Deep Down, what are your thoughts about Gamel?

[HiAndTight]

Green doesn't defend well at third (his arm in particular looked suspect last season), & shouldn't be expected to be able to hit MLB lefties much at all. His value is completely overblown on the BF forums imho, & I actually really like him.

It certainly sounds like it.

 

Our of curiosity, how many times did you watch him play last year?

[HiAndTight]

I definitely think there's more to it than just Money's comments last season, the organization has clearly had something intangible weighing down their overall valuation of Gamel. It's not realistic to think us fans can know what exactly it is, but I also don't think it's unfair to observe that the Brewers have had a problem with Gamel several times in the past.

I don't have time to pull up the links right now, but I also seem to remember TH and Witrado taking seemingly innocent comments about Gamel and putting a heavy amount of their own spin on them. I got the impression Mat was a little unmedia savvy when he first came up and may have done something to upset the beat writers.

I remember getting this feeling particularly from Witrado. He in particular just didn't seem to like Gamel. He seldom had anything concrete other than dwelling on a few comments by Money, comments that I think have cost Money his chance at managing a big league team, not just about Gamel, but I think he's been far too openly critical of some of the minor leaguers we've had) as I don't think many big leaguers would put up with him popping off at the mouth to reporters.

 

 

But I agree, I've seen comments that seemed to be totally innocuous and they get belabored by some beat writers.

[TooLiveBrew]

Green doesn't defend well at third (his arm in particular looked suspect last season), & shouldn't be expected to be able to hit MLB lefties much at all. His value is completely overblown on the BF forums imho, & I actually really like him.

It certainly sounds like it.

 

Our of curiosity, how many times did you watch him play last year?

Well my point is that you can like a player but also not heap undue praise on him at the same time.

I don't remember how much I watched Green play last year... my best answer would be that I watched several Nashville games, as many as I could fit in on MiLB.tv, beyond the very few times he actually got to play with the big club.

What I see from Green so far: great approach at the plate, good patience, definitely seems like he stays back well, isn't afraid to drive the ball to the opposite field. He's a guy who I think could hit anywhere from 15 to 25 HRs with fulltime duty as a big-leaguer, and will absolutely be an asset against RHP. Much like Gamel, Green is going to surprised many fans with his power, even though he doesn't really profile as a 'Home Run Hitter'.

Defensively, he's a guy with average or below athleticism & range, & his arm leaves a lot to be desired (obviously only mho). I think he looks exactly like what a good big-league LHB utility IF guy usually looks like -- limited defensively (but not a liability), and probably only an asset against righties... I'll be pleasantly surprised if Taylor winds up being able to hit big-league lefties even moderately well. But he'll hit righties, and he should serve as a nice option as a pinch-hitter.

Also, Mat Gamel. http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif

[SoundsFan17]

I live in Nashville and have watched/ talked to Gamel (amongst many others). I have heard from the coaching staff that they feel he does not work as diligently on defense and baserunning as he does on offense. An unnamed coach went as far as to say he was partaking in "wacky weed" (lol), but somehow cleared all the testing. Personally, I think he is just a cool, laid back sort of guy that really enjoys hitting (he also is very accessible and signs a ton of autographs, etc). I don't feel he is the long term answer at first, but I really hope he proves me wrong because I have enjoyed watching his progression and this would be another great Brewers bat.

[RobDeer 45]

Haha, I'd say he totally fits the profile of a guy who messes with the green. "Well.....that's like....your opinion....man." - the dude.

 

Glad to hear that he's a really good guy. I really do hope he has a solid year.

[JimH5]

Admittedly this is a message board and so the standards are different than they would be for a real news organization, but I'm still uncomfortable with someone using an anonymous profile name, referring to anonymous coach saying that Gamel (or anyone in particular) is "partaking in wacky weed". That seems over the top to me, just as earlier posts on Braun had him essentially diagnosed with Graves Disease, low testosterone and herpes.

 

I hope BF.net doesn't turn into a board where we throw around unsubstantiated rumors about players.

 

Without evidence, it's not right to make claims about a guy.

[SoundsFan17]

@ JimH5- I totally understand your position. The Nashville Sounds season ticket holders are allowed one day of the season to come on the field and hit balls with some of the players and coaches. I think that I should clarify that when I was told that by the coach that will remain nameless, that I believe that it was meant to be tongue in cheek, and I guess that I didn't convey that as well as I should have in my initial post. Sorry for any misunderstandings on my part and I certainly didn't intend to throw Gamel or a coach under the bus, just passing along the joke I was told.

[thebruce44]

I actually think it would be news to hear Gamel doesn't partake.

[RockCoCougars]

If he hits, frankly I don't care what Gamel ingests..... as long as it doesn't spike his testosterone to superhuman levels.

[jjkoestler]

I'll personally roll him one if he puts up a .900 OPS. /Not blue.

[CheezWizHed]

As ST is nearing, I began to wonder: What foot will Mat Gamel put forward this year? So, when do you think Gamel will report to ST this year? Will he be:

- helping them unload the truck? (i.e. report with pitchers and catchers)

- Not right away, but still earlier than position players are supposed to report

- Right on time

- Late

[ilovebeer]

I hope Matt makes the team and does well, Matt does have a very hot wife, and have a joint twitter account. they are driving from Florida to Arizona as we speak.

