Melvin interview on WSSP: Gross, Kapler, Gwynn likely and other stuff

[dpapo]

Doug Melvin did an interview with WSSP on Monday and mentioned a few things.

 

--Not corncerned about injuries. A bunch of minor injuries, etc... We'll see about Capuano later in the week.

--Tough choices to make on the pitching staff. Would prefer to keep 12, but might keep 13.

--Will probably wait to the last moment to make the final tough cuts, especially with players that they would lose. Gave example of when he was with Texas. People wanted him to cut Craig Worthington who probably wasn't going to make the team, but kept him on roster till last moment and Dean Palmer ended up getting hurt in the 5th inning of the last game.

--Said that he thinks that Gross, Kapler and Gwynn will be on the team.

--Craig Counsell will be on the team, no surprise

--Backup catcher another decision that will have to be made.

--Was asked about Dillon and said nice things about him. Has a better chance with Cameron gone. Dillion would bring a better bat and pinch hitter. Nunez would bring defensive. If they keep 12 pitchers may have room for one more position player. However, if my math is correct, if they do keep Gross, Kapler, Gwynn and Counsell, along with a backup catcher, wouldn't that already add up to 13 position players to go along with 12 pitchers.

--Asked about calling other clubs. Said yes, but teams looking to trade or trade for players on the end of their roster, 5th pitcher and so on. Teams also looking at budgets and don't or can't take on 1, 2 or 3 million dollars. Thus, many teams just look within their organization instead.

--Finally was asked about whether the team will ever be in a position to go out and get the final "superstar" to add to the team. Melvin said, open to anything, but with younger players already going to get higher salary, etc... If they took on a player and contract like Santana and he got hurt, it could be devastating to a ballclub. When a player like Ben Sheets gets hurt, it's devasting to the ballclub. Realistically, probably would be difficult to take on that type of player/salary.

 

Said a few other things, but that was the basics.

 

http://wssp.radiotown.com/audio/garycliff/TimSparkywMelvin.mp3

 

Edit: Logan and Sbrylski each makes a good point. With Cameron's suspension, that means one of Gross, Kapler and Gwynn will be making starts and thus there is room for one more player on the roster. Duh! I guess that's what happens when you write something right before you go to bed. With that in mind, then I think it probably comes down to Dillon or keeping that 13th pitcher on the staff. I guess they could keep Nunez instead of Dillon, but Melvin seemed to be leaning towards keeping Dillon as a good pinch hitting bat off the bench and also mentioned how well Dillon's been hitting this spring. Of course, Yost seems to want to keep 13 pitchers and we don't know whether he would prefer a batter bat in Dillon or defense in Nunez. However, they already have Counsell as a defensive replacement if need be, so I think it's going to come down to Dillon vs a 13 man pitching staff to start the season.

[Blindcheck]

Thanks for the update.

 

I found it interesting that he was considering the 13 pitchers as yost mentioned earlie this week.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I thought he was just politely saying that there is no way we carry 13, when he said he "preferred" 12

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks a bunch for that insightful recap, dpapo. Great to hear. Hopefully Dillon can make the squad - I just can't believe that both Kapler & Gwynn are valued higher than Joe, once all angles are factored in.

[Sundown Kid]

It seems like there is some disconnect between Yost and Melvin. From what I've read and heard, Melvin has always wanted to go with 12 pitchers, but Yost seems to be championing 13. During the winter Melvin included Villanueva prominently when talking about his rotation (sounding as if 4 spots were basically set) and mentioned that Parra would get a very long look. While I acknowledge that Parra is getting an audition, I wonder if Yost sees things differently than his boss. There is still talk about Villanueva being optioned--a far cry from Melvin's earlier stance. And if not for the injuries to Gallardo and now Capuano, Parra would be a nice footnote to the story of spring camp. I realize that different perspectives are inevitable, and I could most certainly be reading too much into newspaper quotes and talk radio musings. But if this were New York, it would be enough to produce stories about "management discord."

[logan82]

dpapo wrote:

However, if my math is correct, if they do keep Gross, Kapler, Gwynn and Counsell, along with a backup catcher, wouldn't that already add up to 13 position players to go along with 12 pitchers.

Don't forget about Cameron's suspension. Melvin mentioned that there would be another difficult decision on who to send down when Cameron returned. I would guess one of Gross, Kapler, Gwynn would go back down when Cameron returns.

[sbrylski]

dpapo wrote:

However, if my math is correct, if they do keep Gross, Kapler, Gwynn and Counsell, along with a backup catcher, wouldn't that already add up to 13 position players to go along with 12 pitchers.

Don't forget about Cameron's suspension. Melvin mentioned that there would be another difficult decision on who to send down when Cameron returned. I would guess one of Gross, Kapler, Gwynn would go back down when Cameron returns.

Yes, one of those players counts as a starter considering Cameron is suspended. So technically that's only a 4-man bench, so we have one spot for Joe Dillon, who really should be on this team.

[uwisfan]

kapler over dillon? hard to believe. I know Munson has the hot bat spring, how's his defense at C. Is anyone else even challenging?

[InsomniacInkRoss]

How is Joe Dillon getting so much time off from being Purdue's mascot to play baseball?

 

The Boilermakers need him now more then ever!

[Time for a Miller]

I'm guessing Gwynn gets sent down when Cameron comes back. I think Joe Dillon will be on the team when they start the season also.

[TooLiveBrew]

How is Joe Dillon getting so much time off from being Purdue's mascot to play baseball?

