Weeks out for the season; Hurricane's a-comin'

[TooLiveBrew]

I am very sad. I have always been a big Weeks fan and when he finally starts to realize his potential this happens. Rickie if you ever get around to reading this I would just like to wish you a speddy recovery and hope you will be a Brewer for years to come.

 

I just feel so bad for Rickie. He has worked so hard and for this to happen it just flat out sucks for the team and especially for Rickie himself.

I really am at a loss for words, so I'll just let bkbc's suffice. Ugh.

 

 

If only these punk Brewers didn't untuck their jerseys!

[MillerParkSouth]

this really, really stinks. he finally looked like he was putting it all together and now it's all gone. the silver lining (if there is one) is that i'm sure a lot of us, myself included, thought the season was over when Yo got hurt last year and we ended up being fine. hopefully the rest of the team steps up now.

[crewcrazy]

Well I guess something had to go wrong sooner or later...too much good was happening recently for something like this to not pop up sooner or later. Reading the phrase "the oft-injured Weeks..." in the AP story posted on ESPN stung a little bit to read, but I wonder how long it'll be before the same crowd that ganged up on Ben Sheets for being hurt all the time jumps on Weeks.

 

It's just unfortunate that this had to happen when Weeks was finally starting to figure things out and get comfortable up there. I can only hope that this doesn't have a big psychological effect on him and it undoes all the progress he made. I still remember Hardy still worrying about his shoulder years after recovering from that injury and it hampering his development at the plate...hopefully that doesn't happen to Rickie and he can come back quickly and with confidence.

[TheCrew07]

I was thrilled with how he was attacking fast balls this season, he'd made more progress defensively as well. He's a hard worker, good guy, he just doesn't seem to get any breaks.

 

Here's to a speedy recovery Rickie!

[nate82]

. I still remember Hardy still worrying about his shoulder years after recovering from that injury and it hampering his development at the plate...hopefully that doesn't happen to Rickie and he can come back quickly and with confidence.

Actually I hope the Brewers take their time this time with Weeks and his injury. I believe the Brewers last time rushed Weeks back or he rushed himself back before getting 100% healthy and he should have been in the minors rehabbing that injury longer than he did. I hope Weeks is babied back and not rushed back.

[JoeHova]

This is terrible news...

[moofnelson]

I had never heard of this injury before Weeks did it to his right wrist a few years ago. Now he has the same thing happen to the left wrist? Wow. Well, Mr. Gamel, it's your turn to do what Braun did a few years ago. Minus the errors, of course. My early vote is Gamel for ROY!!!

[fondybrewfan]

Rickie's bat speed almost seemed inhuman at times and I guess his wrists just can't seem to handle it.

 

Ricke has always been one of my favorite Brewers and sadly this latest injury will probably cause many fans to label him a bust. Even in his poor years he was still an adequate 2nd basemen and this year he was probably Top 5. He made such huge strides defensively and all the coaches talk about how hard he works. It really makes you feel terrible for the kid. I hope he still can have a productive MLB career but this latest injury maybe makes it less likely that that career will be with the Crew.

 

As far as who is going to play 2nd, I just can't see COunsell holding up his production the entire year. He is at his best starting 3 games a week and I don't want McGehee or the Hurricane starting the other 4. Not sure what 2nd basemen are available via trade by Melvin has to at least look. DeRosa plays 2nd doesn't he, could we get him from the Indians?

[MickeyDavis]

Brian Roberts please.

[Gobias Industries]

What really ticks me off is that we've already seen this isn't a 4-6 month injury, it's a 12 month. It took Rickie a full calendar year to recover from the last one. Just disgusting.

[MillerParkSouth]

DeRosa is in the final year of his contract. If we could get him on the cheap, i'd love to bring him in. It wouldn't solve our lead off problem, but he's very versatile.

[JJHardy7]

I'm not going to 'blame' Weeks' injuries on his swing, but I have to wonder if he's having these wrist injuries because of his 'waggle' of the bat. I know it's not as violent as it used to be. I just can't believe he's had this on both wrists. Part of me wonders if this could potentially really, really hold his career back.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Best move if done from within the organization is to platoon Hall and Counsell at 2b, and give Gamel a shot a 3b everyday, because he can hit both righties and lefties. Hall can only hit lefties, and Counsell can only hit righties.

[TheCrew]

Ugh...... this sucks. Heart goes out to the guy......

 

Didn't Brian Roberts recently sign a contract extension? Rotoworld suggests that it could be Durham or Grudzielanek and they also mention Ronnie Belliard as being on the trade block...... Derosa would be intersting, but I'm not sure if the Indians are looking to move him at this point.

[sargennm]

On the bright side, all I have ever heard TH and Drew Olsen on 540 say is that Rickie is the hardest worker on the Brewers. If anyone can comeback from this and dominate, it's a guy like Rick. Good luck to him.

[Invader3K]

Really too bad. This should be an injury a good team can overcome, though. While Weeks was playing tremendously well, they should have a potent enough offense and competent enough defense to overcome losing him.

[lukevan]

Rickie's always been one of my favorites.

My fear has been though that the way he swings the bat will always give him wrist issues. Hope I'm wrong and he comes back strong again next season.

 

[brewcitynick]

Hall used to play 2nd a few years ago... how bout moving hall to second and gamel playing third i dont think that would be to bad of an idea.

[Crew2323]

Brian Roberts please.

I too am sickened by this news. He was doing well. Here's to a speedy recovery, and a full comeback next year.

 

Maybe this is better served for the trade rumors/proposal forum, but could Roberts be a candidate to replace weeks?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Any chance Ray Durham is brought in again?

[TheCrew]

Just googled it and Roberts signed a 4 yr/$40 million dollar deal in the offseason......

[PrinceEatMeat]

No way we would bring Roberts in. What would we do with him next year? Durham or the like would be a one year option.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Best move if done from within the organization is to platoon Hall and Counsell at 2b, and give Gamel a shot a 3b everyday, because he can hit both righties and lefties. Hall can only hit lefties, and Counsell can only hit righties.

I feel horrible talking about this while we're in mourning for Rickie...I feel so bad for that kid. However, I agree with this. The commitment to Gamel starts now.

[strawbossisevil]

Very unfortunate. I hope the Brewers move Hall/Counsell over to 2b and have Gamel start at 3b.

 

While Weeks brought a number of things to our team (especially OBP), if Hall continues to play as well as he has, and Gamel comes in and hits well our offense will probably still be in pretty decent shape.

 

The biggest problem with this is it probably means we have Hart as our leadoff hitter. Not a huge fan of that, but we don´t exactly have a whole lot of better options currently (although Counsell does a pretty good job of getting on base).

 

Here´s hoping that Weeks has a speedy recovery and is ready to produce like he can by next season.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Terrible news. If the majority of the starts go to Hall at 3B and Counsell at 2B, this is a pretty big blow to the offense. If the "soft platoon" that we've seen so far is moved over from 3B to 2B and Gamel is the everyday 3B, this is a big to potentially enormous blow to the IF defense.

 

I'm still with everybody that wants to go with the latter option. It's probably a bit more of a gamble, but Gamel might already be the third best hitter in the organization.

 

Another thought they'll likely never seriously entertain is a defense/offense platoon arrangement of sorts where Gamel plays behind the high K and/or flyballish pitchers (Gallardo, Parra, and Bush) and CounsHall or maybe eventually Escobar plays behind the low K / high GB guys (Looper and Suppan, maybe sometimes Parra if the opposition tends to put the ball in play a lot).