Move Rickie to a new position?

[BrewCrewRising]

Rob Neyer quotes Bill James that Rickie should change positions. Apparently he's a butcher at 2nd. Who knew?

While I agree that it would be beneficial to move Rickie, I can't agree that we should move Prince, or that we should move Braun again. Where would you move Braun to? While Prince might not be a great at 1B, a left handed slugger is a bigger need than great D at 1st right now.

The article recommends bold moves. What would people here do?

[jwill535]

With Cain almost ready to go, Rickie is sink or swim at second. The reference to moving Fielder is in trade not position. As for moving Braun, what evidence does he have that Braun was a poor outfielder?

[MillerParkSouth]

I'm definitely an advocate of trying Rickie out in CF, but I was utterly confused as to his comments about Braun. I don't know if he'll ever win a gold glove in LF, but he's a good enough athlete that he should be at least above average out there.

[nate82]

With Cain almost ready to go, Rickie is sink or swim at second. The reference to moving Fielder is in trade not position. As for moving Braun, what evidence does he have that Braun was a poor outfielder?

Braun is average maybe even a little bit below average in LF in his first year there. I don't expect Braun to be anything more than average in LF and Braun was helped out a lot by Cameron last year. Cameron made Braun look like an above average LF last year I don't see Braun as a poor LF though he is definitely average in LF.

[logan82]

If Weeks, or any player for that matter, is moved to the outfield, they should start in a corner or learn in the minors.

[silversurferr]

Should have moved Rickey to center years ago, which would have best utilized his speed. His power would have also been a plus for a centerfielder. Too late to move him now.

[phxMILWfan]

I took it all to mean, trade Prince, Braun to 1st, Rickie to LF. Not a bad idea but I think we are at the point of no return already. Prince has signed for 2 years, what are you going to get in a trade for him now? You can't expect Braun and Weeks to learn a new position 3 weeks before opening day. If the team had decided to go in this direction they would have done it a month or more ago. I think Cain will be the CFer next year and that the Brewers will just find a new second baseman at some point instead of all this moving around.

[RyDogg66]

I guess I was under the impression that Braun was average, with upside in LF last year. It is no doubt Weeks is awful at 2b. Simply because he isnt as awful as he used to be is no comfort to me. Prince is also a butcher and those two in the same IF is trouble. I dont know what to do about Gamel. I dont think Braun should be moved to first base at all. I think he will be a fine left fielder for many years. Send Fielder and Hart off for trades, Weeks to RF, Braun in LF and Cain CF. Gamel at 1b, Lawrie at 2b, Escobar at SS and Hardy at 3b.

[Fatter than Joey]

That would give us crappy production out of 3b and RF

[BrewCrewRising]

I find RyDogg's proposal creative, but I'm not opening up the JJ to 3rd can of worms here. Lawrie is a few years away too, I believe.

 

I don't disagree with Neyer, but trading Prince is not an option right now to me. Like I said before, I think his hitting makes up for his defense for the most part. I am not a stat analyzer, so I could be wrong, but we are short on lefties now to begin with, and he represents solid consistent power in the lineup.

 

I think Braun is fine in LF, and I think he'll only get better. It's not like he's Manny, Carlos Lee or Soriano. He has speed, agility and a good work ethic.

 

I think the boldest but most "realistic" thing to do now is trade Cameron, and move Rickie to 2B. See how McGehee and Lamb fare at 3B. That said, I'd prefer dealing with Rickie's d at 2B to the chance we'd take on having McGehee/Lamb and Hall in the lineup at the same time.

 

I do think that Melvin needs to explore a tough trade in the off-season though. Hardy being traded is being considered in another thread, and there seems to be strong opinions on both sides. Trading Prince will have to happen sooner or later.

 

I don't know if it was more due to Jack Z, or due to Melvin, but defense always seems like a luxury consideration for the Brewers.

[RyDogg66]

Im not at all for the Lawrie or Escobar moves right now, just eventually, even if eventually is 2011. I am not sold that Escobar's improved defense over Hardy would make up for the severe drop in hitting from Hardy and waiting two years to find out is fine by me. The only one that needs to get moved (traded) after this year is Fielder, IMO. I would hang onto Hart until he hits FA but would not extend him. I would only advocate moving Weeks to RF if this year he showed that he can actually make contact a little more. Even if he were a .255/.385/.460 RF, assuming he was average in the OF he would basically be Bobby Abreu.

 

The essence of Neyer's and James articles though is correct. The Brewers need to do something about their putrid defense.

[Never Outhustled]

The article sucks because it doesn't tell us about the competitions defensive misplays. Lots of teams have multiple bad defenders. Look at how funny it is watching Chris Duncan or Pat Burrel or Carlos Lee or Alphonso Soriano play LF. We've repeatedly seen Edwin Encarnocion misplay a ball into LF only to be further misplayed by Adam Dunn.

