Taylor Green called up

[monty57]

It's been 3 games and Green still doesn't even have an AB, is this an awful joke ? I guess RR wants to freeze one of the Brewers hottest hitters by having him ride the pine all week.

 

I really hope Green gets to start tomorrow, no harm in giving him a try.

The argument for Yuni and Casey has been "they're hot," but apparently that same arguement doesn't hold true for Green, who's "hot streak" has been the entire season vs. Yuni's hot streak of a month or so, and Casey's hot streak of one game.

 

It really seems like Roenicke will always choose someone with MLB experience over someone who doesn't have MLB experience. Now when Green finally gets an opportunity, he will have sat the bench for a week or so, limiting his chance of success, and when he doesn't do well, it will be more "proof" for Roenicke as to why guys like Gamel and Green should not get any PAs over guys like Wilson, Counsell and Kotsay. Set up guys for failure, and when they fail, blame their lack of experience.

 

I fully expect that if Kotsay and McGehee are on next year's roster along with Gamel and Green, Kotsay will be our everyday starting 1B, McGehee will be our everyday starting 3B and Gamel & Green will fight with the backup SS and #5 OF for a handful of pinch hit ABs each week. I've grown to accept most of what Roenicke does, but while a lack of faith in young players may work with this year's team, it will not work long-term for a team with the Brewers' payroll.

 

[Invader3K]

Kotsay will be our everyday starting 1B,

I really would not worry about this. Doug Melvin may give Roenicke a lot of leeway with how he uses his roster, but this is just not going to happen.

[Ando Calrissian]

To take a detour from the stats related posts in this thread....

I was at the game last night sitting in TR Box 418 R 1 and had a nice view down to the top step of the Brewers' dugout. For the most part Green hung out at on the top step all night, mostly chatting with Wilson, and had some serious ants in his pants. Dude could hardly sit still. Bending, stretching, swinging, stretching, talking, throwing, stretching. You could just tell the guy is thrilled to be in that dugout, literally still twitching with excitement.

Patience, young Jedi, someday when you are convinced the skipper has forgotten you're on the roster, you'll be summoned upon to contribute - most likely, to sac bunt. If you do so successfully, you will endear yourself to the old man in perpetuity and be summarily praised for your burgeoning grittiness.

[monty57]

Kotsay will be our everyday starting 1B,

I really would not worry about this. Doug Melvin may give Roenicke a lot of leeway with how he uses his roster, but this is just not going to happen.

 

I know, but I'm sure Melvin will pick up some late-30's vet "for the bench" and Roenicke will give him far too much time playing in front of younger, more able guys. Heck, he didn't want Hart to be an everyday guy until Hart went on a tear, and there was no way he could've justified not starting him. Gamel has no history to fall back on (because minor leagues aren't really baseball), so he'll find plenty of bench time unless he gets off to a really hot start.

[JJHardy7]

Why don't we worry about next year's roster ideas after this year? Enjoy it!

 

I don't see anything wrong with Taylor sitting the first few games and getting used to the atmosphere, etc. Any ideas that he was going to take over for Casey obviously were not based on anything we've seen this year. He'll get his shot. Let's just relax a bit and let the kid relax. Let's windle the magic number down and see how much playing time Taylor gets. He was likely brought up to be part of the playoff roster...I have no problem with easing him in. I do agree it would've been nice to do that awhile ago, but so far really can't complain about where the team is at.

[monty57]

Why don't we worry about next year's roster ideas after this year? Enjoy it!

 

I am enjoying it. However, I'm naturally wired to live in the present while looking to the future. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Plus, in a thread about Taylor Green, well, he's a big part of the future, and I hope he isn't relegated to a AAA/bench role when he's better than the MLB player in front of him for the rest of his career. The Yankees can bring in an Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixiera when they need 1B/3B. The Brewers have to rely on their farm to fill those roles, and Roenicke hasn't seemed like a manager who puts a lot of faith in guys withour MLB experience.

[topper09er]

If McGehee draws a walk, he's not in scoring position for the 6th spot. He's also incredibly slow, so scoring from a double becomes unlikely.

The point is not for McGehee to score more runs, it is for the team to score more runs. By McGehee walking he will push the runner on first into scoring position, and he had a runner on first 38% of his PAs.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It's interesting that AZ, in the middle of a playoff race, saw fit to take 23 year old Paul Goldschmidt and plug him right in the starting lineup just about a month ago. Amazingly, in 85 plate appearances, this young buck has swatted 5 homers and put up a nice .842 OPS while driving in 14 runs.

