Nyjer Take Over!

[Warning Track Power]

I know it's only 4 games in, but I have come to the conclusion that when we get healthy, our top 8 players should be on the field and that means Nyjer Morgan should be inserted into the everyday lineup. Since we have dug ourselves not an insurmountable hole, but it is still is a (hole) nonetheless, we don't have the luxury of praying Gomez works out. Gomez, even with my high hopes is, well, Gomez. It's apparent. The words "pinch" and "runner" come to mind.

 

The hole we dig ourselves cannot get too much bigger before action is taken to remove the lineup of Nieves, Kotsay, Gomez and Betancourt.

*Lucroy will be back within a week or two solving the Nieves problem (hopefully keeping Kottaras).

*Hart will eventually return but until then we will have to make due with Kotsay/Almonte.

*I don't see the easiest remedy for Betancourt removal yet save a straight platoon with Counsell which isn't ideal either.

*Gomez is the only real candidate for removal since we have a better player already on the roster.

 

How to make the lineup card should be an interesting dillema though for Roenicke once Morgan becomes an everyday player.

 

Lineup #1: Are the Brewers better with Morgan leading off which allows Weeks to drop in the order?

Morgan CF

Weeks 2B

Braun LF

Fielder 1B

McGehee 3B

Hart RF

Lucroy C

Betancourt SS

 

OR

Lineup #2: Are the Brewers better with Morgan around the 8 hole which allows him to see fastballs and hopefully get on base in front of the pitcher?

Weeks 2B

Hart RF

Braun LF

Fielder 1B

McGehee 3B

Lucroy C

Betancourt SS

Morgan CF

 

OR

 

Lineup #3: The unlikely lineup but might be worth taking a chance on seeing the pop Rickie has developed

CF Morgan

RF Hart

LF Braun

1B Fielder

2B Weeks

3B McGehee

C Lucroy

SS Betancourt

 

I'll take lineup #1. I'm still hopeful for the season. This has been a trying first week but we'll get this turned around. The right guys need to start playing though. That is apparent. An influx of more Morgan/Lucroy and less Gomez/Nieves is just the start.

 

NOW FIND A REAL SS!!

 

EDIT: Interesting that typing "a" and "hole" next to each other ends up being changed into !$%!&. Didn't mean it as a curse.

[Funketown]

I agree that Morgan > Gomez at this point. Also, as long as Weeks doesn't mind, I'm all for moving him down in the order. If he doesn't want to move down though, I wouldn't fight it too hard.

 

And I don't see what's wrong with a strict platoon of Counsell and Betancourt. I still believe Mat Gamel could provide the Brewers as much value at SS as Betancourt.

[Mass Haas]

Nyjer Morgan is hitting 15-for-28 (.536!) against Derek Lowe.

 

If he's not playing CF against Lowe Tuesday night, Ron Roenicke will have lost me already.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Nyjer Morgan is hitting 15-for-28 (.536!) against Derek Lowe.

 

If he's not playing CF against Lowe Tuesday night, Ron Roenicke will have lost me already.

Well, he might be in RF.

[Mass Haas]

Roenicke already stated that Kotsay will be in RF becuase he "matches up well" with Lowe (he's 3-for-9 lifetime in a sample that means about 67% less than Morgan's). It has to be a day off for Carlos.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, I really don't see Gomez in the lineup tomorrow then. It'll be Weeks Morgan Braun Fielder McGehee Kotsay Betancourt Nieves Gallardo. Even though Nieves sucks he'll play again because he caught Gallardo all spring. The lineup I could deal with right now is Morgan Weeks Braun Fielder McGehee Betancourt Kottaras Gomez Pitcher.

[logan82]

[quote author=Funketown wrote:

[/b]And I don't see what's wrong with a strict platoon of Counsell and Betancourt.

Counsell probably can't play that many games anymore. A straight platoon of the two would probably be pretty good production wise. Betancourt has decent splits vs LHP and since he would be the small half of the platoon he wouldn't be on the field for defense as much shich would also help his value.

[Warning Track Power]

PrinceEatMeat]Yeah, I really don't see Gomez in the lineup tomorrow then. It'll be Weeks Morgan Braun Fielder McGehee Kotsay Betancourt Nieves Gallardo. Even though Nieves sucks he'll play again because he caught Gallardo all spring. The lineup I could deal with right now is Morgan Weeks Braun Fielder McGehee Betancourt Kottaras Gomez Pitcher.

Flip Kottaras and Betancourt for me and that should be the lineup until Lucroy/Hart return.

 

1. Morgan

2. Weeks

3. Braun

4. Fielder

5. McGehee

6. Kottaras

7. Betancourt

8. Gomez

9. Pitcher

 

Eesh...even that ideal looks rough at 7-8. But injuries do that to you. The only truly abyssmal thing in that lineup is YuBet. Everything else is serviceable considering Hart/Lucroy injuries as Gomez is probably a below average #4 and an above average #5 OF and Kottaras is probably an average backup C.

[SZBrewerFan]

Rickie in the 2-hole, in front of Braun and Fielder and with Morgan getting on base at a decent clip could be down right scary good. Think of the fastballs he would see. Pitcher distracted with Nyjer on first, and not wanting to put more baserunners on with Braun coming up....sounds like a winner to me!

[PrinceEatMeat]

Rickie in the 2-hole, in front of Braun and Fielder and with Morgan getting on base at a decent clip could be down right scary good. Think of the fastballs he would see. Pitcher distracted with Nyjer on first, and not wanting to put more baserunners on with Braun coming up....sounds like a winner to me!

