Brewers get Felipe Lopez from Rays for cash; UPDATE: Lopez to Milwaukee, Eric Farris back to AAA

[jmeks23]

Lopez is purely for depth, at least I'm hoping he is. This guy has been terrible ever since he took off the Brewers uniform, and there's a reason he's been cut a ton of times since then. He sucks on offense and is a butcher in the field (at least at SS and 3B).

 

I have to assume there are multiple moves coming, because if Melvin doesn't then that is truly a mistake.

[TheCrew07]

I agree he's better than Counsell but not sold he's a better option than Farris, and I don't like Farris as a prospect. I liked him as a utility player but his arm proved too weak to fit that role.

 

Lopez had a nice real nice 2009 but he's really only been a good hitter for 2 seasons in his career.

 

How I feel about 2nd base depends entirely on how much time Weeks' injury will take to heal and what happens elsewhere. Some sprains are actually worse than breaks and yes I know the time frame the Brewers put out there for his recovery, but I don't put much faith in the Brewers' training staff, not to mention Weeks will need some sort of rehab stint to get his timing back, pennant race or not.

 

If SS or 3B are upgraded I'd rather go defense with Farris if I have to choose to between Farris and Lopez. If nothing happens on the left side then maybe Lopez is the better option hoping to get better offense? The shorter window Weeks' is out the less it matters who plays.

[brettac1]

There's been one full season since he was a Brewer. That's not like it's five years or something.

 

And I think he's been released all of one time.

[logan82]

There's been one full season since he was a Brewer. That's not like it's five years or something.

 

And I think he's been released all of one time.

He has only had 2-3 really good seasons as a hitter including that season with the Brewers. It isn't like he was a good hitter and has been bad since 2009.

[RockCoCougars]

How many good seasons has Counsell had in 16 years?

[brettac1]

There's been one full season since he was a Brewer. That's not like it's five years or something.

 

And I think he's been released all of one time.

He has only had 2-3 really good seasons as a hitter including that season with the Brewers. It isn't like he was a good hitter and has been bad since 2009.

No doubt, it's a lightning in a bottle/throw it at the wall and see what sticks move, but that's pretty much their choices.

[pebadger]

'Seasons' is probably an inferior unit of measure in this case. I prefer "clutch at-bats and World Series highlights".

[Invader3K]

TheCrew07 wrote:

 

How I feel about 2nd base depends entirely on how much time Weeks' injury will take to heal and what happens elsewhere. Some sprains are actually worse than breaks and yes I know the time frame the Brewers put out there for his recovery, but I don't put much faith in the Brewers' training staff, not to mention Weeks will need some sort of rehab stint to get his timing back, pennant race or not.

Any chance to bash the Brewers highly (in MLB) respected trainers, right?

[danzig6767]

If SS or 3B are upgraded I'd rather go defense with Farris if I have to choose to between Farris and Lopez. If nothing happens on the left side then maybe Lopez is the better option hoping to get better offense? The shorter window Weeks' is out the less it matters who plays.

I know that Lopez was terrible in his 102 at bat stint with Tampa this year, but if Melvin refuses to call up Green and no trade gets made which leaves us with only Counsell, Wilson, and Farris as options at second, i'd rather roll the dice on Lopez than Farris. At least Lopez has some track record of being able to hit big league pitching, and as recently as 2009. Plus, it's not like he's 37-38 years old, so it wouldn't take some incredible leap in logic to hope that Lopez could hit pretty well while Weeks is out. The odds of that happening may not be high, but they seem higher than hoping either of Counsell, Wilson, or Farris could put up an OPS of just say .650.

 

Mix in that if McGehee's decent hitting over the last seven games or so comes to a screeching halt and/or Betancourt sees his hot stretch end to where he goes back to being Yuni Betancourt, the lineup could get extra brutal with the incompetent trio of Counsell, Wilson, and Farris playing second everyday.

[logan82]

He has a track record but his track record kind of stinks.

[strawbossisevil]

Since Taylor Green is a Met in Brewers clothing, I'm not really optimistic they are going to fill this with someone who will do more than help the team tread water.

Could you stop repeating this as if it is some confirmed fact. It isn't. In fact it goes against every indication given by Doug Melvin to this point.

[joepepsi]

His career OPS is .727, which isn't bad for a guy who's mostly played ss and 2B.

 

Is it possible they are going to call up Green, or maybe Gamel, and need Lopez in AAA for depth?

[TheCrew07]

TheCrew07 wrote:

 

How I feel about 2nd base depends entirely on how much time Weeks' injury will take to heal and what happens elsewhere. Some sprains are actually worse than breaks and yes I know the time frame the Brewers put out there for his recovery, but I don't put much faith in the Brewers' training staff, not to mention Weeks will need some sort of rehab stint to get his timing back, pennant race or not.

Any chance to bash the Brewers highly (in MLB) respected trainers, right?

Highly respected according to Bill? Because they won an award for least amount of DL time in one season which was entirely outside of their control and directly related to the youth on the team? There's been plenty of evidence over the last 6-7 years to suggest that Brewers have continually handled injuries to MLB and MiLB players in incredibly poor ways. All previously documented in many other threads.