 

I'm impressed that he hasn't absolutely wilted under the pressure of starting at age 23 for a team with playoff aspirations.

[pitchleague]

good point and one I've argued with my friends. However, Goldschmidt was pretty much forced in due to the injury to Xavier Nady and the trade of Brandon Allen. Goldschmidt played for about a week, I think, before the DBacks acquired Overbay but kept the youngster in anyway.

 

I do kind of wish the Crew gave Green a chance in the pennant race now and not when it's all but clinched halfway into September.

[Hate those Rodents]

Roenicke's handling of Green so far is precisely the reason I think I was so unexcited when I saw he got called up.

[paul253]

I don't see anything wrong with Taylor sitting the first few games and

getting used to the atmosphere, etc. Any ideas that he was going to

take over for Casey obviously were not based on anything we've seen this

year. He'll get his shot. Let's just relax a bit and let the kid

relax. Let's windle the magic number down and see how much playing time

Taylor gets.

 

People can enjoy the team and still be frustrated with how the lineup is being handled. Milwaukee hasn't won anything yet so we still need to put the best lineup out there. It's not like Taylor Green is some feel good story who we want to see play because he is a 35 year old journeyman who's finally making it to majors after 12 years in the minors. The guy is a good player and he can hit. Nobody is calling for him to be the new every day third basemen. But Roenicke would apparently rather waste his backup catcher as a pinch hitter to lead off an inning than give Green an at bat. Is George Kottaras really that much better of a hitter that he'd risk not having a backup catcher if the game goes into extras as opposed to letting Green hit?

[brettac1]

Roenicke should start playing the hot hand now!

[NYChez]

Roenicke might be worried that a rookie playing well and taking a veteran's job would hurt team chemistry. I honestly believe he's worried about this.

[tigerbrew]

Time to bench McGehee and start Taylor Green regularly. Free Taylor Green please.

[TooLiveBrew]

Green's swing on the low changeup was a good two-strike swing, & I think you could see a bit of his power in that line drive. This guy will turn in good at-bats & has decent power.

[danzig6767]

Roenicke might be worried that a rookie playing well and taking a veteran's job would hurt team chemistry. I honestly believe he's worried about this.

I think that there is little question that Roenicke has avoided using Green earlier because he didn't want to put a rookie right away into roles that have been almost entirely filled by veterans who have been there all year, except for Hairston.

 

That said, this is major league baseball, not little league and doing the best things to win game has to be priority number one over certain players feelings. I've obviously never been a player in a professional locker room though, thus i don't have any clue how that type of dynamic effects truly does impact a locker room when a new guy comes up from the minors, then pretty quickly bites into the playing time of a well liked veteran who isn't playing up to his career norms?

 

If say Roenicke had inserted Green into the lineup right away at third whenever a righthander was on the mound and had some success, i wonder if Taylor would feel at least a bit uncomfortable?

 

I still remember many years ago when George Karl was coaching the Bucks and they had that unexpected year where the team made it to the ECF's, but lost to Philly. Karl was asked about what he felt that he had improved on most as coach compared to his earlier days and he said that his biggest improvement was understanding the importance of managing egos. He said that he learned that many coaches in the NBA, be it head coaches or assistant coaches, they all had a fairly equal grasp of the XXX's and OOO's of the game, but the best coaches knew how to read a locker room, manage egos, and get them to function as a team instead mostly individuals.

 

Granted though, basketball takes much more teamwork for a team to have success compared to baseball which is more a one on one type of game. So as fans who have never been in the locker room of a professional sports team, it's near impossible to know just how much impact a coach or manager has, negative or positive by how they handle the 13, 25, or 53 different personalities and egos in a locker room. This could very well be overrated or underrated to a degree by many fans. I think it matters quite a bit in the NBA especially, but in baseball, i have no idea. Last year, many of the players seemed to despise Macha, yet i don't feel the team underachieved given the miserable pitching staff.

[monty57]

McGehee certainly seems to be a well-liked player, so there is some chance that his teammates would be upset if he were replaced. On the flip side, I'm sure everyone in the locker room know that Casey's not playing well, so there may be some players who are upset that he's not sitting more often. We will never know that, and as danzig said, "managing the egos" is a difficult thing and something to which the fans aren't privy.

