Bill Hall traded to Mariners for P Ruben Flores

[Baldkin]

They were in first place halfway through the season... 43-38 on the 4th of July... with their staff intact. With Hall, Parra and Hardy all underperforming to the extreme.

 

When guys started getting hurt is when everything unraveled.

[Ennder]

Bill Hall has been one of the worst players in baseball for 3 years straight, nothing Melvin did this season was going to change his value.

[monty57]

There's a possibility that DFAing him actually increased what they got for him. It gave any possible suitor a time frame in which they had to come up with the best deal in order to land him. Melvin was able to play Cincy against Seattle to get the best deal, as both teams knew that they would have to compete in the open market for him if they didn't make a trade. Of course I would have liked to have received more, but being realistic, Hall is not worth very much, and that $1.3MM can now be used in a more productive fashion.

As far as Hardy for Harang, I heard from what I believe to be a fairly reliable source that the deal was ready and Mark A. axed it in the final hour. I would assume this would only be due to financial reasons. When I read the Hall for Harang rumor, I hoped and prayed it was true, but couldn't really bring myself to believe that the Reds would be that dumb. While uninspiring, the trade that actually went through is probably more than I would have initially hoped for, as I expected the Brewers to just pay for all of Hall's contract next year. Who knows, an extra million or two could be the difference in signing a Suppan instead of a Lilly.

They were in first place halfway through the season... 43-38 on the 4th of July... with their staff intact. With Hall, Parra and Hardy all underperforming to the extreme.

When guys started getting hurt is when everything unraveled.

Agreed. I was less worried about our starting staff to begin the season as I was worried about the lack of depth at SP. Once the injuries started to pile up, I thought we should cut bait on guys like Cameron, Hoffman, etc. and start playing for next year.

[Gobias Industries]

I say it was a stupid move to DFA him. You can't tell me that he didn't have some value. He could play at least 5 positions, and he has some track record of hitting the ball. There are plenty of worse '25th men' in the league. For Pete's sake, we aren't too far from the days of guys like Trent Durrington.

 

Doesn't make a bit of sense to get rid of him and be on the hook for $10 million when they need a utility guy anyway. If they DFA'd anyone, it should have been Suppan. Why does he keep getting chances? He has hurt the team a lot more than Hall did.

The only value Hall had was negative. The track record you speak of keeps creeping farther and farther away. I think Bill Hall's days as a productive major leaguer are long gone. I'm pleased Melvin got 1.3 million for him.

 

We can't dump Suppan because we don't have many SP's better than him. Nearly any guy in AAA could have outperform Bill Hall's line from this year, so he was just a waste of a roster spot.

[jhart05]

I'm surprised they got anything for Hall.

 

Look at his stats the last three years.

 

 

In this trade...

 

Anything > nothing

 

So, good trade.

[yogallardo43]

"Hall is only on the books for one mroe year and Igawa is terrible. Why trade one year of crap for two years of crap when you can get rid of all the crap and save some money to boot?"

 

Would you rather take the trade that we got? I never said that Igawa was on the table, but it would've made sense. I would much rather take a chance on Igawa than what we got. Igawa is owed $9 million over the next 2+ seasons, which essentially cancels out Hall's contract next season and gives us another free season. Igawa has been terrible in the majors, but his minor league numbers have been solid. To me, it would have been a much better return.

[TooLiveBrew]

The main reason I am disappointed was Melvin publicly making the announcement of "working on something".

 

I think the only person to blame here is yourself for unrealistic expectations. I have no idea how "working on something" means anything good or bad, aside from projected meaning from the listener/reader.

 

 

It's like his comments of at the deadline of almost getting the big fish. Why make either comment?

 

To appease the legion of fans that were moaning that he wasn't doing anything.

[mls4]

Hall ends his Brewer career 14th in franchise games played, 17th in plate appearances, 17th in runs, 18th in hits, 10th in doubles, 16th in HR, and 7th in strikeouts.

[bigredrobbo]

Can Bill Hall pitch for Seattle?

[jackalope02ca]

Melvin did good to get some of the salary paid by Seatlle. Hall looks to be pretty much done as a major leaguer even though he can play multiple positions. Not sure why anyone would be concerned about how the Brewers handled his recent Triple A stint. Even if he'd stayed down all month and smacked the cover off the ball I doubt it would have affected his value much. Thoughts of getting Harang for him were just delusional. As for Arroyo why would we want Manny Parra's clone when he already have one pitcher who is lights out one night and lit up the next. Plus you have to question Arroyo's sanity given his recent comments.

[Weirdos19]

I cannot believe anybody thinks Melvin did wrong here. He got 1.3 million for a guy that hasn't produced in 3 years. The equivalent would've been getting 1.3million for Jeffrey Hammonds before the last year of his contract. There has always been a glimmer of hope that Billy would get his stroke back. After one bad year, I could understand that. But after three? It was never going to happen here, because he would never get the atbats here. If Melvin could've gotten more, Hall would have been dealt long before any trade deadline. He got the most he could for Billy. Good deal.

