santana guy, but the transaction costs of replacing their OF from two days ago with an OF of Cain and Yelich (is Yelich really even THAT valuable in a corner spot?) include 4 prospects so far...does anyone really expect them to get a solid return for Santana and the other OFer they are shopping? I fully understand the value of cost-controlled players for a team such as the Brewers, but it seems like they are blowing through a lot of other currency to assemble an OF that I am not certain will be all that much better than had they just signed Cain and let the other pieces fall where they might have. It almost makes you wonder if they had to acquire Yelich to convince Cain to sign... The wait and see is knowing you have a surplus at outfielder vs the white sox anticipating they have a surplus at places, such as pitching before it is clear that they do. As for Yelich, at 26 he should still provide long-term value as a CF whereas Dyson may make more sense to move to RF. Either way, they are getting a defensive upgrade over Santana. You are right that if you look at zips, yelich is slated for a 113 wrc+, as is Santana. But they have two legitimate outfielders now, and they will need that defense because their pitching staff is going to be much more royals/astros than nationals. Yelich is also the 10th best CF in fangraphs, who knows if he could be more valuable in RF a la Eaton. His arm will be a knock, however.

Just one more thought, I just really like what the Brewers are doing. I think the natural impulse would be "okay, we have a need at 2b, we should use our surplus at OF to get the best 2b available". They instead acquired the best asset available who happened to be...another outfielder. But the availability of a Yellich is not always there, but decent upgrades at a 2b should be available. They now have an outfielder with a 4-6 win potential rather than a 3 war OF and 3 war 2b. That gives them a higher floor to make any 2b addition more impactful.

The BA podcast on sox players was up on Tuesday and interesting. Another mention of Roberts tools at Moncada level. Interesting stuff on instruct changes by Collins and Burger that we know of, but just validation that they appeared meaningful. Interesting enough they said Zevala was behind Collins in defense.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 25, 2018 -> 09:59 AM) Luzardo was paid well above slot if memory serves. Yeah this is a totally unfair exercise, just running through what was available. Though I suppose that could highlight how we didn't really maximize that much of our extra budget with the comp pick.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 08:52 AM) I mean, we’re pretty much going to do the same thing. Look at some of the guys we’ll be trotting out in 2017: 3B: Yolmer Sanchez (2.1 WAR, 534 PA’s) CF: Leury Garcia (1.1 WAR, 326 PA’s) LF: Nicky Delmonico (1.0 WAR, 166 PA’s) 2017 is a perfect opportunity to give all those guys 600 PA’s and see what happens. If they can maintain 2 to 3 WAR production next year, they can fill supporting roles in the rebuild or be moved for additional talent. DH is the only spot I’m not overly excited about how we’re using at the moment. We are at this point. I'm pro Wellington Castillo signing, but I'm just underscoring that even though some vets could be signed at great value soon as this market stagnates, the Brewers showed good value in letting players like Delmonico play. And for us, let's let this outfield play out. Cordell/tilson/Delmonico may not be long-term pieces, but they are more likely to help us in 2 years as assets than a veteran. For a while I thought we our rebuild most resembled the phillies, who did not prioritize losing as much, and acquired players like Kendrick. I think because of their revenue they may feel more pressure to do that, but regardless it was basically spinning their wheels when they could have tried alternative younger and more interesting players.

Balta has talked about using our playing time as an asset to find undervalued talent, that was the role the Brewers played. 2016 they picked up tons of near major talent and gave them playing time. This trade was also a great example of why to wait until you are closer to knowing. When brewers had a clear surplus they were able to trade for an elite, cost controlled talent, not just an upgrade. That's what I'd like us to do, use surplus for elite upgrades, not just filling 0 war with 2 war vets.

I agree with fathom. “Spots” in a ranking are not equal degrees of measurement. I bet a lot more teams would rank Robert and Brinson similarly than Eloy and Brinson in terms of value.