 

I've always been a proponent of starting Green slowly in some sort of a "soft platoon." I can't imagine the team would be in an uproar if Green got two starts a week for the struggling McGehee, as this is MLB baseball, and very few players deserve the "must play everyday" status. If Green gets a couple starts a week and plays well, helping the team to win, then I would guess that many of the other players would be glad Green is playing well. Really, this has seemed obvious for quite a while. In a soft platoon, if one of the players plays really well, then that player gets more playing time. If they both play well, then that's really great. If they both bomb, then we aren't any worse off than we would've been anyway.

 

I think today would be an ideal time to start Green, as it's a day game, and he's riding high after getting his first MLB hit last night.

[Roscoe Chill]

I can't believe people are actually shocked about Green's bench warming. This isn't Buster Posey. This isn't Paul Goldschmidt (who's a top 50 overall prospect). Green was brought up before the deadline in case of an emergency. He's not going to play much.

[yoshii8]

He might not be one of those guys, but after the monster season he had in AAA its too early to say he can't be one of those guys.

[fondybrewfan]

I didn't realize Green had such an awkward stance. Fouled off some tough pitches and even hit a pretty tough pitch. I was wondering with that stance how easy it would be to get the outside pitch; but I guess if he is hitting .300 + in MILB that he is capable of hitting the outside corner stuff.

 

Is his power strictly to RF or is he capable of going deep to left?

[Bernman23]

I can't believe people are actually shocked about Green's bench warming. This isn't Buster Posey. This isn't Paul Goldschmidt (who's a top 50 overall prospect). Green was brought up before the deadline in case of an emergency. He's not going to play much.

An event doesn't have to be unexpected for people to be pissed about it as it's happening.

 

And Green actually should be compared to those players/situations after putting up two organizational minor league player of the year seasons when actually healthy and being proposed to replace players with negative WAR's.

 

Even in McGehee's supposed hot month he could not eclipse Green's MLE OPS. He finished with just an .804 OPS and .660 outside the 3-HR game. And he put up a .666 OPS in July. The hype about McGehee's 2nd half resurgence has been largely propaganda from the franchise so as to take pressure off the veteran who they were going to conservatively ride. Well, the pressure should be on because he's been horrendous for nearly a full year now and it's about time both he and Betancourt are replaced in the lineup by Green and Hairston. McGehee and Betancourt should be the platoon players.

[fondybrewfan]

They need to hype McGehee's 2nd half performance; he is probably one of the most obvious off season trade candidates. Well at least he is if the organization believes in Green. One thing Green has going for him is the left handed bat; if Fielder leaves next year the only lefty we will have is Morgan and Green would be the only lefty with any power at all.

 

It's kind of a Catch 22. Do you let McGehee play the entire month of September and hope he gets hot and therefore improves his trade value or do you start to give Green more at bats and decrease McGehee's potential value? I think the best case scenario is McGehee has a hot September/October and Melvin can trade him for a legitimate SS and Green can have the 3rd base job out of spring training.

[topper09er]

Roenicke might be worried that a rookie playing well and taking a veteran's job would hurt team chemistry. I honestly believe he's worried about this.

I think if I was Ryan Braun I would be pissed that McGehee is still starting since he is awful and hurting the team. I would never say this to him or act like I thought this but any replacement for him would be welcomed.

[Bernman23]

They need to hype McGehee's 2nd half performance; he is probably one of the most obvious off season trade candidates. Well at least he is if the organization believes in Green. One thing Green has going for him is the left handed bat; if Fielder leaves next year the only lefty we will have is Morgan and Green would be the only lefty with any power at all.

 

It's kind of a Catch 22. Do you let McGehee play the entire month of September and hope he gets hot and therefore improves his trade value or do you start to give Green more at bats and decrease McGehee's potential value? I think the best case scenario is McGehee has a hot September/October and Melvin can trade him for a legitimate SS and Green can have the 3rd base job out of spring training.

Hot month or not, he'll have finished with a much worse .OPS than his previous two seasons, so if he were traded it'd be an example of a sell low.

 

Best case scenario is they play the guy who probably gives them a best chance to win, Green, and then hold on to McGehee next season in hopes that he rediscovers his prior form soft platooning with Green and Gamel. If not, then he's merely an adequate bench player for the Crew.

[adambr2]

Anddddd same old McGehee and Betancourt in the starting lineup again today.

 

Today was a great opportunity to get Green a start. Now I'm pretty certain he's nothing but a bench ornament to Roenicke.