Brewers acquire Nyjer Morgan -- Latest: Audio Fun, a must-listen, but the Nationals won't be amused

[PrinceEatMeat]

Ummm... Really? I think Gomez is much faster than "Above Average".

 

Yeah the rankings are very off here on him. He's probably a 9 or 10 speed. And an 8 fielding and 9 or 10 range.

I will say, on the poster's own created scale of 2-8 ... a 9 or a 10 is very impressive.

Well, didn't read close enough. Then 8 speed, and 8 range. You get the picture.

[joepepsi]

So is Morgan the everyday RF'er until Hart is back?

[PrinceEatMeat]

So is Morgan the everyday RF'er until Hart is back?

Nope, Kotsay is. Unfortunately...

[Warning Track Power]

Didn't read through the entire thread but here are my thoughts:

 

*I am not worried about Morgan's anger issues until there is something to worry about. He seems to play hard all the time and his outbursts last year, IIRC, were not the result of dirty play. Now I have to say that I do not recall all the situations precisely but to insult the Classiest Team Ever is not hard and the beanball incident with Florida was baseball. The incident/suspension with the fan in Philly was rescinded so there must have been other factors in play.

 

*Morgan is an asset for this club in the event Carlos continues to underachieve. Even in a perfect world where we had both guys at the beginning of ST, I would have rooted for Carlos to take the reins on the CF job because his skillset, if ever realized, is amazing. Nyjer should only see significant starts in CF if Carlos puts up a line of sub .240/.300 through mid-May.

 

*Swapping Morgan for Dickerson is a win. I love Dickerson and would've thought our OF depth with Morgan and Dickerson would've been the best option to win in 2011, but if I had a choice, I take Morgan because it allows for so much more in the future. If Carlos fails and Morgan becomes the CF, in 2012 when Prince leaves, it allows Morgan to hit leadoff and drop Rickie into the #5 hole. Having a lineup of...

1. CF Morgan

2. RF Hart

3. LF Braun

4. 3B McGehee

5. 2B Weeks

6. 1B Gamel

7. C Lucroy

8. SS ??

...would still be a very good lineup given the rotation we have.

 

*The bench is weird. Reed and Morgan bring the same thing, speed and CF depth. Kotsay is a light hitting, RF/1B that should never see the field. Counsell is a light hitting 40 year old that can't play too much for fear of wearing down. Almonte doesn't seem to have a natural position. Not a lot of thump on the bench unless you count Kottaras. I am worried about the bench to be honest and wish we had a Gabe Kapler-type corner OF or Russell Branyan-type backup IF to replace Reed or Kotsay and give the fear of a PH HR rather than the slap hitters that are currently on it.

 

Overall a win, but the bench composition scares me. A lot.

[rluzinski]

You'd run a huge risk of benching Gomez after his fine spring. Don't forget Morgan put up a lousy .633 OPS last year (compared to Gomez' .655) and he lacks the power Gomez has.

 

Despite his speed, Morgan gets thrown out a lot trying to steal. Gomez is the better base stealer. I'm not so sure Morgan is the better player.

I'm not sure I want to judge guys on spring stats.

We've been warning JohnBriggs about spring training stats for almost a decade. I'd rather a guy have a .900 OPS than a 600 OPS in spring training but what Gomez has done is nothing to get even remotely excited about, IMO. Despite another year of feel good stories about him using a new approach at the plate, he still isn't walking. He looks like a lost cause, offensively.

That said, Morgan is only a small upgrade. PECOTA has his projected OBP 30 points higher higher but his SLG 10 points lower. A platoon in CF would be ideal but apparently, that's not going to happen.

[GormanHarvey]

That's exactly what I thought when I saw 6 for speed, and I knew the scale only went to 8. There are MAYBE 3 or 4 players currently in MLB faster than Gomez so I have absolutely no idea how he only gets "above average" for speed.

[monty57]

A platoon in CF would be ideal but apparently, that's not going to happen.

