Hart out with left oblique strain

[Tennik]

Has anyone heard a return date? I know with this type of injury there is a little bit of ambiguity, but I feel like we've been hearing he's "one week away" for like three weeks now.....

[TooLiveBrew]

But to suggest that he should be cut because of 61 injury-rusted PA as a Brewer and some spring training games strikes me as very short-sighted.

 

Not to mention the fact that, after today's game, his ST slash line stands at .313/.371/.438/.809.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I have no problems keeping Dickerson. I think he is a very solid backup outfielder. I think Boggs would be a great guy to have off the bench too. The guy I have a problem with keeping is Kotsay. He's not nearly as good as though two are in the outfield, and he's just another left-hander. I get that he's a veteran, but I don't think his signing was necessary. I think we'd be fine with a bench of Dickerson, Boggs, Counsell, Cruz, and Kotarras. That would give us two guys who could hit righty off the bench, which would be nice to have for a change. The whole backup 1B thing seems pointless to me. Prince never sits out, and if he did, Casey could just move over there. Cruz also has played there during ST.

[TooLiveBrew]

I have no problems keeping Dickerson. I think he is a very solid backup outfielder. I think Boggs would be a great guy to have off the bench too. The guy I have a problem with keeping is Kotsay.

 

Exactly. Both are probably better hitters, and both are far superior defenders. The Kotsay signing didn't make sense when it happened, and it makes less & less sense as time passes. My only guess is that Melvin and/or Roenicke have man crushes on the guy.

[monty57]

I have no problems keeping Dickerson. I think he is a very solid backup outfielder. I think Boggs would be a great guy to have off the bench too. The guy I have a problem with keeping is Kotsay.

 

Exactly. Both are probably better hitters, and both are far superior defenders. The Kotsay signing didn't make sense when it happened, and it makes less & less sense as time passes. My only guess is that Melvin and/or Roenicke have man crushes on the guy.

It seems to me that after the Brad Nelson 0-21 season, Melvin is most comfortable with "proven veterans" on the bench. I understand this to a degree, but I would rather have Boggs, Almonte or Cruz over Kotsay this season.

 

[joepepsi]

Kotsay has a .319 obp/.377 slug pct/ .696 OPS over his last 1745 plate appearances. He's not going to improve on that. He can't play defense and he doesn't hit for power-I think you need one or the other of those talents for a bench player.

 

He was a nice player in Oakland, but he's been terrible since he hit the wrong side of 30.

[JohnBriggs12]

A case can easily be made that Jeremy Reed is a better player than Dickerson. Reed's a .315 career hitter in the minors, was once the 25th overall rated prospect, and doesn't strike out nearly as much as Dickerson. He's also had a 45 SB year in the minors.

 

Dickerson is a lifetime .264 minor league hitter with lots of strikeouts. He's never been a top 100 prospect.

 

The gap between Reed's minor league and major league numbers is greater, but someday maybe he'll take that forward step and hit like he has in the minors.

[CheezWizHed]

That isn't a very convincing argument in Reed's favor. Its not like he is a young kid without much chance in the majors. He will be 30 this year and has 1243 MLB at bats. His potential at this point is very nearly tapped. And I'll point out his career MLB OPS is 666 (isn't that evil enough?)...

 

Given that Reed is on an MiLB contract, I would guess his AAA ticket is almost stamped.

 

And to show that ST numbers don't mean much, here are his last two years of ST OPS and Regular OPS:

		ST OPS	Regular OPS
2009	NYM	1.087	0.605
2010	TOR	0.953	0.503

[GormanHarvey]

From watching this spring's televised games, I can say Reed does not even come close to having the speed he apparently once had. Give me Dickerson and Boggs if Hart starts the season on the DL

[JohnBriggs12]

That isn't a very convincing argument in Reed's favor. Its not like he is a young kid without much chance in the majors. He will be 30 this year and has 1243 MLB at bats. His potential at this point is very nearly tapped. And I'll point out his career MLB OPS is 666 (isn't that evil enough?)...

 

Given that Reed is on an MiLB contract, I would guess his AAA ticket is almost stamped.

 

And to show that ST numbers don't mean much, here are his last two years of ST OPS and Regular OPS:

		ST OPS	Regular OPS
2009	NYM	1.087	0.605
2010	TOR	0.953	0.503

Reed is 10 months older than Dickerson. Age between the two isn't an issue. Neither has great upside. I'll grant you Dickerson is faster, but he's not a huge SB threat. I've admitted Reed has never produced what his minor league numbers would project at the major league level but he makes better contact than Dickerson. Since both have shown just marginal power, give me the guy who makes contact.

