Brewers claim SS Josh Wilson from Diamondbacks; Saito to 60-day DL

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'd just sign Branyan and be done with it for now. Maybe we'll get a SS closer to the deadline.

[Thurston Fluff]

1. Trade for a Hardy-type SS and make Yuni B the backup at SS for the rest of the season and buy him out at the end of the year.

 

I can't get behind any trade at this point. We are low on prospects as it is. There are two options for trading that make any sense at all. One is to trade a decent prospect for a decent upgrade. The other is to trade garbage for a lateral move. The first option depletes an already low prospect reserve. The other doesn't help and would limit our ability to trading for someone as an injury replacement later. This team was considered competitive as it was built and has shown itself to be so. Why change for marginal at best upgrades?

 

Him and Kotsay split the 5th OF/PH role depending on situation. Boggs is in the role now but I am not in love with him like some are.

 

I can get on board with this. Katin is far from perfect but he does have power. I'm also not sold on Boggs.

 

Backup C: Rivera or Kottaras, Nieves DFA. I know I just said it but him being on this team amazes me. No great defensive skills and is so far from the Mendoza Line, that the Line is a dot to him

 

This is my personal theory on why he's still here. He's kind of a player coach specifically for a very young catcher brought up sooner than he was ready. If he does actually help Lucroy I'm ok with him in that role. Not ecstatic but ok with it. IF there was actually someone good and capable of mentoring him I'd be all for that. I don't really see either of the other two as capable mentors so if that is his role I can deal with his limited offense.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Oxy wrote:

---

I don't like carrying 3 catchers and only 1 backup IF.

We finally have 3 catchers so we can pitch hit for our catcher and still have the emergency C for extra inning injuries. And we do this when we finally have a C that I don't want to be pitch hit for. We already have 2 back up middle IF's. The problem is one of them is starting every day at SS

So we still have a guy on the bench that we will absolutely not use unless it's an emergency, and it's not like either Mike Rivera or Nieves are going to be 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd choice to PH.

 

If they wanted a RH pinch hitter, why not just bring up Katin? He's 28, it's not like he's a prospect who needs to be playing everyday to develop. He hits for big power, and takes some walks. Rivera does neither of those.

[Warning Track Power]

Backup C: Rivera or Kottaras, Nieves DFA. I know I just said it but him being on this team amazes me. No great defensive skills and is so far from the Mendoza Line, that the Line is a dot to him

 

This is my personal theory on why he's still here. He's kind of a player coach specifically for a very young catcher brought up sooner than he was ready. If he does actually help Lucroy I'm ok with him in that role. Not ecstatic but ok with it. IF there was actually someone good and capable of mentoring him I'd be all for that. I don't really see either of the other two as capable mentors so if that is his role I can deal with his limited offense.

I am with you on this as well. Nieves may be very serviceable as the player-coach mentor role for Lucroy and that adds some value. However, the problem I have is that Melvin, Ash, Roenicke...whoever it was, decided to fill out the CF and SS positions with Gomez and Betancourt. I love Gomez on D and loathe him and Yuni B at the plate, and when you stack these three back-back-back at the 6-7-8 spot in the order and follow that with the pitcher, it puts enormous pressure on Weeks-Hart-Braun-Fielder-McGehee to produce runs everyday. I can make due with Gomez's O because of his D but I can't make due with Betancourt period. This is the reason I struggle with Nieves being on the roster. He's a victim of circumstances of Betancourt bringing nothing on O or D and Gomez bringing amazing D and no O. If Hardy or a league average SS were on the roster, I could deal with Gomez and Nieves in the 7 and 8 spots, but because of the albatross at SS, Nieves becomes expendable.

[brewers4eric]

It doesn't hurt to have some middle infield depth, but I would rather have Wilson at AAA and not taking up a spot on the 25 man roster. Given that we have some relievers that can go multiple innings and starters that are working late into games, does anyone think that they might go with an 11 man pitching staff over the short term? If they have to clear roster space, my guess is that they might move a catcher and a pitcher until they hit the 20 games in 20 days stretch in mid June.

[Thurston Fluff]

However, the problem I have is that Melvin, Ash, Roenicke...whoever it was, decided to fill out the CF and SS positions with Gomez and Betancourt.

 

I think they decided Greinke along with Gomez and Yuni are going to win more games than Escobar, Cain and what ever other pitching option was available. I'm not so sure I disagree with that. As far as Hardy goes we would have had to trade for him again. He was Minnesota property not a FA. Along with that getting Hardy or any other options available at the time you would need a viable backup as well due to the fact none of the available options showed they can play all season without a couple DL stints. What good does it do to have an above average shortstop when they play half the time and someone worse than what we have now is left playing the rest? Obviously they were not comfortable with Gomez since they traded for Morgan. My guess is they aren't all that much more comfortable with Yuni but no Morgan type of option was available at a price they were willing to pay. That discomfort isn't the same as thinking it isn't a better option than not having Greinke though.

This is not a team that can fill every hole it has like some teams can. This is a team that has to make value judgements and go with what they feel will win the most games within the means available to them. Sometimes that means getting by in one area to shore up another. As a Brewer fan I've come to grips with that reality so perhaps this sort of thing bothers me less than others. It allows me to watch and enjoy what we have not pine for what we are missing. For myself that is how I maximize my enjoyment of the season. It must be working because, overall, I have really enjoyed the season so far.

[JohnBriggs12]

Counsell isn't the kind of guy that would leave his team mid-season. If he's gonna retire, it'll be after the season is over.

What does one have to do with the other? Was Mike Schmidt a flawed guy for retiring in the middle of the 1989 season?

 

Guys have retired in mid season before. They realize they can't do it anymore.

[mothershipconnection]

I can't get behind any trade at this point. We are low on prospects as it is. There are two options for trading that make any sense at all. One is to trade a decent prospect for a decent upgrade. The other is to trade garbage for a lateral move.

 

I'd go with the third: trade a throwaway prospect for a $4MM player who's making $6MM.

[rluzinski]

4 of the Brewers 13 positional players have a projected OBP of .300 or less. 46% of the position players are shortstops or catchers.

 

I'm sure there's a master plan somewhere in there.

[geddymd73]

What significance does having projected .300 OBP hitters actually have? Is this some magical marker of success versus failure?

[markedman5]

Branyan is no longer available. Angels picked him up.

[southpaw121505]

What significance does having projected .300 OBP hitters actually have? Is this some magical marker of success versus failure?

It means they're significantly bad at baseball.

 

[danzig6767]

What significance does having projected .300 OBP hitters actually have? Is this some magical marker of success versus failure?

It means they're significantly bad at baseball.

Unless a guy has a TON of power, which Wilson has none of. Same for Nieves and Counsell. Betancourt and Gomez have a small amount of power, but nowhere near enough to overcome such miserable on base abilities.

[bando1234]

Just doing a little reading from the Baseball Prospectus. Wilson was hit by 12 pitches last year (compared to his 14 walks/388 plate apperances). I dont even want to think what his .278 obp would have been if he would not have been sitting on the plate. Ouch.

[rluzinski]

What significance does having projected .300 OBP hitters actually have? Is this some magical marker of success versus failure?

There aren't very many baseball players with a projected OBP at .300 or below who get to play in the majors, much less start.

[Baldkin]

But we've got two of 'em!

[geddymd73]

Only the top 70 or so qualified players in the NL have OBP's over .300. The remaining 15 or so have the under. Even SF has a couple qualified guys under .300 OBP. I don't think its a number we should sweat about.

[endaround]

SF has one of the worst offenses imaginable.