 

Neyer doesn't offer a suggestion to who should play 2B instead of Weeks. He discounts the fact that we have quality defenders with Cameron in CF and Hardy at SS.

 

Most blatantly, he tells us the Brewers desperately need to do something to prevent runs from scoring, even though only 1 NL was better at it than the Brewers last year.

[Ennder]

Trade Fielder, let Weeks walk when his contract is up, leave Braun where he is, move Gamel to 1B.

 

That is the most like scenario for the 2011 season in my opinion.

 

I hope they let Hart walk too since he refuses to walk which cuts into his value but probably won't cut into his paycheck.

[RU Rah Rah]

I tend to think that if Braun could figure out the basics of MLB LF in one season, Rickie might be able to hack it in RF. I doubt he'd wind up being more of a defensive liability than he is right now at 2B. I suppose the real issue would be his production at the dish. Is he putting up legit corner OF numbers?

[Weirdos19]

I think 2009 will be the final litmus test on what Rickie Weeks can do.

 

If he does well, he may be the center fielder next year. If he doesn't, he may be traded or benched. Either way, the only way he's a second baseman next year is if Escobar or Hardy is the third baseman, which I don't see happening.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

I'm surprised to see why everyone wants to move Weeks to CF. If Cain is ready to go next year, there's no reason to block him by putting Weeks there.

 

I know this has been beaten to death, but Weeks is a cheap, average 2B. I don't see many 2B stars out there.

[TooLiveBrew]

I suppose it's too late in the spring to trade Fielder and move Braun to first base and find a new left fielder, but eventually all these things are going to have to find their natural balance, and the Brewers will be better off if management takes an active role in that process.

So because the Brewers haven't yet traded away their best young hitter while he's still affordable, management isn't being proactive?

[logan82]

If we had a good 2B almost ready I could see moving Weeks. As it stands right now the closest is probably Taylor Green and he is probably not due until 2010 at the earliest. Our outfield is also pretty full right now. Overflowing if Gamel ends up in the outfield with Cain, Braun, and Hart next year. The best option in my opinion is to hold onto Weeks until he hits free agency and then let Green or Lawrie take over.

[steve267268]

Right now is the perfect time to start giving Rickie some training in CF. Cameron is on his way out and we'll need someone eventually anyway. Then again, he can barely play 2B the way it is, imagine if his infield practice were cut into by his outfield practice. We have a lot of options for next year, though. More talent is on the way.

[JohnBriggs12]

I've never understood why Weeks hasn't been tried out there. Methinks they didn't want to mess with their number 2 overall pick but had no problem doing the same with lower round, prior regime pick, Hall. I would have thought the year Yount was a coach, they could have made the switch. After all Robin was an MVP SS who moved out there. Granted Robin was forced to the OF by a shoulder problem, but Sure Cain is getting close now, but if Cain's good enough, you can deal either Hart or Weeks to make room for him at some point.

[jackalope02ca]

We should have let him walk in the offseason and picked up someone else. If he had been taken anywhere other than the 1st round we would have bailed by now but we have too much money invested I guess. I'm thinking Rickie would make a good bat boy or maybe he could be one of the sausages. Other than that I don't see where he fits in.

[Fatter than Joey]

I've never understood why Weeks hasn't been tried out there.

 

In 2005, Clark was having a good season, and I think DM knew in the back of his mind that he was going to give Clark a deal.

[Invader3K]

The only way Rickie should be moved at this point is through trade, and we all know that's probably not happening.

 

I don't see where Braun and Fielder even come into the equation, though. You have one mediocre player and two well above average offensive players. So you're going to trade one of the good players so you can toy with a position change for the mediocre one? Not really the most logical thing, IMHO.

[RightFieldCoder]

The problem is that the mediocre player has the tools to be better than the others offensively. And unlike one of those players, has the body type to not see his production fall off a cliff.

 

If my math is correct, Rickie came up to the majors when he was 22. Now we have prospects that are 22 and we don't expect them to come up for another couple of years. I think Rickie was rushed to the majors because of the lack of talent, and that might have hurt his growth. I think/hope that at some point he'll finally put it together and become the player scouts predicted. I just hope we haven't given up on him before that happens.

 

And since OF is already overcrowded, I wouldn't move him there.

[kramnoj]

We should have let him walk in the offseason and picked up someone else.

 

Who do you think would have been better?

 

If he had been taken anywhere other than the 1st round we would have bailed by now but we have too much money invested I guess.

 

Weeks just finished his age 25 season and has played less than 3 seasons of games in the majors. It would be too early to give up on a player who has as much potential as he does and has performed overall as an average or below average player at his position.