At what point do the Brewers pony up and make a deal for Ian Stewart?

[Gopher74]

He was in the top 5 in all those categories because he is a completely different hitter than most leadoff hitters. Most leadoff hitters dont concentrate on HRs or RBI's or slugging %. If you put Fielder in the leadoff spot he'll lead in all those areas too, but that doesnt mean you could claim he is a great leadoff hitter because he leads them in HR's, RBI's, Slugging and OBP.

 

So what would you like then out of your leadoff hitter? I don't know if it's possible for me to disagree any more than saying it doesn't mean a guy is a good leadoff hitter because he leads in among the other stats, OBP. No, if he gets on base, he's a great leadoff hitter. Especially if he has speed. That's all it comes down to. Nothing more.

The fact is, if Weeks hit anywhere but[/i] leadoff his numbers would be well below average, so claiming he is a top five "leadoff" hitter is, in my opinion, a cop out because overall[/i] he is not a good hitter and has shown nothing to suggest he ever will be.

So the answer is to take him out of the spot in the lineup he's well above average in? The one spot in the lineup that he's among the league leaders in? I'm sorry, that doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

I realize its not even a month into the season, but a .325 OBP for a leadoff hitter is nothing to brag about.

 

And yet you keep bringing up last year and ignoring his .385 OBP as our leadoff hitter.

Also, I dont really know where the comparison to Johnny Estrada came from,

 

From you putting an emphasis simply on "putting the ball in play" over actually getting on base. Putting the ball in play doesn't mean anything if you don't get on base, a hoping for good things to happen isn't as good as the liklihood that they will happen as is the case with Weeks when he's the leadoff hitter.

Corey Hart seems to be able to do.

 

And yet Hart's OBP is lower than Weeks as the leadoff hitter last year(.341-.385) and overall for their careers. So clearly that's not as productive an option for the leadoff spot. What's more, Hart strikes out quite a bit as well.

No, I haven't seen Irabarren hit much, but I have seen Weeks hit alot Weeks doesn't know how to do anything but swing as hard as he can and try to pull it.

 

Yea, and walk..and get on base. And Scores runs(as he leads the entire MLB in runs since last Aug 10th).

 

But I tend to put more of an emphasis on players actual numbers rather than how hard they swing.

Well if thats what you want to say to make it better, thats fine.

 

You're confusing me taking what was actual said for me having any desire to put forth anything. I don't "want" to say anything. I'm just telling you what the team said.

 

His wrist was hurt, his swing was off...whatever it was...he was terrible.

 

And even so, he had an very productive year. Makes ya think maybe we shouldn't bring up a guy who's put up worse numbers in the minors than Weeks has in the big leagues because of a couple AB's he had with the big league club earlier this year.

Has his swing always been off? Does that explain why his highest batting average in a season was a cool .279?

 

Could YOU explain why you think batting average is more important than OBP for a leadoff hitter? To that point, tell me what difference it makes what he's hitting if his OBP as our leadoff hitter was .385 last year and we won far more games with him there?

 

 

He had a good month...one good month...and you seem to think thats good enough to claim that there is nothing to be worried about as far as his hitting ability goes.

I'm sorry, perhaps I forgot, but could you please tell me where I made such a claim?

 

What's more, he had two very good months. He also had a very good year for a leadoff hitter overall last year. Again though, if you can convince me that BA is more important than OBP, I'll stop.

 

But exactly what has Hernan done to suggest in the least that he's going to be anywhere near the leadoff man that Rickie Weeks is?

And if your argument is that you should put Corey Hart in the leadoff spot, please be prepared to say who's going to take his spot, and why HE should be moved there despite also posting lower OBP numbers in that spot than Rickie Weeks?

 

 

 

Yes, I know, it's really easy to get frustrated with Weeks, but lets not throw out statements that simply aren't true in rushing to bash the kid.