Who has a chance at the MLB roster in 2009?

[monty57]

Most of you know much, much more about the Brewers' minor leaguers than I, so I'd like to ask you what Brewers farm hands have a realistic shot of making a splash in the 2009 Brewers season. Escobar and Gamel have been discussed at length elsewhere, but I haven't heard much about other possible contributors. With the shape of the MLB rotation, I'm especially interested in hearing your opinions on what minor league starting pitchers could possibly step in if/when we have an injury. For example, do we have anyone at AAA we'd trust in our rotation for an extended period, or would we be better off pulling someone like Brae Wright, Chris Cody or David Welch (all 25 years old) from Huntsville? Also, we only have four outfielders on our 40-man roster. Is there someone in the minors who should open the season as the 4th/5th OF for the Crew, is Trot Nixon the guy, or should we look at signing someone else?

[twobrewers]

With the shape of the MLB rotation, I'm especially interested in hearing your opinions on what minor league starting pitchers could possibly step in if/when we have an injury.

I am kinda under the assumption that the Brewers will sign one more MLB starting pitcher. (Even if it is a bad one) That would leave the #6 and #7 starters as McClung and DeFilice. You might be able to squeak Dillard in that conversation as well. And don't forget Capuano is always a possibility later in the season.

 

In other words, I don't expect any minor league pitchers to start a game for the Brewers this year. Any call-ups will likely move to the pen - with one of the relief pitchers starting.

[monty57]

I, too believe that they'll try to sign another starting pitcher for some depth, but Melvin made the comment that DiFilice might not make the team "because he can't get lefties out." Even if we do sign another starter, we're pretty thin if no one in our entire minor league system could be counted on to start a few games for the Brewers. I get scary visions of 2006 if any injuries occur.

 

I hoped to hear something positive that maybe there was a sleeper somewhere. I try to be pretty optimistic, but the way it looks now, if anyone other than Hardy, Hall or Lamb gets hurt, we won't have any capable player to take their place. Are Iribarren and Nelson capable replacements, because if not, it looks like we currently have noone who plays 1B, 2B, C, OF or SP that we would be comfortable playing every day if someone gets hurt. This leads me to believe that we'll have to overpay for a rent-a-player when an injury occurs. I know a lot of talent has come out of the farm over the past couple of seasons, but I'm a little worried about the lack of depth at the moment.

 

Please someone, tell me I'm wrong.

[nate82]

Salome could make the team if his defense was better and going from Kendall and Riverra to Salome/Rottino and Rivera wouldn't be that much of a difference. Defensively it would be but I believe Salome's bat would be able to replace Kendall and his defense. Iribarren could come in if Weeks goes down with an injury as long as it would be a short stay there wouldn't be a problem. 1B Nelson could take over like Iribarren for a couple of weeks at most this is one spot where offensively there would be a huge drop if Nelson is taking over for Prince. But still Nelson's defense at 1B would be a improvement over Prince's and that would help out alot.

 

The only real position that the Brewers need depth at is starting pitching everywhere else there are replacements who would at least be serviceable for a short amount of time if someone gets injured. I don't see that for the starting pitching though if someone gets injured in the rotation it will be ugly.

[JohnBriggs12]

Though he's not been in the Brewer system, I wouldn't rule out Casey McGehee making the opening day roster.

[JJHardy7]

I still think Joe Bateman has a shot to make the team out of spring training. The Brewers are high on him and to be honest I'm surprised he wasn't called up in September. It always seems like there's an interesting player or two on the opening day roster that we don't expect in January or February...I'll go with Bateman for that surprise.

[clancyphile]

Mat Gamel is one possibility - he could snatch the job at third out of spring training.

[TheCrew07]

If Hardy were to go down, we'd see Escobar for sure. Gamel has outside chance of making roster, but more likely if he's in the plans he'll come up later in the season like Braun did.

 

If Gamel and Salome were as good with the glove as they are with the bat they'd both already be in the mix, it's too bad.

[wcswimmer712]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Omar Aguilar called up at some point in the season. Possibly a darkhorse to make the team out of Spring Training

[CheezWizHed]

Some duplication from others here, but here is how I see it:

OF: Not much depth here that is ready to come up. Nelson/TGJ/Nixon would be the main choices here. If Cain or Gillispie hit well at AAA, I could see one of them getting a late season shot, but probably not until 2010. I guess Gamel could fill if we really need a stick, but I doubt he gets thrown in there without doing in ST or at AAA for a while.

 

3B: If we assume Hall/Lamb to start, I would think Gamel would be the first choice. Then probably McGehee. Otherwise you could use Escobar/Hardy at 3B/SS or SS/3B.