 

That's... awesome. I'm shocked that no one has thought of this before! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Dragonbait]

Somehow I feel Nedly may not get what he wants.....

 

Isnt the final roster decisions up to Melvin and Ash?

[DrWood]

nunez is a nice guy to have around (in Nashville) in case someone (particularly Counsell) gets injured, but PH is the biggest thing the bench is going to do. Dillon batted .400 as a PH.

I don't see how Kapler rates higher than dillon (at least not once Cameron comes back), and I don't see how nunez could rank higher.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm guessing Gwynn gets sent down when Cameron comes back. I think Joe Dillon will be on the team when they start the season also.

 

If, as many here have suggested here, Munson had the edge going in for the backup catcher job primarily because he's a lefthanded hitter, why wouldn't that hold for Gwynn over Kapler especially if they would also keep Dillon?

 

It doesn't make any sense to me with the 3 OF starters being righthanded once Cameron is back that they have any need for a righthanded backup.

[RightFieldCoder]

So that way the backup can also hit.

 

I think this 13-man staff is posturing by Melvin. Like when he said it was plausable to carry both Prince and Overbay for the entire 2006 season.

[bork]

I would guess one of Gross, Kapler, Gwynn would go back down when Cameron returns.

I believe Gwynn is the only one with an option left, so that might be the deciding factor.

[Tbadder]

Look, Kaplar defense isn't appreciably better than Gwynn's. Dillon's bat is better than both combined. They need to showcase Gwynn and hope he gets hot, hot, hot. Cut Kaplar please. With the pitching and defense being below par for a playoff team they need all the hitters they can get--keep Crazy Joe.

 

Nunez? I can't even believe he's thinking that way. Sometimes Melvin's public logic is so...well...illogical. I mean, I love the guy, but if Nunez makes the team that's an awfully big error for a smart guy to make.

 

I like the idea that there's a fundamental disconnect between Melvin and Yost though because we all know whose gonna win that battle.

 

And what if Weeks is hurt worse than they suspect. You'd rather have Nunez or Counsell than Dillon subbing? Really? Cthat just borders on insanity in my book.

[endaround]

Can I be the first to say that if Gwynn needs a platoon partner he has no business being anywhere close to Milwaukee?

[SoCalBrewfan]

From the summary (thanks for the summary!) it seemed to me that it was more a matter of Dillon vs. Nunez (possibly vs. a pitcher), rather than Dillon vs. an outfielder. That makes sense to me, with Dillon viewed as a backup for every infield position except SS, as well as the primary RH pinch hitting option. They almost have to start with five OF: Hart, Braun, Gross, Gwynn, Kapler. The Cameron comment (Dillon has a better chance to make the team with Cameron out) seems to be a matter of balancing the bench for defense vs. offense...with a bench OF in the starting lineup, the need for PH / bench bats means we don't have room to keep two defensive-minded infielders in Counsell and Nunez.

 

They will have to make a decision when Cameron returns. At that point, it would make little sense (to me at least) to keep six outfielders and only one infield reserve.

[DrWood]

socal, dillon can play the OF, too, just not CF.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Yeah, I realize that, but I don't see him getting a lot of time in an OF corner given the current makeup of the team...he's not a big step up offensively or defensively in either corner over Gross or Kapler, probably would outhit Gwynn but at the expense of D, and bats RH like both Braun and Hart. I would imagine that when a corner OF starter gets a day off, Gross or Gwynn would face a RHP, but also that neither Hart nor Braun would get a lot of time off barring injury given that they are important cogs in the offense. On the other hand, he naturally complements Prince for those rare occasions when Fielder doesn't play (RH vs. LH), and can play 2b or 3b adequately if Weeks or Hall is banged up, providing an alternative to Counsell who is the only backup at short. (Weeks in particular seems to get banged up.)

 

Another way of saying this is that they have other backup OF options, who fit better given the makeup of the team....but only three or four backup infielders (Counsell, Nunez, Dillon, and maybe Rottino). So I don't see Dillon as competing directly with the OF pool, but rather fighting Nunez and maybe Rottino for the backup IF / jackofalltrades job. Dillon's ability to play corner OF slots might be a bonus for him in that competition, in much the same way as Rottino's catching experience helps him, or Nunez' ability to play SS helps him, but I doubt it's the primary role they envision for Dillon. I could certainly be wrong about this as they frequently construct the roster in ways that don't make sense to me.

[valpocrewsader]

Can I be the first to say that if Gwynn needs a platoon partner he has no business being anywhere close to Milwaukee?

Were you saying the same thing about Jenkins these last couple years when he was in the same boat at ~15 times the cost? There are lots of MLB outfielders who "need a platoon partner", none of them should be anywhere near the big leagues? And Gwynn's young and still improving ... I don't get the comment.

[TooLiveBrew]

What about this comment?

 

And Gwynn's young and still improving

 

Right up there with '[Catcher X] sucks at hitting, so he's gotta be good on defense'. Gwynn's a decent choice as a 4th/5th OF, but should not be in any type of starting role imo.

[endaround]

Thing is, without Dillon the backup 1B becomes Counsell or Munson. And thats just sad.

 

The point about Gwynn is that a no power OFer who can't hit LH pitching is just bad. Carrying another bat to cover for him makes no sense. There should be no circumstance where a high average player with no power needs protection from same handed pitching. If there is that means there are too many holes in Gwynn's swing to be useful.

[dadofandrew]

Gross needs a platoon partner as well. It seems quite obvious Kapler will play versus LHP's and the Gross/Gwynn will play versus the RHP's, some sort of "hot hand" scenario.