[CheezWizHed]

I never argued that Dickerson was a prospect. Your argument on Reed was based on that he was a better minor league prospect.

 

At their age, production trumps prospect. Does Manny Parra's prospect status in the minors mean anything anymore?

 

Dickerson hasn't had a ton of MLB at-bats (< 500, but with decent results), but Reed has had plenty (>1200 with bad results). What they were or did in the minors doesn't account for a hill of beans when the player is approaching 30.

[RockCoCougars]

Until he proves something on the field, Dickerson is the third Mouton to me. He had a good but short rookie season, and that has skewed a lot of his 'slash' stats. That was three years ago. That and the fact that the Reds dumped him for a gimpy 40 year old outfielder with likely less than two months left in his career tells me that he has limited upside. How large of a 'sample size' will we need to conclude whether Dickerson is a good player? At this point, I would rather keep Boggs and send Dickerson to Nashville when there is only one spot available- not that Boggs is a world-beater either, but Dickerson has one option left.

[Warning Track Power]

Dickerson is a stud in MLB 11 The Show so I say we keep him.

 

In all seriousness though, I would concur with most on this board in offering him and Boggs the backup OF positions. If Gomez falls flat, Kotsay is one step closer to being an everyday player and that has disaster written all over it.

 

Dickerson was on the team no matter what this season save batting under .200 in the spring. Reed is out of luck because he is LH like Counsell, Dickerson, Kottaras, Kotsay. The 5th OF job really boils down to Boggs vs. Cruz vs. Almonte. I'll take my chances with Boggs as I am no fan of Cruz and Almonte is rather "meh" to me considering he hasn't played in the Majors in almost a decade (2003).

[GormanHarvey]

Let's not forget that Dickerson is a much better defender than Reed or anyone else that would fill in at CF if Gomez gets hurt or plays his way out of the lineup. Except maybe Boggs. He has looked pretty good out there although I don't think he is the defender in CF Dickerson is. I think defense has to weigh fairly heavily here when talking about backing up CF...just don't really see what Reed brings to the table. I might feel differently if he was right handed

[BrewCrewForever]

I think Kotsay and Dickerson are locks. Boggs will make it if Hart starts on DL which seems likely. Counsell and Cruz seem to be locks as back IF to me.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I just hope they don't give Almonte a roster spot just because he's hitting well in ST. That really doesn't mean much, and I really don't think he would do much for us off the bench. He can't really play anywhere adequately in the field, and isn't very versatile. Maybe if he could still play middle infield he'd be useful, but he can't. I still think it's gonna be Kotsay and Dickerson for the OF, and Counsell and Cruz for the IF. With Kottaras as backup C and Boggs getting a spot if Hart goes on the DL.

[Warning Track Power]

My bench looks like:

OF - Dickerson, Boggs
C - Kottaras
INF - Counsell
1B/OF - Kotsay (default as there is no way he isn't making it)

I personally cannot stand Cruz since he dropped the racist card on Macha. Even with that bias, I fail to see a redeeming quality to keeping him on the roster as he can't hit. I personally would rather give the opportunity to Farris but he probably needs to play everyday, so that's why I'd carry Boggs instead of Cruz.

[TooLiveBrew]

1B/OF - Kotsay (default as there is no way he isn't making it)

 

That's just so depressing. (I'm not disagreeing with you)

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yep, I'm still pissed that we signed Kotsay to begin with. He's just taking a roster spot from someone who deserves it, and can actually play the field. We would've been fine with Dickerson and Boggs as backup outfielders. We could just put McGehee at 1B if we had to. Prince is going to play 162 games anyway, barring injury.

[CheezWizHed]

Until he proves something on the field, Dickerson is the third Mouton to

me. He had a good but short rookie season, and that has skewed a lot

of his 'slash' stats. That was three years ago.

 

2008: 102 AB - 304/413/608/1021 - That is more than good for a CF, but is way over what is expected

2009: 255 AB - 275/370/373/743 - Who here would not accept that from our CF?

2010: 97 AB - 206/250/268/518 - Yep, a poor year, no doubt.

 

So his rookie year no more skews his numbers up than last year skews them down. So in 3 years he had one bad year. And since part of that bad year was here, I think it tends to skew Brewer fan's perspectives a bit too much.

 

Yes, 454 MLB ABs is still a smaller sample, but I think he has at least shown enough to be a good backup CF. Especially since his OBP is on average 100 pts better than his BA (both MLB and MiLB). The guy can walk!