[Patrick425]

I find it interesting that this thread is 7 pages long but has more views than the Braun thread. Who are the people that keep viewing this thread, but not posting? Gamel? Teammates?

 

edit: Hey?! I just noticed that I had over 3000 posts in the old Yuku site, but now it shows me with less than 3000? I guess I'll get to live the magic of my 3000th post again at some time in the future.

[Outlander]

I find it interesting that this thread this thread is 7 pages long but has more views than the Braun thread. Who are the people that keep viewing this thread, but not posting? Gamel? Teammates?

 

That is rather interesting, even if there are some people down on him it is probably better than people being apathetic toward him. If he turns to corner I think he could quickly become a fan favorite.

[reillymcshane]

edit: Hey?! I just noticed that I had over 3000 posts in the old Yuku site, but now it shows me with less than 3000? I guess I'll get to live the magic of my 3000th post again at some time in the future.

 

I noticed the same thing. I had something like 1500 posts and now I'm less than a 1000. I also noticed a recent post I had done was missing. I assume in the transition to the new forum this happened.

 

I don't really care about the post numbers or whatever, but something did happen.

[brwrsfan]

This is off topic, but something definitely reset with the views. The Braun one was over 100K at one point last week I think.

[brewtank34]

Probably reset once the site got updated.

[brwrsfan]

I'm sure it did, but something just seems wrong. Why would almost 6000 people view this thread about Gamel and it only have 8 pages of comments?

 

I can see people looking at the Braun one for updates, news, whatever. But to speculate about Mat Gamel and what people think of him? Seems like an awful lot of people reading and not commenting much.

[M Skjellyfetti]

The views:posts ratio seems roughly on par with other threads like Cespedes to Oakland and Tony Puck. I think you might just be underestimating how many people lurk/read but don't post that often.

 

Edit: I wonder if old ezboard posts got lost in the transition. I was over 1000 posts, now down to 362.

[Moose]

Going back to what a lot of people said, Gamel may have had some issues with immaturity. Think about it, he has raked at every level (HS, JuCo, Lower Levels), and maybe he figured the jump to the bigs would be just as easy, and blame Macha or whoever you want, but it didn't happen. Hopefully with maturity (wife, 2 kids, etc.) he will be able to make the jump and produce. I am hoping for Lyle Overbay type numbers. .280 average, 15-20HR, and lots of doubles.

[Patrick425]

The views:posts ratio seems roughly on par with other threads like Cespedes to Oakland and Tony Puck. I think you might just be underestimating how many people lurk/read but don't post that often.

 

Edit: I wonder if old ezboard posts got lost in the transition. I was over 1000 posts, now down to 362.

 

 

Yeah, but the point was made that this thread had more views than the Braun thread...seems unlikely (although, now the Braun thread has passed this thread - You would think the Braun thread would have 20 times as many views as this thread).

 

Also noticing that my posts number never increases now. Edit: Nevermind, I guess it does and it also changes the number on all your previous posts as well.

 

Sorry, I know this is off the topic of the thread.

[ilovebeer]

Tom H just tweeted that Matt was not in good shape last spring training and that is why he got hurt, he said that Matt has been working with a trainer all winter.

[sveumrules]

Bill James has Gamel projected at 342/476, that seems about right to me. Looking at the slashes for first baseman last year I think if healthy Mat can produce somewhere in that Gaby Sanchez/Carlos Pena range and if he really puts it together could maybe see somehting similar to Mike Morse's line with a little less SLG. Hoefully the Brewers are serious about giving him a shot and he stays healthy and takes full advantage.

[fondybrewfan]

In the latest JSonline blog RR mentions that Gamel will hit anywhere from 6th to 8th. Please please don't be 8th. It should be Gamel/Lucroy/Gonzalez. Gonzalez better not hit anywhere other than 8th. Putting Gamel in the 8th spot is setting the guy up for failure IMO. It doesn't matter to me if it is Lucroy/Gamel or Gamel/Lucroy but Gonzalez better be 8th.

[monty57]

In the latest JSonline blog RR mentions that Gamel will hit anywhere from 6th to 8th. Please please don't be 8th. It should be Gamel/Lucroy/Gonzalez. Gonzalez better not hit anywhere other than 8th. Putting Gamel in the 8th spot is setting the guy up for failure IMO. It doesn't matter to me if it is Lucroy/Gamel or Gamel/Lucroy but Gonzalez better be 8th.

 

I don't know that putting Gamel 8 would set him up for failure, but it would cause the team to score fewer runs, as it would mean their far-and-away worst hitter (Gonzalez) would get more PAs (and more PAs with runners on), and it would cause Gamel to have less runners on in front of him (batting behind Lucroy & Gonzalez rather than Braun, Weeks, Hart, Ramirez), so Gamel would have less chance of knocking in runners.

 

I do agree that it would be unwise to bat anyone but Gonzalez in the #8 spot. If I had to guess, I'd put it 50/50 in the #8 hitter being Gonzalez or Lucroy. Roenicke kept Lucroy there last year when he shouldn't have, so I wouldn't doubt Lucroy will be there again. It probably should be Gamel, Lucroy, Gonzalez, and I could stomach Gamel, Gonzalez, Lucroy or maybe even Lucroy, Gamel, Gonzalez, so really I'll only be upset if Gonzalez is #6 or Gamel is #8.