 

SS: Escobar

 

2B: I think if Rickie goes down for an extended period, we will see Hard/Escobar at SS/2B or 2B/SS. For shorter time, I would guess whomever is our backup MIF (Hurricane?).

 

1B: Probably Nelson for a short term backup, but I could would expect to see Gamel for long term. Possibly Hart, if we had someone better to replace his OF spot.

 

C: I would guess Mike Rivera would cover any short injuries, where Salome/Rivera would split for anything longer than a week.

 

RP: Stetter seems like a lock. Dillard should have a good chance. Bateman seems to have the numbers, but he doesn't seem to get much love from the Brewer brass. I think either Aguilar or Pena could contribute later in the season.

 

SP: Backups would most likely come from the bullpen (Villy or McClung) with RP help coming, since there are more RPs ready at AAA than SPs. But I could see Wright getting a chance at some point. If he gets healthy, Capuano will get a shot again. Remote chance that Jefferson gets called up.

 

I started another thread that is similar to this where I concluded that help from the minors in 2009 seems small, but more help in 2010 seems available.

[monty57]

thanks for the info guys,

 

I'm most worried about OF and SP.

 

I think with the signing of Hoffman we have a lot of bullpen depth.

 

After thinking about it, if Weeks gets hurt and Hernan isn't up to task, Gamel could come up to play third, and Hall could play 2nd.

 

Nelson is at least a decent 1B option. It would definitely hurt our offense if Prince went down, but there's no team that would have a player in the minors to replace someone like Prince.

 

Kendall isn't that good, so his getting hurt would hurt us defensively, but we'd probably upgrade offensively.

 

If we are forced to replace Hart or Braun with Nixon, or Cameron with Weeks, I think we're in a world of hurt.

 

As it stands right now, if one of our starters gets hurt, we're in trouble. I could very easily see a scenario like a few years ago where we cycled through pitcher after pitcher until we finally found Villy in AA to come up and actually get some batters out. We need SP depth badly.

 

Now that Hoffman's signed, Melvin needs to focus on signing anouth SP and some AAA SP depth, and it would be nice if he'd find a 4th OF better than Nixon / Gwynn.

[JohnBriggs12]

monty57,

 

I couldn't agree with you more on the pitching situation. My gut is telling me the Brewers will go through a lot of pitchers this season.

[endaround]

Irribarren will likely compete with Gwynn for the 5th OFer/25th man spot. Both can play CF, Gwynn is better obviously but Irribarren also can fill in at 2B. Both are LH with speed. Neither really deserves to be on the team at present but both are cheap so they have that going for them.

 

If the Brewers think Nelson can play OF even a little you'd think he'd make the team but given that they kept Hart in during his ghastly September thats an open question. With Braun more used to the OF they might try him in RF a bit allowing them to put Nelson in LF. Perversely to some degree if Nelson was RH he'd actually be a better bet because then he could fill in more easily for Fielder.

[zzzmanwitz]

Gwynn is better obviously but Irribarren

 

 

TGJ isn't obviously better than anyone.

[Tbadder]

Yeah, I think that Gwynn will win the job as the 4th OF. With Lamb possibly getting most of the at bats at 3rd, Hall might make it impossible for the Crew not to give him away, so McGehee would be my second choice.

 

If Macha goes with the idea that telivers have to be able o go multiple innings then I expect Dillard and DeFilice to make it as well.

 

P.S. Gwynn is obviously better in the oufield than Irribarren

[endaround]

Gwynn is better obviously but Irribarren

 

 

TGJ isn't obviously better than anyone.

 

I meant in CF, not overall

[zzzmanwitz]

got it Endaround. I can agree with that.

[himeji jo]

I'm curious why Scott Thorman's name doesn't come up more often. The majority, it seems at this point, give Nelson the upper hand in winning a backup 1b/of spot on the roster when, in fact, Thorman is at least equally capable. Really, and I don't doubt this has been discussed before here, after looking at the two it's a bit eery how similar they are.

 

Left handed hitters, born in '82, Nelson is 6'2" 220 while Thorman is 6'3" 235, last year in AAA Nelson played 103 games at 1B 8 games at 3B and 7 games in the outfield while Thorman played 75 at 1B 13 at 3B and 8 in the OF. In 8 minor league seasons Nelson has 101 HR 524 RBI and an OPS of 786, while Thorman, in 7 minor league seasons, has 99HR 433 RBI and the exact same 786 OPS. Nelson has a good amount more experience in the outfield, but Thorman has 415 AB and 858 Innings in the majors.