[Invader3K]

Hall is blaming "contract pressure" for his two and half lousy seasons after his MVP year. Kind of sounds like excuse making to me. I would think if someone paid me $24 million or so to do a job, I'd feel no pressure at all. Then again, I'm not a professional athlete.

[tigerbrew]

Hall is blaming "contract pressure" for his two and half lousy seasons after his MVP year. Kind of sounds like excuse making to me.

Yeah, that's my impression too when I read it. Seems to me like a very convenient excuse to blame his sucking on his contract rather than himself. It also seems like a PR savvy thing to say in case Mariners fans are reading. But frankly as a Brewers fan, it's a very annoying thing for me to hear him say that.

[Invader3K]

This is why guaranteed contracts suck, especially for teams like the Brewers. They tried to do the right thing and paid a guy who had performed well. They rewarded him for success, and then when he failed (abysmally), they basically had no real recourse.

 

If he feels like he was truly pressured, maybe he could actually show some genuine remorse for his poor play and give some of that contract back to the Brewers. Of course, you almost never see a professional athlete do such a thing.

[jeffy]

I've never really understood why baseball has this tradition (or requirement???) of guaranteed contracts? My understanding is Football does not, if you are cut you get nothing, not sure about other sports.

 

It appears that the Yankees are to blame: http://books.google.com/books?id=FetjSKt7WHoC&lpg=PA55&ots=U0QPXTuO9S&dq=guaranteed%20contracts%20baseball&pg=PA55#v=onepage&q=guaranteed%20contracts%20baseball&f=false

[monty57]

Football also has a rule where if a player doesn't like his contract he can sit out most of the season, come back for the final few games and be credited for a whole season. Also, since players know the contracts are not guaranteed, they insist on much higher signing bonuses than baseball players receive. In football, players do not have to toil through the minors and then get league minimum for three years before graduating to a three year arbitration process which holds their contract value down until, sometime in their late 20's or early 30's, they are finally able to sell their talents to the highest bidder. No system is pefect, and I hope baseball continues to make attempts at competitive balance.

 

As far as guaranteed contracts, I agree that it stinks to have bad contracts bogging down your team, but the team signs the contract the same way a player does. If one side is obliged to honor a contract, then both sides should be, otherwise what use is the contract. How would we feel if Braun all of a sudden said "I'm worth more than I've signed for, so I'm opting out of my contract and becoming a free agent."

[SeriesFinale]

Hall is blaming "contract pressure" for his two and half lousy seasons after his MVP year. Kind of sounds like excuse making to me.

Yeah, that's my impression too when I read it. Seems to me like a very convenient excuse to blame his sucking on his contract rather than himself. It also seems like a PR savvy thing to say in case Mariners fans are reading. But frankly as a Brewers fan, it's a very annoying thing for me to hear him say that.

I don't know, he basically said he lapsed into some very bad habits because he was pushing. Which was likely the case. Bill Hall was the one up there hacking at garbage, not his contract, and he didn't say otherwise.

 

Guess it didn't bother me that much.

[Diskono]

Yeah, that's my impression too when I read it. Seems to me like a very convenient excuse to blame his sucking on his contract rather than himself. It also seems like a PR savvy thing to say in case Mariners fans are reading. But frankly as a Brewers fan, it's a very annoying thing for me to hear him say that.

You mean it wasn't his laser eye surgery?

[Thurston Fluff]

Would you rather take the trade that we got? I never said that Igawa was on the table, but it would've made sense. I would much rather take a chance on Igawa than what we got. Igawa is owed $9 million over the next 2+ seasons, which essentially cancels out Hall's contract next season and gives us another free season. Igawa has been terrible in the majors, but his minor league numbers have been solid. To me, it would have been a much better return.

 

But he is owed it over two years. With this we are left with absorbing it now not putting it off over two more years. It's like taking a band aid off. It's much more tolerable to just rip off than slowly peel it off suffering all the way. All that assumes the Yankees wanted to make that trade without asking for some money in return.

[valpocrewsader]

Hall goes 2-3 -- incuding double single, and sac fly -- with 2 RBI in his debut with the Mariners tonight. Good for them, bad for us.

[Schlitz001]

Hall goes 2-3 -- incuding double single, and sac fly -- with 2 RBI in his debut with the Mariners tonight. Good for them, bad for us.

I think what you mean to say is Hall goes 2-3 including a single off of a rookie lefty with a 6.80 ERA and a double off of Toma Ohka (6.08 ERA). Hall had a few 2 and 3 hit games for the Brewers this year too. I'm not convinced yet.

[dlk9s]

Uh oh, I think Hall has turned awesome.

[sauveb]

And he has been turned into a left fielder.

[RockCoCougars]

I bet Hall will put up better numbers than Bourgeous for the rest of the season. I'll even go further and bet that he will be above 'replacement value'. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up better numbers than Cameron.

[logan82]

RockCoCougars wrote:

. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up better numbers than Cameron.

Wow, really? Cameron has been our 3rd best hitter this year.(I exclude part time players) An .808 OPS is nothing to scoff at especially with good defense in CF.