If Edmonds makes the team, will he decide to stay?; Latest-- Edmonds added to the 40-man roster (reply #54)

[monty57]

If played right, I like having Gerut and Edmonds as backups as they're both talented and give us a lot of OF depth. But Macha will almost assuredly never play Gerut unless Edmonds ends up in a straight platoon with Gomez in which case we could be making a Gamel-esque mistake with Gomez.

 

Personally, I'd like to see Gerut platooned with Hart, with Edmonds backing up Braun and Gomez but I'm sure I'm higher on Gerut than most.

[tigerbrew]

I think Hart may lose his starting job pretty soon if he continues to struggle offensively, Edmonds could be getting a lot of playing time in RF. Frankly I prefer starting Edmonds in RF over Hart to begin the season. Maybe the Brewers should consider releasing Hart to save money and add payroll flexibilty.

[zzzmanwitz]

I highly doubt any major roster decisions (like starting Gerut over Hart or Edmonds over Gomez) will be made based off of 25 spring training games. If they look at past years performances as well and make that decision, I'm fine with it. I'd be absolutely shocked if either Gomez and Hart weren't your Starting CF and RF to begin the season.

[Invader3K]

Take this FWIW:

'As colleague Tim Kurkjian learned Wednesday, Jim Edmonds was told he has made the Brewers' roster, and he returned home to get some stuff.'

 

The above is from Buster Olney's blog this morning on ESPN.

[And That]

Edmonds has been added to the 40-man roster, per Haudricourt.

[PrinceEatMeat]

This is turning out to be a good day. Edmonds is staying with the team, and Bush is the #4 starter.

[Schlitz001]

This is turning out to be a good day. Edmonds is staying with the team, and Bush is the #4 starter.

Agreed. Right now Ryan Braun is the only outfielder that has proven he can be productive everyday. Between Gerut, Gomez, Hart and Edmonds we have a good mix of players to rotate in and out. I can see all 4 of them getting a fair amount of playing time.

[logan82]

Our best outfield setup may be Braun, Gerut, and Hart/Edmonds platoon. Gomez to AAA.

[joepepsi]

Well they at least have the option to send Gerut to AAA if he struggles in the Spring. It really might be the best thing for him. He's the CF'er of the future, but that doesn't mean he has to be the everyday CF'er in 2010, if there are better options.

 

EDIT: When I write Gerut I mean Gomez, of course. Me great big dumby.

[Patrick425]

Seems like this is only half the story. Yes, Edmonds was added to the roster, but what was he told by management as far as how much playing time they expect him to get?

[Funketown]

I actually wouldn't mind starting the season with a Hart/Edmonds platoon, and letting some combination of Gerut and Gomez handle center. As a defender, Edmonds would likely be a black hole in center, but it wouldn't surprise me if he could play right field as well as Hart.

[thebruce44]

Well they at least have the option to send Gerut to AAA if he struggles in the Spring. It really might be the best thing for him. He's the CF'er of the future, but that doesn't mean he has to be the everyday CF'er in 2010, if there are better options.

I assume you mean Gomez and not Gerut?

[joepepsi]

Well they at least have the option to send Gerut to AAA if he struggles in the Spring. It really might be the best thing for him. He's the CF'er of the future, but that doesn't mean he has to be the everyday CF'er in 2010, if there are better options.

I assume you mean Gomez and not Gerut?

D'oh ! Yeah, tough day at the office.

[UeckerAddict]

I just want the best 25 players on the opening day roster. Do I think Edmonds is one of them? Yes.

[dlk9s]

Braun's got to have options left, correct? Send him down to AAA so no tough decisions need to be made.

[monty57]

For what it's worth, I've listened to many of the ST games this year, and the announcers all seem to think that Edmonds has been playing extremely well in CF. He's not going to be anywhere near as good defensively as Gomez, who by all accounts is probably one of the better CF in the league, but I think he'll be able to cover as backup CF.

 

That said, I want to see Gomez as the regular CF with Edmonds getting some starts. Gomez isn't good enough that he absolutely needs to be in the lineup everyday like Prince and Braun, so there should be PT for the backup. I've said for a while that I'd like to see a platoon in RF, and it's not at all based on this spring. Hart and Gerut have been similar in that they had very good seasons a few years ago, but have cooled off. Gerut has the excuse of having been injured fairly seriously after his big seasons. Hart apparently found out that he can't see, but still isn't wearing his glasses this spring. If both are given playing time, I'd guess that one of them would play his way into the starting role, while the other would play his way into a bench role. I'd like to see Gerut given a shot, as I think he could be a good everyday player.

 

For some reason, Hart has been cemented into being a starter, and I think the addition of Edmonds, which is a good addition in that it adds talent where needed, will likely mean that Gerut will be forgotten on the bench until and unless someone gets hurt. He'll leave unceremoniously next offseason and have a good season for someone else next year, while I question whether Hart will even be offered arby because he'll be vastly overpaid for his talent level.

