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

[monty57]

logan3825]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.

Agreed that Edmonds has always been well known for making diving plays he may not have needed to make, but what the announcers have commented on is how shallow he plays and how well he gets back on the ball, making a number of plays at the fence. Sort of the anti-Jenkins (my comment, not theirs).

 

I, too believe that Gerut could be a fine CF, but I'll hold out hope that he's the platoon RF :-)

 

Plus, I believe that Edmonds has played his entire career in CF, so he may be better there than in a corner spot.

 

 

[danzig6767]

What kind of arm does Edmonds have, i never paid any attention?

[tigerbrew]

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.

I suspect Hart could be hitting like last year's Hall this season. As such I prefer to have Heether take the final roster spot over Hart, and he's paid over 10x less. It's not too late to release Hart and save $3M that can be better use elsewhere. Inglett adds OF depth if Hart is gone.

 

I agree that Macha should play the best players, which is why I think Edmonds should start over Hart. The Brewers are looking to contend, performance should be a key criteria in Macha's decision making. Hart is performing like the worst player, like he doesn't deserve to make the team.

 

One last thing, Hart had the whole winter to sort out his vision issue, it annoys me that he waited till ST to get it done. He seems poorly perpared for ST and for baseball. Escober and Gomez played winter ball, their performance is ST is pretty good, they seem ready to start the season well.

[The Truth]

Count me in as one of the people who think Edmonds is going to take Hart's job sooner rather than later

[logan82]

The information we have suggests that Hart didn't know about his eye problem until the start of spring training. He didn't have all winter to sort it out.

 

I hope in the future Gomez and Escobar refrain from winter ball. I am not a big fan of our everyday MLB players playing winter ball.

[monty57]

I don't think there's any chance of Hart not making the team. However, if we had someone who could play RF and mash left handed pitchers, we've definitely got the LH bats in Edmonds and Gerut to from the LH side of a platoon. I'd guess the Brewers believe that the potential for Hart to regain lost form is worth the $3MM or so they could save if they went with someone like Katin or Stern.

 

Of course, watching Hart bat yesterday reminded me of late 2008. Not to mention the lazy fly ball that he misplayed turning an out into a triple. If he's looked that bad all spring, maybe he will be dumped... stranger things have happened.

[tigerbrew]

My bad on the calculation. 80% of $4.8M = $3.84M savings. If Hart is replaced with someone from the minors, the savings would actually be more like $3.5M plus. That's a lot of money considering the economy and how many teams are tightening their belts this season.

 

DM has probably hit very close to his payroll limit, that $3.5M in additional payroll flexibility could come useful around trade deadline to strengthen the team for the playoff run.

[logan82]

Not to mention the lazy fly ball that he misplayed turning an out into a triple. If he's looked that bad all spring, maybe he will be dumped... stranger things have happened.

 

Plays like that happen often enough in Spring Training that it really isn't much of an issue.

 

March 17, 2010 Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days.

 

March 31, 2010 Last day to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2010 salary