 

Nor is Morgan starting in RF until Hart's back. McCalvy wrote a recent article stating that Reed and Morgan were the backups, which I take to mean that Kotsay is the starter.

 

I still don't get all the Reed bashing. The guy was a very hot prospect w/ Seattle before injuries totally derailed his (potential) ascent. He was talked about as having far more promise than Dickerson or Boggs ever was. I'm not saying Reed would've been an All-Star or an offensive stud. But there's ability there that hopefully we see

 

I get the Reed signing, as he's on a minor league deal and is a good backup/depth guy to stick in AAA in case Gomez fails (especially since he was signed prior to the Morgan deal). I don't get keeping Reed as a #3 CF instead of holding onto Boggs, even if another decision would have to be made when Hart comes back. You never know what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks that may make us wish we hadn't dumped Boggs. If Almonte fails, we don't have a lot of RH bench options, as it appears we're never going to allow Katin to step foot in a Brewers' dugout.

 

I don't get signing Kotsay to a MLB deal and virtually guaranteeing him a spot. While it would be nice if Kotsay could find his lost youth and continue hitting like he has this spring, it doesn't seem likely. I'd much rather have another RH hitter on the bench.

[PrinceEatMeat]

A platoon in CF would be ideal but apparently, that's not going to happen.

 

Nor is Morgan starting in RF until Hart's back. McCalvy wrote a recent article stating that Reed and Morgan were the backups, which I take to mean that Kotsay is the starter.

 

I still don't get all the Reed bashing. The guy was a very hot prospect w/ Seattle before injuries totally derailed his (potential) ascent. He was talked about as having far more promise than Dickerson or Boggs ever was. I'm not saying Reed would've been an All-Star or an offensive stud. But there's ability there that hopefully we see

 

I get the Reed signing, as he's on a minor league deal and is a good backup/depth guy to stick in AAA in case Gomez fails (especially since he was signed prior to the Morgan deal). I don't get keeping Reed as a #3 CF instead of holding onto Boggs, even if another decision would have to be made when Hart comes back. You never know what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks that may make us wish we hadn't dumped Boggs. If Almonte fails, we don't have a lot of RH bench options, as it appears we're never going to allow Katin to step foot in a Brewers' dugout.

 

I don't get signing Kotsay to a MLB deal and virtually guaranteeing him a spot. While it would be nice if Kotsay could find his lost youth and continue hitting like he has this spring, it doesn't seem likely. I'd much rather have another RH hitter on the bench.

Now that Cruz refused his assignment, we really have no other righty options if Almonte fails. I just hope we don't lose Boggs too. Keeping Reed doesn't make sense to me. Even if Boggs had to be sent out when Hart returned, he would have a better chance slipping through waivers during the season than he does now.

[monty57]

From some of the past posts/links, it kind of sounds like we've already lost Boggs. I think he, like Cruz, is going to try to find another team where he'll have a better chance of making the big league club. He has to figure that if the Brewers didn't keep him over Kotsay & Reed after Hart went down, that he's never going to play in Milwaukee.

 

Neither Boggs nor Cruz are world-beaters, but they have some talents it would seem the Brewers need. Boggs is a switch-hitter with some power who plays decent defense at all OF positions. Cruz is a defensive specialist who also hits RH and had a decent year at the plate last seson (even though he'll never stick for his bat alone). We may not miss them, but then again we may... it all depends on how the season plays out. I certainly hope Betancourt proves all the detractors wrong, and Hart comes back healthy and hitting like he did last year instead of the previous two. I certainly don't want Farris as our everyday SS, and I don't want Nyjer Morgan or Mark Kotsay as our everyday RF.

[PrinceEatMeat]

From some of the past posts/links, it kind of sounds like we've already lost Boggs. I think he, like Cruz, is going to try to find another team where he'll have a better chance of making the big league club. He has to figure that if the Brewers didn't keep him over Kotsay & Reed after Hart went down, that he's never going to play in Milwaukee.

