Russell Branyan Traded Back to SEA

[crewcrazy]

Heard it on Baseball Tonight when they said "Russell Branyan is headed to Milwaukee!" and had my ears perk up, only for them to add "to join the Mariners." Don't toy with me like that, ESPN.

 

Jack Z sends Juan Diaz and Ezequiel Carrera to Cleveland. I'm left wondering why they didn't just re-sign him this past winter...it seemed like he wanted to go back.

[JoeHova]

The Mariners are probably too far out for this trade to make much of a difference but at least Mariners fans won't have to watch Casey Kotchman anymore. In that context, Russ is worth far more than what Seattle gave up for him.

[Invader3K]

They offered him a one year deal last year, which he turned down (thinking he could get a longer deal).

 

This is basically just a "fill a gaping hole" type trade for the Mariners at this point.

[hawing]

The "Branyan headed to Milwaukee" had me doing a double take too. I'll say hello to him for y'all.

[thablingster]

I kind of hope Branyan plays today, just because. It'll be nice to see 3TO again, even if he's in an opponent's uniform.

[Funketown]

I think we can go back to hailing Jack Z. as the best GM in the game now.

[Point Beer Is Best]

This is the third time that Branyan has been traded by the Cleveland Indians. Is that some kind of record?

[Fatter than Joey]

Technically I think he was sold a couple of times

[HiAndTight]

The Mariners are probably too far out for this trade to make much of a difference but at least Mariners fans won't have to watch Casey Kotchman anymore. In that context, Russ is worth far more than what Seattle gave up for him.

This is more to get LaPorta into the lineup.

 

It's a pretty insignificant trade. Branyan's better than what they've got, but who isn't, and he has no value to Cleveland. Gotta see what LaPorta can do now.....

[hawing]

The Mariners are probably too far out for this trade to make much of a difference but at least Mariners fans won't have to watch Casey Kotchman anymore.

Kotchman made an appearance today, so they had to watch him at least one more time.

[HiAndTight]

Branyan's the type of guy who should be traded about 3 times a season.

 

He's usually alright the first couple weeks a team has him, and then he goes back to the .230-ish, all or nothing type hitter that gives him a nice overall OPS, but ultimately leaves his actual production well short of his .800-ish OPS.

 

He is a fun guy for when he does get ahold of one and you can watch it go 560 feet. That's always impressive. Short of that, meh. He's about as bad a .800 OPS type player as you can come up with.

 

Nice bench player though. I'll never forget sitting in one of the luxury boxes with a bunch of clowns not even paying attention to the game as we took some clients out to the game and I was on the edge of my seat and he hit a game tieing HR in the 9th, and then Prince came and hit a game winning HR in the bottom of 12(maybe) that was ruled a 2B and would have been a HR a couple months later when they implemented Instant replay.

[thebruce44]

HiAndTight[/b]]Branyan's the type of guy who should be traded about 3 times a season.

 

He's usually alright the first couple weeks a team has him, and then he goes back to the .230-ish, all or nothing type hitter that gives him a nice overall OPS, but ultimately leaves his actual production well short of his .800-ish OPS.

 

He is a fun guy for when he does get ahold of one and you can watch it go 560 feet. That's always impressive. Short of that, meh. He's about as bad a .800 OPS type player as you can come up with.

FYI, his OPS the last 3 years has been .850. When given playing time and being healthy he has done pretty well. Do I expect him to make the All-Star team? No. But saying he is as bad an .800 OPS player you can come up with is a pretty healthy exaggeration in my mind.

 

 

[Thurston Fluff]

If you're the type of person who dislikes all or nothing players 3TO would not be the type of player you want. While he does drive in runs and gets on base well enough he's not going to move runners over by hitting a ground ball behind the runner and such. He's either going to get on base or not touch the ball at all. If I had to make a team up I woulnd't mind a couple players like him but wouldn't want an entire team of that sort. A team full of that type would lead to an equal number of 12 run games as 0 run ones. Just not good for a consistent offense IMHO.

[Dnye23]

He almost made an appearance on Sunday. He was on-deck in the 9th but didn't get a chance when Josh Wilson made the final out. I don't know what kind of reception he would have gotten in that situation, coming in as the potential tying runner.

[JoeHova]

Kotchman made an appearance today, so they had to watch him at least one more time.

Yup. Inexplicable.

[HiAndTight]

HiAndTight[/b]]Branyan's the type of guy who should be traded about 3 times a season.