 

Bottom line is that I'm glad Edmonds is on the team, and I hope Macha is able to utilize the OF talent wisely.

[tigerbrew]

For some reason, Hart has been cemented into being a starter, and I think the addition of Edmonds, which is a good addition in that it adds talent where needed, will likely mean that Gerut will be forgotten on the bench until and unless someone gets hurt. He'll leave unceremoniously next offseason and have a good season for someone else next year, while I question whether Hart will even be offered arby because he'll be vastly overpaid for his talent level.

Well, you can always cut Hart before ST is over and save 80% of his contract. This way both Edmonds and Gerut should get more playing time. The money saved could be use to add payroll flexibility for future personnel move should an opportunity arise before trade deadline.

[monty57]

For some reason, Hart has been cemented into being a starter, and I think the addition of Edmonds, which is a good addition in that it adds talent where needed, will likely mean that Gerut will be forgotten on the bench until and unless someone gets hurt. He'll leave unceremoniously next offseason and have a good season for someone else next year, while I question whether Hart will even be offered arby because he'll be vastly overpaid for his talent level.

Well, you can always cut Hart before ST is over and save 80% of his contract. This way both Edmonds and Gerut should get more playing time. The money saved could be use to add payroll flexibility for future personnel move should an opportunity arise before trade deadline.

 

You could, but even though I'm skeptical as to whether Hart will regain his past glory, cutting him would definitely diminish the talent level on the team, as he's probably better than Stern or Katin, and I really don't want to see Cain brought up to ride the bench. Even with the arby win, Hart probably isn't ridiculously overpriced this year, but unless he finds his old form, the guaranteed raise in arby would make him ridiculously overpriced next year, so I could see the Brewers not offering him arby after this year.

I don't want to see Hart cut this spring, I just hope Macha uses the available talent wisely. If Hart plays well and Gerut doesn't, I'd be glad to see Hart play a lot. If Gerut or Edmonds is playing better than Hart, then I hope they get most of the playing time. I think two consecutive sub-par seasons by Hart should have the Brewers thinking about platooning him, especially with two very capable OFs in Gerut and Edmonds sitting on the bench. I've discussed Hart in other threads, so I'll make one more comment and then I'm done: Melvin shouldn't have to cut talent in order to get the best players to play... he should just make sure he has a manager that will play the best players.

[logan82]

For what it's worth, I've listened to many of the ST games this year, and the announcers all seem to think that Edmonds has been playing extremely well in CF.

 

It always looks good when you make diving plays. A good CF wouldn't have to dive. I think at this point Gerut is a better CF than Edmonds. Looking back to 2002 at UZR/150, Edmonds he only has one really good year in CF, 2005.

[TooLiveBrew]

Actually he was above-avg. in each of those seasons, with good seasons in '03, '05, & '06. He was below-avg. in '07, & then horrific in '08. Since 3 years of defensive data is what's required to form a reliable sample, I definitely think '08 should be treated as an outlier. Maybe not '07, since it's not far off his career norms. I agree with monty. I think Edmonds will be fine in limited CF playing time. Sure, he'll be a big dropoff from Gomez, but most outfielders would be. One thing I agree with you about, logan, is that I'd much rather see Gerut in CF.

[logan82]

I kind of ignore '08 for the most part with Edmonds. If Gerut wasn't on the team I would be fine with Edmonds out there. If both play the same day I think Gerut should be in CF and Edmonds in RF.

 

The other thing to consider is how relevant UZR/150 from 4+ years ago. There is a good chance that Edmonds has declined and is now well below average. Gerut posted a 9.6 just last year with a 12.2 the year before. Then you have to go back to 2004 for a -6.1 and 2003 for a 12.9. Edmonds best UZR/150 was a 9.7 in 2005.

[TheCrew]

UZR isn't the end-all-be-all statistic to determine if a player is good defensively. The stat definitely has it's flaws. That said, a guy turning 40 this year is probably going to be playing average to below average defense.

[logan82]

No UZR isn't the be all end all, but we really don't have much else to go on.

[thebruce44]

No UZR isn't the be all end all, but we really don't have much else to go on.

 

Which is why at this point we have to trust Macha to fill out the lineup card correctly since he has been watching him all spring. No point in trying to argue or second guess about something when none of us have the necessary information.

[logan82]

Which is why at this point we have to trust Macha to fill out the lineup card correctly since he has been watching him all spring. No point in trying to argue or second guess about something when none of us have the necessary information.

That sort of defeats the purpose of actually posting here. I think there is enough information to have a discussion.

 

Yes we do have to trust Macha but only because his employment is not under our control. I think we have grounds to 2nd guess a guy who no only played Corey Patterson but had him bat leadoff in back to back games.