 

Neither Boggs nor Cruz are world-beaters, but they have some talents it would seem the Brewers need. Boggs is a switch-hitter with some power who plays decent defense at all OF positions. Cruz is a defensive specialist who also hits RH and had a decent year at the plate last seson (even though he'll never stick for his bat alone). We may not miss them, but then again we may... it all depends on how the season plays out. I certainly hope Betancourt proves all the detractors wrong, and Hart comes back healthy and hitting like he did last year instead of the previous two. I certainly don't want Farris as our everyday SS, and I don't want Nyjer Morgan or Mark Kotsay as our everyday RF.

Totally agree. I really hope this doesn't come back to bite us. We are for sure going to be in trouble with basically any injury to our starting lineup. We can cover for Gomez with Morgan, and Counsell could hold down some infield spots for a short time, but other than that we would be in trouble. Nobody wants Kotsay toiling in RF or LF for any extended period of time, or Almonte at 1B, or anyone from the minors starting in the infield.

[strawbossisevil]

Any team that has an injury to a star player in their starting lineup is going to be in trouble. And the fact that the Brewers have 5 offensive players who are above average with the bat are no different.

 

However, I don't share the pessimism. Here's why. If either Hart, Braun, Fielder or McGehee goes down long term, I think Gamel would be brought in as their replacement. And while Gamel may not be able to equal the production of a Fielder or Braun, he'll probably be capable of putting up an OPS in the low to mid 800s.

 

In CF we have Morgan and Gomez who are essentially the same player. So an injury to Gomez wouldn't be a huge drop off. At SS Bentancourt wouldn't be all that hard to replace with a waver wire replacement with very minimal drop off. Same is true at Catcher, baring a big season by Lucroy (although I think he has the talent to put one together).

 

The only position where a long term injury would significantly impact the Brewers is at 2b. Going from Weeks (a top 5 2b) to Farris would be a significant drop off.

 

While an injury to a starter would hurt (as is true for any MLB team), I think the Brewers have decent options at almost every position were a major injury to happen.

[monty57]

Strawboss, has there been any news on where they're going to play Gamel in AAA this year? I heard he didn't want to move off of 3B, but it would be nice if they'd play him all over the field, as I agree with you that he is their best hope for a "MLB ready" bat to replace an injured Brewer. I think they have a lot of OF at Nashville, so my guess is that Gamel will play 1B with some time at 3B & DH, with Zealous Wheeler (who had a good spring) as the primary 3B. That would allow Gamel to be the replacement plan if Fielder went down and it would be interesting to see what they'd do if McGehee went down. To me, it looks like Kotsay will be the primary backup at RF/LF this season with Morgan the obvious backup CF. Farris wouldn't be terrible at 2B, but I don't want him coming up as an everyday SS, as that's not his normal position, so unless he gets significant PT there at Nashville (unlikely with Maysonet on the team), he'd probably be pretty bad defensively there.

 

I agree that any team that has an injury to a star is in trouble. However, since the Brewers had to trade a lot of their prospects for MLB players (moves I like), they are probably a little thinner than most teams in the depth department, as has been spotlighted by the onslaught of injuries this spring. Thankfully, none of them have been major, and I certainly hope they play relatively injury-free this season, as they should be very fun to watch.

[strawbossisevil]

No news that I´ve heard. Although he has experience at 1B, 3B, and corner OF. I´m sure he´d prefer playing one of those positions in the MLB over playing in AAA. I don´t think Kotsay would be a long term guy in LF/RF if either Braun or Hart went down long term.

 

Heck, if it wasn't for Gamel going through an injury himself this spring, he might be up with the team playing in RF on opening day.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Strawboss, has there been any news on where they're going to play Gamel in AAA this year? I heard he didn't want to move off of 3B, but it would be nice if they'd play him all over the field, as I agree with you that he is their best hope for a "MLB ready" bat to replace an injured Brewer. I think they have a lot of OF at Nashville, so my guess is that Gamel will play 1B with some time at 3B & DH, with Zealous Wheeler (who had a good spring) as the primary 3B. That would allow Gamel to be the replacement plan if Fielder went down and it would be interesting to see what they'd do if McGehee went down. To me, it looks like Kotsay will be the primary backup at RF/LF this season with Morgan the obvious backup CF. Farris wouldn't be terrible at 2B, but I don't want him coming up as an everyday SS, as that's not his normal position, so unless he gets significant PT there at Nashville (unlikely with Maysonet on the team), he'd probably be pretty bad defensively there.