 

He's usually alright the first couple weeks a team has him, and then he goes back to the .230-ish, all or nothing type hitter that gives him a nice overall OPS, but ultimately leaves his actual production well short of his .800-ish OPS.

 

He is a fun guy for when he does get ahold of one and you can watch it go 560 feet. That's always impressive. Short of that, meh. He's about as bad a .800 OPS type player as you can come up with.

FYI, his OPS the last 3 years has been .850. When given playing time and being healthy he has done pretty well. Do I expect him to make the All-Star team? No. But saying he is as bad an .800 OPS player you can come up with is a pretty healthy exaggeration in my mind.

 

Shirt, how would you find a guy who puts up such an OPS who is a worse player?

 

He's about as bad as you can get defensively.

He hits about .230. He strikes out a TON...which I say realizing K's are overrated, but he just strikes out so much. He's got some value, but I don't think you could find a worse player with an OPS in the .800's. He's a nice bench bat, but that's about it to me. I think he's a bit glorified on here.

[Baldkin]

K's don't matter.

 

100 K's is about 1 run as a hitter at the MLB level. Saying someone has a 'Bad .850 OPS' is like saying Jason Kendall has a 'Good .550 OPS'.

His OBP is still .340 over the last 3 seasons. Stop looking at BA.

 

Yovani, on the other hand, has a "terrible .800 OPS", his OBP is only .275.

[cwolf2012]

He's also an above average 1B defensively. In the last 2 seasons, where he's played 1B pretty much exclusively, he's +5.6 at defense. He was -.1 at 3B for the Brewers in 2008. He is not a bad defensive player.

 

EDIT:

 

Source: http://www.fangraphs.com/...70&position=1B/3B/OF

[Thurston Fluff]

Don't you need three years worth stats to make defensive metrics useful? Not saying he isn't ok just not sure there is enough info one way or the other to make that determination.

[DHonks]

If we deal Fielder next off-season, I'd consider all sorts of options, including Hart to 1b, Gamel to 1b, Dunn to Milwaukee, Branyan to Milwaukee, etc

[mletto157]

I would love to have 3TO back in Milwaukee playing 1B if we dealt Fielder. Especially if we can get him cheap!

[thebruce44]

HiAndTight[/b]]Branyan's the type of guy who should be traded about 3 times a season.

 

He's usually alright the first couple weeks a team has him, and then he goes back to the .230-ish, all or nothing type hitter that gives him a nice overall OPS, but ultimately leaves his actual production well short of his .800-ish OPS.

 

He is a fun guy for when he does get ahold of one and you can watch it go 560 feet. That's always impressive. Short of that, meh. He's about as bad a .800 OPS type player as you can come up with.

FYI, his OPS the last 3 years has been .850. When given playing time and being healthy he has done pretty well. Do I expect him to make the All-Star team? No. But saying he is as bad an .800 OPS player you can come up with is a pretty healthy exaggeration in my mind.

 

how would you find a guy who puts up such an OPS who is a worse player?

 

He's about as bad as you can get defensively.

He hits about .230. He strikes out a TON...which I say realizing K's are overrated, but he just strikes out so much. He's got some value, but I don't think you could find a worse player with an OPS in the .800's. He's a nice bench bat, but that's about it to me. I think he's a bit glorified on here.

I am not sure I understand your first question. I think OBP is slightly more important than SLG, but Branyan's OBP has always been pretty solid.

 

I just disagree with a lot of your opinions here. When I saw him play everyday in MKE I thought his defense even at 3rd was at the very least average. I doubt it has degraded enough to be "as bad as you can get" especially when he is at 1st. Once again, I think you are really exaggerating.

[mletto157]

Agreed bruce, and as others have pointed out, all the stats agree with you too.

 

It seems like HiAndTight just doesn't really like 3TO all that much... and while it is perfectly fine to not like someone; you can't just make up blanket statements that are completely false to try and validate your opinion with them. Just say you don't like The Manyan as a player and move on.

[sheethead]

When given playing time and being healthy he has done pretty well.

 

The biggest problem with 3TO is that second part... being healthy. He can't seem to get that part down.

[thebruce44]

mletto157[/b]]Agreed bruce, and as others have pointed out, all the stats agree with you too.

 

It seems like HiAndTight just doesn't really like 3TO all that much... and while it is perfectly fine to not like someone; you can't just make up blanket statements that are completely false to try and validate your opinion with them. Just say you don't like The Manyan as a player and move on.

 

Yea, thats kinda how I feel as well but I didn't want to directly call him out. I know he said its his opinion, but I don't think HiAndTight is looking at it objectively at all.