Roster construction problems with this team

[MNBrew]

Or, looking at the same problem slightly differently, perhaps it really comes down to Izturis being on the team.

 

(not saying this is necessarily the best option, but theoretically it is possible...) IF Ishikawa proves to be a decent bench bat (come on, play along here), and IF Ramirez were to be injured enough to have to miss a couple games but not enough to be DL'ed, wouldn't the Brewers be better off offensively w/ Ishikawa at 1B, Gamel at 3B, and Gonzo at SS than with Gamel at 1B, Izturis at SS, and Gonzo at SS? . . . . Again, not necessarily the best option, but Gamel is someone who can play both corner IF positions (granted there are 1,000 reasons not to do this on any long-term basis) and Izturis is an historically lousy bat for any long-term corner IF PT.

 

Re: someone's point earlier in the thread that Conrad's a better hitter than Ishikawa, 1) I disagree; power, yes, but successful at hitting, no; at best it's a push depending on which aspect you value more; and 2) in the long run NEITHER guy is someone I want getting major ABs for this team.

 

On the Melvin point -- whose moves I believe generally come out very heavily weighted on the positive side of the ledger -- one relevant question does arise: Why won't Melvin pay the price to add the right bench/utility guy at the start of the year so the team doesn't have to end up tolerating a half-year of crappy production which many could've foreseen from the outset before finally making a change? Hairston as a FA would've cost a bit more dough than Izturis but wouldn't cost anything in terms of cash or players that a mid-year acquisition would, and he likely would make much more of a positive offensive contribution the entirety of that time.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Dodgers guaranteed Hairston $6M for his age-36 & 37 seasons. Of all the problems I have with how the bench was constructed, letting Hairston walk at that price is definitely not one of them. Now, not picking up Mike Fontenot when he was freely available... that's a different story.

[MNBrew]

At least the cost to walk away from the present IF bench guys is very minimal. We could easily end up with 2 totally different guys as IF reserves before the year's half over with minimal financial consequences for dumping Iz & Ish.

[endaround]

Ishikawa last season hit .251/.368/.383 in the PCL. I don't care about 7 PAs in Milwaukee. I care about a 211 PAs in AAA where even with a BABIP of .351 he was a 27 year old 1B who hit like a utility infielder. Is Conrad a better overall hitter? Probably its close to a push but Conrad is an actual infielder and is right handed.

[RightFieldCoder]

It would have been amazing to watch the 10th inning tonight with an infield from left to right of Gamel, A-Ram, Weeks, and Ishikawa (although I believe Ishikawa is a very good fielder IIRC).

Gomez was the emergency infielder. He would probably man SS and Ishy would go to RF.

[brettac1]

RR said that Ramirez would have played SS and Gamel would have been at 3B.

[monty57]

RR said that Ramirez would have played SS and Gamel would have been at 3B.

 

Yes, and that fact alone shows why the topic of this thread really matters. The way the roster is made up means that Izturis will get far too many PAs this season, and it means that we are not adequately backed up at important positions. We're a couple of weeks into the season and Izturis already has started close to half our games and we've seen a situation where Roenicke almost had to let Aramis Ramirez play shortstop!!

 

I don't know the MLB rules for paternity leave, but couldn't we have brought up another player while Gonzalez was out? Wouldn't it have made sense to bring Maysonet up for a week or so? Does he have options to bring him up and send him back down?

[Ennder]

I think the poor bench is just a combination of a weak minor league system and the fact the team is over budget just paying the starting players. If you have to leave a weakness it might as well be the bench and middle relief. The roster is flawed because we don't have the money to fix it but it is flawed in the right way. Probably the biggest thing that could have been done differently is not wasting the cash on Aoki but at that point they weren't sure that Braun would play the first 50 games so I understand why they did it.

[Baldkin]

How do you send a guy back down to the minors before his replacement gets to Milwaukee?

 

I'm sorry, but that's just.... stupid.

[brwrsfan]

They had no choice but to send him down. They put Gonzalez on paternity leave. This does give the ability to replace him on the roster - which they did with Farris. However, MLB rules state the maximum number of days a player can be on paternity leave is 3. Saturday, Sunday, Monday - off days count. so the rule dictates that Ferris had to go back down, it wasn't a choice they made.

 

Gonzalez is scheduled back today (and was originally scheduled back yesterday), so unless they were going to make a different move or put him on some sort of medical leave (which I'm sure would require many more days off), they had absolutely no choice but to play yesterday with only 24 players.

[chuckiehacks]

How do you send a guy back down to the minors before his replacement gets to Milwaukee?

 

I'm sorry, but that's just.... stupid.

 

I believe there is a limit to how long you can be on the paternity leave list. I don't think they had a choice.

[Baldkin]

Yep, saw that right after I posted. For some reason I thought it was 7 days, although that's apparently for concussions.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

What about bringing another Catcher up to replace Ishikawa? They've been comfortable the last couple games bringing Kottaras in before Ish as a PH...maybe they'd be even more comfortable if they had the emergency Catcher. George can probably play first as well and they are pretty well set in the OF. Just a thought.

[TooLiveBrew]

The answer to this entire situation is Taylor Green. He restricts Izturis to SS-only duty, and could fill in at 2B, 3B, & 1B if needed.

