Aubrey Huff

[Foofty]

What about going after him as a FA? he can play the OF and hes a nice offensive guy to bat 3 or 5ths spot next to Fielder?

[splitterpfj]

Huff will help someone next season, but the Brewers have no place to put him.

[Nader Raider Tim]

Rumor has it that he is asking for a 4 year 36+ million dollar contract, while I like him and don't think that the money wanted is that far out of the realm of reasonable as previousally posted we don't have room for him.

 

Maybe if Jenkins, Mench, and Clark all get traded, but that seems to be an unlikely occurance.

[endaround]

Huff isn't better than anyone already on the team.

[Big Reed]

endaround I implore you to take another look at the brewers' team and say those words again.

 

while huff may want more money than any current brewer is receiving, he is better than a lot of them. I think a better statement is that the brewers are just too cheap and would rather start guys making less money.

 

Huff can play first, third and the outfield. While koskie is probably a better defensive third baseman, Huff is a far better hitter than Koskie. huff's defense at first is better than Fielders'. Fielder could revert ot being a dh in interleague games. Huff would also make a great left fielder allowing the Brewers to keep Hall in the infield where he belongs.

 

Hufff would make a great addition to this team. he's also a lot better than Nix, Clark, Council, Mench, Miller, Graffy, and Jenkins but hey, the brewers don't have $10 million to spend on just one guy. So just forget that Huff is even on the FA market. and keep aiming your sights on those $2-3 million nuggets

[endaround]

Huff really can't play 3B. He has trouble in the outfield. He is poor at first. He hit .267/.344/.469 which is right about his career numbers. In Jenkins terrible year he hit .271/.357/.434 far below his career average. Koskie hit .261/.343/.490. Huff is really only slightly better than Mench and will cost at least twice as much.

[brewerfan82]

I think Huff would be a great addition to our lineup IF we trade both Jenkins and Mench. He's a solid left handed hitter that doesn't fall on his face against lefties:

 

Aubrey Huff - 30 yrs old in 2007 (3 Year Averages)

AB R H HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS

vs. R 373 55 104 18 59 40 51 4 2 .279 .350 .482 .832

vs. L 170 18 46 6 28 12 24 0 0 .268 .322 .423 .745

 

Total 543 73 150 24 87 52 75 4 3 .276 .342 .463 .805

 

I think he'd fit nicely in the three spot of the lineup:

2B Rickie Weeks ®

C Johnny Estrada (S)

RF Aubrey Huff (L)

CF Bill Hall ®

1B Prince Fielder (L)

LF Corey Hart ®

3B Corey Koskie (L)

SS JJ Hardy ®

 

C Damian Miller ®

IF Tony Graffanino ®

IF Craig Counsell (L)

OF Gabe Gross (L)

OF Brady Clark ®

[pogokat]

sure, Huff's been doing it longer, but Brady clark and Gross mixed together should put up a better stat line than huff..and for half the cost...not to mention they are already on the team...

 

5 years ago, i really wanted huff to play 3b, but the ship has sailed, and he's just not that great anymore..

[dadofandrew]

An 805 OPS from a corner OF?

 

Any reason we shouldn't just keep Jenkins and platoon him?

[splitterpfj]

I really don't see Huff as much better than Jenkins, but we'd be tied to him for more years. With 65 outfielders already here, I just don't see the Brewers having an interest in adding a new one who seems to be declining.

 

Has Huff been versatile on defense, or has he been moved around because he wasn't particularly good at any position?

[Foofty]

"I really don't see Huff as much better than Jenkins"

 

Besideds the whole strikeout category and that Jenks hitting #'s have slowly declined in the recent years.

 

I still call him Jenkkkkkins...

[splitterpfj]

Huff's numbers over the last four years...

 

HR-34, 29, 22, 21

RBI-107, 104, 92, 66

OPS- .922, .853, .749, .813

 

It would seem Jenkins isn't the only one on the decline.

[Big Reed]

Why not instead use the words from Sporting News in their 2006 scouting report? they said his defense was not very good at any position he played. he has a bad arm and runners can take an extra base off him. he's a DH! he's a steady run producer batting in a lineup with little protection. .

 

the main critisism I read here is he costs too much! it doesn't mean our players are any better than him. it just means we can't afford to add him. so..... We'll try to get by with what we already have-.

[endaround]

Jenkins is better. Koskie is better. Gross is better. Mench is the same. Hall is better. Fielder is better. Hart is better. The Brewers just have no room for him.