Love how brewers have rebuilt.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 25, 2018 -> 04:15 PM) Wasn't this the exact purpose for which it was created? An independent organization created to make sure that neither the athlete nor the university gets unfair advantages. Granted, I too think that they've gotten so far off thier original purpose and have made rules too cumbersome. However, this was necessitated by either group continuing to find ways to cheat the system. Once, someone cheats, the NCAA made a rule to combat. Where the NCAA has gotten it wrong is that they have been too reactive and not proactive. Uh, yeah well in my opinion if you are going to be an organizational body for these two, you have a duty to make sure the universities are treating players well. Isn't this the purpose behind creating policies on amount of practice time? But they can't punish a university (through it's mechanisms of their participation in the NCAA) for lack of oversight in the case of abuse of athletes? Like does the NCAA have jurisdiction to investigate things like the abuse of players under Tim Beckman's watch? If not, then why, and if so, then how would they not be able to play a role here?

This is an interesting discussion. When I first heard that as with UNC, the NCAA did not really have jurisdiction to have a ruling I was a bit angry about the sham of it all. The NCAA is such a sham institution, neither 100% university aligned or student aligned, but concerned about itself, then universities, then students. And the only true protection it will give students will be token and reactive. This really underscored how little protection student athletes have in situations like these. Basically they have title IX and absent that they have media.

QUOTE (Anderdale @ Jan 25, 2018 -> 02:05 AM) I am curious, why do no scouts think he can stick at catcher? I agree 100% with you that he needs to focus on being a catcher. His offensive production will come together on its own. I'm not up on scouty terms, but the way I read what they write is he's not good at anything currently but he's also not very athletic so they don't think he will improve enough to become major league level quality.

This is a good article from Conor Sen on tech sector outsourcing. He has been calling for a while that some good will come out of breaking the dominance of one region for tech infrastructure, but this outlines that it won't all go to other cities in the US: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/201...ch-companies-do

This is craaaazy to me Vladimir Guerrero is the first position player from the Dominican Republic to be elected into the Hall of Fame, but he knows plenty more are on their way with David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and Albert Pujols -Bob Nightengale in twitter

The deadspin and the athletic coverage of this have been must-reads. It was horrendous to begin with, but gobsmacking to watch again the same tendencies of institutions to protect administrations over students or children they are charged to educate and protect. Three gigantic cases from the catholic church to then penn state to then michigan state, each time something these people decided to "handle" instead of stop and grapple with. makes me sick.

And sigh, yeah, only 2 top 30 players acquired by the white sox through INTL FA signings. And I just don't consider cuba to be the same, so really it's still just adolfo.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jan 24, 2018 -> 09:11 AM) We could fills gaps with a few key free agent signings^ We don't need to hit on every prospect, but our key guys need to pan out and produce We could, but, I'd much rather try to plug FA gaps at places like the corners than up the middle, or relief pitching than starting. We'll need to fill gaps via trade too, so it will be better to have a definition of needs.

I just don't think I would put Collins above Dunning. Every year is interesting, but given the age of some of so many of our prospects, seems like we'll be able to separate the wheat from the chaff this year.

I still think holding players back from being called up unless they signed team friendly extensions was wrong but yes there was still risk on team side and this was a case.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 24, 2018 -> 09:03 AM) Correct, but we DID have Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, etc. The system is no doubt better, but we don't have the MLB core anymore. The system has to first replenish the value we traded and THEN add more for us to be a contender. It only works out if the trades yield more guys than they cost us initially. I'm not saying it won't, but we have to let it do it's work to see what we "have" first -- and that part is a numbers game. Now, the reason Hahn is kicking tires is because you have to find out if the Marlins are going to trade him for less than he's worth, in which case of course we should get him. But given the sheer number of teams that have been connected, they're clearly not going to have to trade him for a discount. I agree with this. I would just want to get to more definition on what's needed. Maybe we miraculously hit home runs with all of our OF prospects but all of our infield turns out to be trash. That's a realistic scenario now. We also may need every one of those pitching prospects to form only a decent rotation.

I do personally think it would be more fair to gauge this at mid-year considering 3 of those types of guys just graduated and another we are saying fell off just due to an injury.