For sure. Like I said before, this would be the best for Rickie's production. I hope Roenicke realizes this soon.

[The Truth]

I'm all for Morgan getting most of the starts, but he really should sit against lefties. Look at his splits, he's really an ideal guy to platoon with Gomez

[The Truth]

Weeks should stay in the leadoff spot, Morgan should bat 2nd, and by all means Kottaras should be in there vs Lowe as a left-handed bat. Counsell should also start tommorow at SS.

 

Derek Lowe pitching to Wil Nieves would be beyond ugly

[PrinceEatMeat]

Ok, for later in the season when Hart and Lucroy are back.

 

vs LH

 

Weeks

Hart

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Betancourt

Lucroy

Gomez

 

vs RH

 

Morgan

Weeks

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Betancourt

Lucroy

[The Truth]

Ok, for later in the season when Hart and Lucroy are back.

 

vs LH

 

Weeks

Hart

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Betancourt

Lucroy

Gomez

 

vs RH

 

Morgan

Weeks

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Betancourt

Lucroy

I like those lineups except I would start Counsell at SS once or twice a week vs righ-handers, vs Left-Handers I would bat the pitcher 8th and Gomez 9th and I would keep Weeks leading off.

 

Morgan is an excellent bunter and would be ideal in many ways batting 2nd

 

 

[DHonks]

Morgan sure looked solid today. He did everything that was asked of him, and he also showed an ability to work the count. At this pace, he'll be getting more and more playing time in CF...unless Go Go learns to keep his linedrives in fair territory.

[Funketown]

Morgan failed to be a grizzled veteran. If he had more willpower he may have been able to motivate Betancourt into having a better plate approach in the 9th.

[jjkoestler]

This seems very similar to the Starting Lineup thread.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Ok, for later in the season when Hart and Lucroy are back.

 

vs LH

 

Weeks

Hart

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Betancourt

Lucroy

Gomez

 

vs RH

 

Morgan

Weeks

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Betancourt

Lucroy

I like those lineups except I would start Counsell at SS once or twice a week vs righ-handers, vs Left-Handers I would bat the pitcher 8th and Gomez 9th and I would keep Weeks leading off.

 

Morgan is an excellent bunter and would be ideal in many ways batting 2nd

 

I agree that he is a good bunter. It could be useful to have him bunt after a Weeks hit, but I would also like him leadoff so he good steal with Weeks at the plate.

[patrickgpe]

i like morgan in the leadoff, ricky in the 5 spot, once hart comes back, so he can bat #2.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Ok, let's throw this out there for fun. How long will it take before Nyjer Morgan takes over most of the playing time in CF? We all know Gomez will still see starts against lefties and such, but you get the point. I say end of April, or early May. Should be earlier, but it is what it is.

[PKBadger]

The only truly abyssmal thing in that lineup is YuBet.

Just wanted to say, +1 to using "YuBet" as a nickname instead of "Yuni".

 

 

http://www.thewho.info/images/YBYB-HUNGss.jpg

[berniebrewer4life]

Ok, let's throw this out there for fun. How long will it take before Nyjer Morgan takes over most of the playing time in CF? We all know Gomez will still see starts against lefties and such, but you get the point. I say end of April, or early May. Should be earlier, but it is what it is.

I'd agree with that. Give Gomez a month or so to prove he isn't up for the job, and by that point, i expect Morgan will get the majority of the starts.

[brewtank34]

Rickie in the 2-hole, in front of Braun and Fielder and with Morgan getting on base at a decent clip could be down right scary good. Think of the fastballs he would see. Pitcher distracted with Nyjer on first, and not wanting to put more baserunners on with Braun coming up....sounds like a winner to me!

 

Rickie has proven that he's just as productive in the leadoff and he's comfortable there. With that said, I'm a huge fan of the idea of Morgan leading off with Week's in the #2. When all healthy.... Morgan, Weeks, Braun, Fielder, McGehee, Hart, Lucroy, Betancourt. This would make me very happy.

[The Truth]

Take the total amount of time it took Macha to give up on Gomez in 2010, divide that in half and subtract 5 games, and thats when we can start penciling in Nyjer in the every day lineup, with Gomez filling in vs lefties on occasion

 

Maybe we could trade Gomez for JJ Hardy! What? Oh....

[danzig6767]

Ok, let's throw this out there for fun. How long will it take before Nyjer Morgan takes over most of the playing time in CF? We all know Gomez will still see starts against lefties and such, but you get the point. I say end of April, or early May. Should be earlier, but it is what it is.

I'd agree with that. Give Gomez a month or so to prove he isn't up for the job, and by that point, i expect Morgan will get the majority of the starts.

What has Gomez shown in spring and the first four games to deserve a month to prove himself to be any different than years prior? He didn't take walks at all in spring and he's looked exactly like the same old Gomez the first four games. Constantly hacking at bad pitches while swinging for the fences.

 

Baseball history has shown that except in rare cases, very free swinging hackers stay very free swinging hackers. It's who they are and how they'll always approached at bats. Plus, lets face it, Gomez may be a nice guy who plays hard, but he doesn't exactly come off as a cerebral enough player to ever make a dramatic change in his approach at the plate.

 

Every game is important and for now Morgan should be the regular RF until Hart gets back, but once that time comes, Gomez should only ever start in CF when a lefty is on the mound.