 

In this case the simple truth is that depending on which ligament(s) are torn the recovery time could actually be longer than a broken bone. A sprain is actually a tear, and fully severed ligaments don't repair themselves while slight tears take a very long to recover because there isn't much blood flow to them. Sprains never actually heal, Rickie will have a bad ankle the rest of his life. While they should have access to ultrasound machines and other advanced healing/therapy aids that will significantly reduce the recovery time, I'll be shocked if he's back in a month, from the video (which was incredibly digusting) he came as close to a catastrophic injury as one can get, he's very fortunate. He'll come back way before he's 100% but he'll need a rehab stint which will add another week or two to whatever his injury recovery time will be. Once again I don't believe that baseball lends itself to playing injured as defensively you're actually covering ground on the field, not positioning yourself between another player and some sort of goal, and there's no way to protect against the violent muslce torque that occurs during a swing.

 

You can take my posts however you want but my intent wasn't to slam the training staff, it's common knowledge that I don't think much of them and I was posting an off the cuff observation as I always do. However it streams into my head is exactly how it comes out in a post.

[gregmag]

We can't just look at "bad" below a certain level as if differences in degrees of badness stop counting. Eric Farris has put up a .665 OPS at AAA -- as a 25 year-old, repeating the level. Last year at Nashville he was the same, .659. If you put stock in MLEs, I found a post on RealGM from our own trwi7 that gives Farris' 2011 MLE as .227/.268/.305/.573. Intuitively that seems reasonable to me, figuring that MLB performance just takes some of the air out of minor league numbers.

 

But let's assume that MLE is unduly unkind to Farris. He's 25; he could still improve, although he has shown no upward trajectory in his minor league career. But let's assume he'll OPS .620 for the Brewers (the midpoint between his AAA and MLE numbers).

 

Felipe Lopez, in his career, has OPSed .620 or below twice -- as a 23 year-old in 2003 (.612), and this year, in 102 PAs (.567). His next-lowest seasons are .659 (2007) and .656 (2010). Now, you can certainly argue that he's declining, based on the fact that he had two terrible years in 2007 and 2010 and has been terrible this year. But he OPSd .730 in 2008 and .810 in 2009, so the picture is muddy.

 

The bottom line is that you have to stack the available evidence heavily in Farris' favor to find any reason to think Farris would come within 50 points of Lopez. We're talking about bad vs. awful, but 50 points of OPS is a lot. It gets worse if you emphasize OBP -- only in his first two seasons, in 2007, and in this year's small sample has Lopez put up an OBP at or below .308, which is Farris' AAA OBP this year. Could Farris' defense offset Lopez's advantage on offense? I honestly don't know; that's the right question. But I think we need to start the discussion by recognizing that Lopez does, in fact, have a major advantage on offense.

[RockCoCougars]

Brewers pitchers basically never make it back on the initial timetable, although that seems to be the case all over baseball. Generally, the hitters have fared a little better, though I can't think of any cases where anyone significantly beat the original estimate back.

[Mass Haas]

Haudricourt tweet --#Brewers change minds and will bring INF Felipe Lopez to Milwaukee. 2B Eric Farris optioned back to Nashville.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

That was quick. Hope Felipe finds that 2009 stroke. Part of me says he can't be any worse than 0 for 41, but at least Counsell plays a solid D...Felipe better hit enough to make up for his lapses in concentration in the field.

[Invader3K]

Weird. I guess they are adamant about players having MLB experience, even if their skills seem to be on the decline.

[Mass Haas]

With that move, the Brewers 40-man roster is now full (technically, you could say it's at 41 with Manny Parra not counting (60-day DL).

 

Mitch Stetter could easily be slid to the 60-day DL if the Brewers needed yet another 40-man roster piece.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I wonder if Lopez will play tonight? Makes me wonder why they said they were sending him to AAA. Seems pretty quick to change their minds. Maybe Doug realized that he won't trade for another 2B option. Possibly Furcal, or someone else who is more of an exclusive SS, but not a 2B.

[djoctagone]

Mitch Stetter could easily be slid to the 60-day DL if the Brewers needed yet another 40-man roster piece.

as could brandon kintzler. and possibly carlos gomez, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. i really want gomez back for the september run.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Lopez will wear #7.

[StearnsFTW]

"Blech to Furcal."

 

I don't understand the Furcal love affair either.

 

Maybe 5 years ago, but not the current version.

So last season's .300/.366/.460 line in ~400 at-bats didn't do anything for you?

Doesn't do much for me. He had a good year last year, but the other part of the sentence is the problem. Once again, he missed 65 games. He's missed 65 games this year. He missed 125 games in 2008.

 

2009 is his only full season in the last 4 and his .269/.335/.375 slash line looks a lot like Clint Barmes' .254/.319/.399 from this year. Barmes has some injury issues as well, but not as bad as Furcal's recent history. Plus, Barmes is a much better shortstop.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Wow, Lopez already in the lineup and hitting 5th. Crazy turn of events.

[patrickgpe]

don't want to turn this into the lineup thread, but to start I think he should be batting 5th. I know its Lucroys day off, but I'd like to see him get a chance at 5. McGehee has been better of late, i'd rather see him. Lopez may reclaim his 08 form and we may be fine, but he hasn't been in the bigs for a month and a half and didn't do much while up in TB.