 

I agree that any team that has an injury to a star is in trouble. However, since the Brewers had to trade a lot of their prospects for MLB players (moves I like), they are probably a little thinner than most teams in the depth department, as has been spotlighted by the onslaught of injuries this spring. Thankfully, none of them have been major, and I certainly hope they play relatively injury-free this season, as they should be very fun to watch.

Right when he was optioned both Doug and Ron said that he was being sent down to play 1B.

[Mass Haas]

Has there been any news on where they're going to play Gamel in AAA this year?

It's been reported that Gamel has been told he will play first base exclusively.

 

[strawbossisevil]

Right, because Gamel is seen as Fielder's replacement next season. That doesn't mean that if a situation were to come up where one of our top players were to go down that he would be incapable of filling in that role. He certainly has the experience to fill in at any of those four positions.

[TooLiveBrew]

After watching some of his video highlights from last season, I really like the Morgan addition. I watched about a dozen defensive highlights, and saw him take a bad route on maybe one of them. He not only has excellent speed, but looks to have really good instincts in the outfield as well. His extraordinarily high career UZR/150 (20.2) in the outfield looks like it's a pretty decent descriptor of his ability.

 

I had a little concern about his speed, since his BUH%, BABIP, & UZR/150 all were down significantly last season from his career norms (& I'm assuming those are largely speed-related stats). But he certainly didn't look like he'd lost a step at all on video, so I can probably chalk those drops down to randomness more than anything else. If he hits to his career norms against righties, I would hope he takes that half of platoon duties in CF.

[logan82]

Unfortunately I think he will be behind Kotsay on the depth chart.

[Gobias Industries]

If he hits to his career norms against righties, I would hope he takes that half of platoon duties in CF.

I fully expect a Gomez/Morgan platoon to be in full effect by May 1st.

 

I'd love to see Gomez blow up. He's had a nice spring and all. But about 1500 PA's tell us he's .293/.349 hitter.

 

This team is built to win this year. There's absolutely no reason Morgan should be on the bench against RHP's.

[owbc]

I'm not going to change my view of Morgan because of some quotes, but nevertheless I am still happy to read this:

“I’m excited. Very excited,” Morgan said. “This seems like a fun

ballclub here, and basically this is my first time being on a winning

ballclub. I’m more excited about that than anything. I’m going to try to

fit in, basically. Whatever my role is, I don’t care about that.”

[berniebrewer4life]

I'm not going to change my view of Morgan because of some quotes, but nevertheless I am still happy to read this:

“I’m excited. Very excited,” Morgan said. “This seems like a fun

ballclub here, and basically this is my first time being on a winning

ballclub. I’m more excited about that than anything. I’m going to try to

fit in, basically. Whatever my role is, I don’t care about that.”

Good to see. Hopefully that mentality continues, as i don't see him getting a ton of playing time this year.

[patrickgpe]

fwiw wears #2

[cwolf2012]

"I'd love to see Gomez blow up. "

 

Really? I'd love to see him excel and become the player so many people projected him to be. I expect him to fail or "blow up," but it would definitely be best for the team if he somehow put it together.

[PKBadger]

"I'd love to see Gomez blow up. "

 

Really? I'd love to see him excel and become the player so many people projected him to be. I expect him to fail or "blow up," but it would definitely be best for the team if he somehow put it together.

I think you're maybe unaware of how the kids are using the phrase "blow up" these days. It means a good thing.

[Greg Vaughn]

Cutter Dykstra is an unathletic hack. I watched him two years ago in R+ when he played for Helena. I took one look at this dude playing 2nd Base and thought "WOW......that guy is terrible." Trust me we lose ZERO with this trade.