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gobraves46
Niewenhuis and Liriano to start season. I Really like Phillips, he will eventually be the starter. With Broxton somewhere in between. The rest will see time in AAA.
thecoffinnail
Flores is out of options and is a quality 4th OF. I am sure some of the others are out of options as well.
YourDaddy
Nieuwenhuis, Liriano and Flores are all out of options. Unless they are DFA’d I would think two of those will make the team. Liriano has the best all-around tools, but he struggled when the Padres called him up in 2014 after he missed the entire 2013 season because of TJ surgery. The RH hitting Liriano and either one of the two lefties would make a nice platoon.
davidcoonce74
Wow. When the likes of Kirk Niewenhuis and Eric Young Jr. are actually competing for a roster spot on your team you know you’ve really hit rock bottom
dempsey77
gobraves46, I think Keon Broxton is the opening day CF with Kirk Nieuwenhuis also making the roster. Keon’s development over the last 2 seasons has been remarkable…almost like someone flicked a light switch on inside his head and it all of a sudden started coming together for him. I guess it’s really a dealers choice type of pick. Kirk has more power, but Keon has better OBP, is a better fielder, and is a near elite base runner. He will almost definitely make the 25 man roster, but will the Crew favor Nieuwenhuis’s power to start on opening day? My bet is still with Keon. Rymer is an awkward case, been OK at AAA, but nothing special or as gawdy as his high A and AA numbers. And no real sample size at the big league level to gage his true talent, so maybe he is a dark horse candidate.
A'sfaninUK
Disagree entirely, Broxton was really underwhelming last year – being a 25 year old at AA and then having a sub-.800 OPS at AAA isn’t really setting the world on fire. Broxton’s also a 200+ strikeout guy in the bigs with little power and he gets caught stealing too much to be taken seriously as a baserunner. He might be fast but he’s pretty clueless on the basepaths.
I think Liriano gets the opening day job, but with a short leash and if he stutters out of the gate then whoever out of Phillips and Reed is playing the best at AAA will get the longest look of the year. I would personally just give the job to Phillips and let him learn, but they might be concerned about service time.
dempsey77
Sometimes the raw numbers don’t tell the entire story. I’m referring to his second half primarily. Like I said, it’s like something clicked. He performed really well down the stretch for Indy. Plus, they wouldn’t have dealt something of value for him if they had plans to just stow him away for AAA depth. Unless he has a terrible Spring, he will make the 25 man. Brewers scouts obviously saw him play the way he did to finish the season and saw light at the end of the tunnel.
daveinmp
When you have 9 guys competing for one job, the reality is there is not one worthy of the position.. Liriano and Flores have the best offensive upside of the group outside of Phillips who they’ll not rush,, but both might be better suited for corner OF. Just Another Fan is absolutely right on about Broxton, though defensively he makes some sense. But Stearns gave up something of value for Broxton and he’ll give him every chance to prove he didn’t make a mistake.
I wouldn’t dismiss Liriano’s chances of beating out Santana for RF. Santana is a whiff machine too and he’s got an option. That could mean a Broxton/Nieuwenhuis platoon in center and Flores as the swing guy, getting some PT when they want another LH bat in there.
mikeyst13
I actually think Nieuwenhuis will end up the odd man out. I know he’s the veteran of the group and listed as #1 on their depth chart right now, but they really want to give long hard looks at Broxton, Liriano, and Flores. I think those 3 make the roster out of camp with Phillips, Peterson, and Reed heading back to AAA until a later call-ups and Kirk being the odd man out (well and EY JR, and Pressley but I’m not sure anyone is really expecting much from them)