[PeaveyFury]

Jenkins is better. Koskie is better. Gross is better. Mench is the same. Hall is better. Fielder is better. Hart is better. The Brewers just have no room for him.

 

I'll give you Koskie, Hall, Hart and even Gross if his 200 2006 AB's are legit, but I'm not sure how he's worse than Jenkins or even mentioned in the same breath with Mench.

[sbrylski]

I'm not sure how he's worse than Jenkins or even mentioned in the same breath with Mench.

 

Did you see the three year averages that were posted? Jenkins is definately better, and Mench is also about a .800 OPS corner OFer with bad defense.

[PeaveyFury]

Jenkins is definately better, and Mench is also about a .800 OPS corner OFer with bad defense.

 

Jenkins has now had two bad years surrounding one good one in that same three years, while Huff had two good ones surrounding a bad one. At age 32, expecting Jenkins to bounce back again seems quite unreasonable.

 

Mench's OPS numbers the last three years in order: .874, .797, and .729. Seems like a pretty serious downward trend to me, especially considering that he's played 95% of his career in the #5 best hitters' park in baseball and doesn't even have an .800 OPS for his career.

 

Huff probably wouldn't be a significant upgrade over what we have now, but if we can trade Jenkins and Mench to improve the bullpen, I'd have little problem signing Huff to play OF depending on what it would take to sign him.

[endaround]

How about Jenkins bad years are the same as Huff's career numbers? Add in Jenkins defense and yes Jenkins is easily better.

[Big Reed]

but endaround, you first stated that huff wasn't any better than any of our players. want to edit that post?

 

and i can't believe with all of the great lineups the brewers have had in the past 10 years, jenkins has still never been able to drive in over 100 runs, yet huff despite the lousy players on tampa bay's team has done so twice while not being their #4 power hitter.

 

in looking at their career numbers, they are about the same. What I can't believe is why people are so down on jenkins and saying he should be a platoon hitter. before last year, Jenkins was a career .255 against lefties and .307 against righties. A lot of guys would be proud if they could hit .250. I know Council would nbe.

 

rather than just making generalizations, why can't you just say huff is asking for too much money and the brewers cannot afford to sign him? just admit we're a small market team with limited means .

 

We're too POOOOOOOOR!

[endaround]

All those lousy Tampa Bay teams were still better then the Brewers were offensively.

[aracko]

Id like to see Huff in LF, Jenkins in RF, Billy Hall at 3b and Koskie on the Twins for a real nice BP arm. Give me Gabe Gross in CF and give me a batting order that looks like this

 

1. Gross/Hart

2. Weeks

3. Prince

4. Hall

5.Jenkins

6.Estrada

7.Huff

8.Hardy

 

I think that lineup offensively stacks up with any in the league. Defensively that OF might have a few problems, but TO ME the positives outweigh the negetives.

[PeaveyFury]

How about Jenkins bad years are the same as Huff's career numbers?

 

Huff's career OPS: .819

 

Jenkins' 2006: .791

2004: .798

2002: .764

 

Sorry, but no.

[brettac1]

There's not much of a difference between .791/.798 and .819. And Jenkins only played 67 games in 2002.

 

Committing $9 million a year or whatever he wants for that small of a difference would be stupid. Just keep Jenkins and platoon him. Like others said, his defense is so much better that he's clearly a better player. His contractual situation is also way better from the Brewers perspective.

[PeaveyFury]

There's not much of a difference between .791/.798 and .819.

 

But even then that would mean that they're not "the same" as was the previous argument, and that was my point.

 

Committing $9 million a year or whatever he wants for that small of a difference would be stupid.

 

So by that, I gather that you think Jenkins will either rebound or get no worse? It's a Davis-like question: If he rebounds, he's a good, useful player. If 2006 was a sign of regression, we're hitting the point where Jenks won't be useful in any role for much longer. Considering his age, betting on a rebound doesn't seem to be the best plan here.

 

As I said, I wouldn't be opposed to Huff, depending on the money. I agree that 9 million per is rough, but if we can trade Jenkins for bullpen help, we not only get better offensively to some degree, but also improve a very questionable pen, and I don't see what the counter argument to that is.

 

Probably doesn't matter, as we're not signing Huff anyway unless Mench and Jenkins are both gone first.

[brettac1]

So by that, I gather that you think Jenkins will either rebound or get no worse?

 

Honestly, I don't really have a doubt.

 

It's not just the $9 million for next year, it's the rumored 4 years that would scare me.