1st base options

[greeg35]

so is .309/.377/.491 more palatable to you? (a day later)

wait, don't answer, he might go 0-4 today.

[Invader3K]

Gamel will be fine as long as he can learn how to play 1B. Once Fielder leaves, the team is going to have to hope the offense can come from primarily from Weeks, Braun, Hart, etc. Gamel should be solid, but no one ever claimed he would put up Prince-like numbers (at least I hope they didn't).

[TheCrew07]

Gamel needs to pick it up. .286/.359/.410 at AAA does not scream major league starter at 1B.

And McGehee's current line screams major league starting 3B?

 

2011

28

MIL

NL

32

133

121

11

32

9

0

2

14

0

1

11

21

.264

.323

.388

.712

You have a funny way of picking the players you support and those you don't, not to mention the data you choose to support your claims.

 

 

[Invader3K]

McGehee will be fine. Let's not turn this into a McGehee/Gamel debate.

[logan82]

Gamel will be fine as long as he can learn how to play 1B. Once Fielder leaves, the team is going to have to hope the offense can come from primarily from Weeks, Braun, Hart, etc. Gamel should be solid, but no one ever claimed he would put up Prince-like numbers (at least I hope they didn't).

No, but I think there is a good chance Gamel will be our 3rd best hitter next year behind Weeks and Braun.

[TheCrew07]

McGehee will be fine. Let's not turn this into a McGehee/Gamel debate.

That wasn't my intention, he's clearly the least best performing hitter of our top 5 thus far this season(Weeks, Braun, Fielder, McGehee, Lucroy.... Hart is just back so I didn't include him though I have my concerns about him as well). My point was to highlight that if a 1 month sample proves Gamel doesn't deserve to be in the 1B conversation for Milwaukee, then what does it say about McGehee? If you graph McGehee's career to this point, what does it look like? Why should we be optimistic about his future when he made a name for himself by over acheiving in the first place?

 

Gamel isn't going to back to 3B for the Brewers, I never made that claim, so lets not get overly sensitive about nothing.

 

I've grown weary of continually defending the reality of Gamel's statistical production around here, it seems that articles written in the JS have clouded many people's opinions of him. Mat's only offensive flaw is his strike out rate, which by the way improved significantly last year. He hits for AVE, hits for SLG, has a very good walk rate so his OBP good, and is very good athlete/strong armed so should be a solid defender at 1B. It's impossible for a fan like me to speak to his attitude, I don't know him personally, but I honestly don't care what Hardicourt or anyone in the local media has to say about a player, generally speaking they either toe the company line or drop unwarranted criticism (which I think also has it's roots in the organization, see Rickie Weeks). Instead of building a case for or against a player using the total picture of his entire career, people cherry pick the individual stats and sample size that best supports their particular arguments. Not just here like in the case of JB12, but all over the site lately.

[Invader3K]

Fair enough.

 

Here's an idea for someone outside the organization: Kansas City has a glut of quality 1B type players, and just sent Kila Ka'aihue back down to the minors. I wonder if he could be had for not much right now? It would be nice to have an additional option to consider once Fielder leaves after this season.

[Funketown]

Another big day for Gamel, now .316/.386/.518/.903. Strikeouts are down, and it's really nice to see him on this little power surge.

 

I wouldn't have any problem seeing the Brewers inquiring about Ka'aihue. His AAA numbers are downright comical, and if he could just find a way to get it together in the majors, he could be very good. Then again, there seem to be quite a few guys who fit that mold.

[JohnBriggs12]

Gamel did pick it up. That's nice to see. It's also nice to see his strikeouts down too.

[bucksman4]

Has anyone had the chance to see Gamel play 1B this year or read anything about his defense over there so far?

[greeg35]

there is some first hand accounts in the Minor League forum somewhere, maybe buried in a link report.

[TooLiveBrew]

Has anyone had the chance to see Gamel play 1B this year or read anything about his defense over there so far?