 

So is it Nelson's perceived versatility and home-grown status that gives him what I read to be a significant edge?

[strawbossisevil]

I think it has more to do with the fact that Nelson's numbers may have been deflated for quite some time due to his hand injury. He had a few seasons where it appeared that he was not capable of performing fulling to what he was capable of because of that injury (which appears now to be healed).

[CheezWizHed]

IMO, ranking our ML/MiL depth from best to worst:

3B, SS, RP, 2B, C, 1B, SP, OF

 

3B is first (assuming Hall/Lamb start), since Gamel might very well be an overall upgrade just because of low expectations of the starters. But I still want to see him start in AAA to work more on the D side. Where Escobar is more of a lateral (or offensive down-grade) from Hardy.

 

No can't miss prospects at RP, but plenty of decent options.

 

From 2B, 1B, and SP would need some positional shuffling to fill long term (from 3B, SS or RP).

 

I don't think Nelson is a long term backup, but I hope he proves me wrong (or better yet, won't have to). I used to be on the band-wagon for trading Prince, but once we traded LaPorta, I don't think we have a good replacement (hopefully Gamel at 1B only happens after he gets a good shot at 3B and/or OF).

 

SP and OF do worry me, however. It would be quite a jump from our highest SP/OF prospects. Not impossible, but not something I want to rely on. Here's hoping we get one more SP and one backup OF (probably a lefty like Gross).

[RobertR]

I like Cain's chances of getting some significant playing time. Gwynn is nothing more than a defensive backup, IMO, and if Cameron goes down or is traded, I don't think it will take long before Cain is given an opportunity. Maybe Iribarren would be called up as a short term stopgap, but I think the Brewers view Cain as the long term answer and would take the opportunity to get his feet wet at the major league level if the opportunity presents itself. There's long term and short term benefits there.

 

Robert

[monty57]

In reading the write up for the Top Prospect Fan Poll, the comments on Cole Gillespie jumped out at me. Could he be a dark horse for the 4th / 5th OF spot this season, or is he more likely to be Hart's replacement in a couple of years?

 

There was a comment that with Braun and Hart in Milwaukee, Gillespie's future may be somewhere other than Milwaukee. If that's the case, he may fill in well as a backup, giving Braun and Hart the occasional day off. I know he's not left handed, but for the few days of rest Braun & Hart will get, does it really matter? If he's never likely to be a full-time starter for the Brewers, there shouldn't be much worry about starting his arby clock. I'd guess his competition would be Nixon, as we'd still need someone who could play CF, meaning it's pretty likely that Gwynn will be on the MLB roster unless someone else is signed.

 

If Gillespie is seen as having a better future, I'd look to play him in AAA this season. If he puts up numbers like he did in AA (.281/.386/.472, 14 HR, 17 SB / 1 CS), he may make Hart expendable next offseason (or at the trade deadline if we're not in the hunt). As it stands, he and Trot Nixon look to be our primary insurance if Hart or Braun are injured this season. I guess as a younger (24) player, he may be better served getting PT every day. I may have answered my own question, but I guess I'd rather see him in AAA playing full time, with Nixon as the backup on the Brewers. If Braun or Hart get hurt, and Gillespie's been playing well, call him up to fill in for the injured player.

[RobertR]

I'd look for Brad Nelson to be in the mix if Braun or Hart go down.

 

Robert

[endaround]

Gillespie has more value to the Brewers hitting AAA pitching than sitting i Milwaukee doing nothing. Where Nelson is already 26 and so has little trade value, Gillespie has another full year of "prospect status" in him and his trade value can still be there.

[monty57]

Good points on Nelson and Cain. Through my roundabout way of reasoning I've eventually come to believe that it would be a bad idea to start Gillespie on the major league roster next year.

 

Do you think that Nelson / Nixon would play even if there were a month-long injury to Braun / Hart (knock on wood), or should Gillespie get a look in that situation? I know a lot will depend on what Gillespie does at AAA.

 

At this point, my depth chart for CF would start Gwynn at the Majors, with limited PT. In case of injury, Cain would be called up rather than starting Gwynn every day. For corner OF, Nixon would start as our backup with Nelson possibly getting some action out there. If anyone was injured, I'd sure give Gillespie a look. Nixon doesn't seem like an everyday player anymore. Anyone have any idea how Nelson's defense would be as a corner OF? I imagine it would be bad, but would he be Carlos Lee bad, or would it be spin around in circles and fall down bad?

 

While SP is our #1 need right now, it would sure be nice to see someone brought in as a backup OF, especially someone who could play CF.