I know AndThat (Toby)'s opinion was that he wasn't impressed. However, even if the fairly pessimistic assessments of Gamel's defense are 100% accurate, he's going to be an upgrade over Prince in all likelihood.

[logan82]

Has anyone had the chance to see Gamel play 1B this year or read anything about his defense over there so far?

I know AndThat (Toby)'s opinion was that he wasn't impressed. However, even if the fairly pessimistic assessments of Gamel's defense are 100% accurate, he's going to be an upgrade over Prince in all likelihood.

That makes me sad.

[nate82]

Has anyone had the chance to see Gamel play 1B this year or read anything about his defense over there so far?

I know AndThat (Toby)'s opinion was that he wasn't impressed. However, even if the fairly pessimistic assessments of Gamel's defense are 100% accurate, he's going to be an upgrade over Prince in all likelihood.

I know Gamel has said that he has found 1B difficult and I believe he also said that he felt better playing the OF. I can't remember if Gamel said this or if someone said that he looked better in the OF but I do know that Gamel said something along the lines where he sounded like he was uncomfortable in playing 1B.

I would rather put Gamel in LF and have Braun play 1B that is my dream scenario which means it will not happen I would rather find a player who could platoon with Hart in RF through free agency than find someone to play 1B.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Gamel initially did say he thought 1B was tougher than OF. Here's what he had to say yesterday in an interview:

 

“My footwork was always the issue. I would get lazy with my feet and throw a ball away,” he said. “It is less stressful [at first]. I don’t have to worry about throwing it anywhere. It has to be less stressful for everybody.”

...

 

“That is probably why they were so adamant about me going to first base,” Gamel said. “I don’t care where I play. I just want to play.”

Don't know how he feels about OF play, I really doubt that he's a realistic option in the OF at this point unless it's to give Braun or Hart a day off here & there. I think he could learn to be passable in the OF, but the Brewers are going to have a huge hole to fill at 1B, & that's where Gamel will play (imo).

[nate82]

Gamel initially did say he thought 1B was tougher than OF. Here's what he had to say yesterday in an interview:

 

“My footwork was always the issue. I would get lazy with my feet and throw a ball away,” he said. “It is less stressful [at first]. I don’t have to worry about throwing it anywhere. It has to be less stressful for everybody.”

...

 

“That is probably why they were so adamant about me going to first base,” Gamel said. “I don’t care where I play. I just want to play.”

Don't know how he feels about OF play, I really doubt that he's a realistic option in the OF at this point unless it's to give Braun or Hart a day off here & there. I think he could learn to be passable in the OF, but the Brewers are going to have a huge hole to fill at 1B, & that's where Gamel will play (imo).

I know Gamel is going to be the 1B next year I just wish it would be Braun and the Brewers would just stick Gamel in LF with Hart in RF and Gomez/Morgan in CF. It just seems to me that the defense on a whole would be a lot better with Braun at 1B and Gamel in the OF. But that is just a pipe dream really and Gamel will be the 1B next year.

[monty57]

I know there's a slide chart which shows the relative difficulty of different defensive positions, but I it's more complicated than that. You can't simply move someone from a more difficult position to a less difficult position and expect them to immediately be a good defender there. I much prefer the idea of giving Gamel a full season at 1B in AAA and having him play full-time there for Milwaukee in 2012 to the thought of the "musical chairs" game of moving some combination of Gamel, Hart, Braun and McGehee to different positions.

 

Plus, even if players could simply move right on the slide chart, how would you figure that Gamel would be able to play corner OF if he can't play 1B (a leftward move on the chart), especially considering that he has spent his whole life at a corner IF position (3B), so 1B should be more natural to him than corner OF?

 

A lot can happen between now and then, but as things stand right now, it really looks like Braun LF, Hart RF, Gamel 1B, Weeks 2B, Lucroy C, McGehee 3B and our entire starting rotation and most of the bullpen return. The questions will be who (and how) will we pick up for SS, and will we stick with Gomez/Morgan for CF. Fielder will be hard to replace, but it is nice that he's really the only significant player we'll lose and most of the rest of the team will remain intact.