 

I understand the argument that it's better for Green to have regular AAA at-bats. I just disagree at this point.

[RockCoCougars]

One plus to Gonzalez taking maternity leave will be that it could be harder for his option to vest if he tanks or gets injured.

[Raw Biz]

The answer to this entire situation is Taylor Green. He restricts Izturis to SS-only duty, and could fill in at 2B, 3B, & 1B if needed.

 

I understand the argument that it's better for Green to have regular AAA at-bats. I just disagree at this point.

 

I've been saying this all along too. Give him 2 starts a week (one at 3rd, one at 2nd) plus PH and he could see 10-12 ABs a week easy. Plus, I think that would keep ARam and Weeks fresh, so there's less of an injury risk.

[LaprilOne]

...kinda seems....that Izturis, followed by Gomez may be our Kotsay whipping boy (s) for this year.

[MVP2110]

I don't see Gomez so much but yes Izturis and Ishikawa seem to be them to me. Only thing different I would do is replace Ishikawa with Conrad.

[rluzinski]

Ishikawa last season hit .251/.368/.383 in the PCL. I don't care about 7 PAs in Milwaukee. I care about a 211 PAs in AAA where even with a BABIP of .351 he was a 27 year old 1B who hit like a utility infielder. Is Conrad a better overall hitter? Probably its close to a push but Conrad is an actual infielder and is right handed.

 

Exactly. His ZiPS projection is .231/.306/.365. That is terrible for a backup 1B/corner OFer.

[brettac1]

I really don't see much point at all in a glove first back-up 1B, especially with the same handedness as the starter. The bench lacks power in a huge way. I am as big of a Kottaras fan as there is, but when he's the best power bat on your bench, that's not a great thing.

[HiAndTight]

The answer to this entire situation is Taylor Green. He restricts Izturis to SS-only duty, and could fill in at 2B, 3B, & 1B if needed.

 

I understand the argument that it's better for Green to have regular AAA at-bats. I just disagree at this point.

 

 

I'll disagree in about 4 weeks.

 

I'd like him to start the season with regular playing time, but he's not Ryan Braun, Weeks, etc..etc...

 

He's a guy who could and I think should be a very solid big league player. A 4-5 year peak where he can be a 3 or so WAR guy potentially. And then a long career as a utility guy. I've always thought Mark Loretta with less BA and more power.

 

But if he's hitting in AAA at the end of May, bring him up, give him a couple starts a week, and make him the 1st PH'er off the bench(this Kottaras thing won't last).

[HiAndTight]

...kinda seems....that Izturis, followed by Gomez may be our Kotsay whipping boy (s) for this year.

 

 

I don't get that. Any of the three. Kotsay was a good pinch hitter off the bench last year. He just lacked power. .270/.330 isn't a bad line for a guy off the bench. It was his use in CF...which wasn't his fault, and that was pretty damn rare anyway.

 

Gomez is playing like a stud, a guy that I, and probably I alone in Southeast Wisconsin and still holding out hope for, there's just too much damn talent in that 6'4 220 body and he's still young...plus, even if you get what you got last year, he's got a lot of value, especially come playoff time. He's sent two teams on in deciding playoff games with his speed. Nothing wrong with having a guy like that platoon with Morgan or Schafer, or better yet grabbing the starting job himself and running with it which is what I think will FINALLY happen this year. He is still just 25 years old after all.

 

Izturis is a backup SS. How much of a whipping boy can a good defensive backup SS get? Not his fault they didn't go with obvious choice A-Conrad or obvious choice B-Green(whom I think will end up being that guy come June FWIW).

 

Ishikawa is the whipping boy. No use for him whatsoever. Useless on this team. Luckily he hasn't started a game at 1st yet but if he does, it means he'll be starting over some combination of Gamel, Aoki, Hart. Which is asinine.

[HiAndTight]

What about bringing another Catcher up to replace Ishikawa? They've been comfortable the last couple games bringing Kottaras in before Ish as a PH...maybe they'd be even more comfortable if they had the emergency Catcher. George can probably play first as well and they are pretty well set in the OF. Just a thought.

 

 

Absolutely. Maldonado makes a lot more sense on this team than Ishikawa.

 

Of course when Kottaras comes crashing down to Earth and hits like he always has our bench is going to look even worse, so Conrad and then Green are the better options, but as long as Georgie can keep doing this, what the hell.

 

Plus, we could have an outstanding defense late in games with him behind the plate, Morgan/Gomez/Aoki in CF and RF and Izturis at 3rd. Not that I love that last option, but...he's here to stay and certainly gives you more range than Aram.

[monty57]

There were some things we could've done in Spring Training to shore up the bench, but right now, going forward I think there are a couple of easy options that would help. Unless we find a free SS somewhere, Izturis is going to be on the team, so in my mind Ishikawa is undoubtedly the piece which should be discarded in any of the cases below.

 

1) Bring up Conrad (if/when he's healthy). This gives us someone who can play 3B, 2B, 1B, corner OF and can switch hit. He is better as a RH hitter, which is something we lack on the bench. Weeks and Ramirez are not going to each get a day off per week. They are too integral to the offense and make too much money to give them that much time off. However, they will need some days off here and there, and Conrad is fine for filling in on these sporadic days off and getting pinch-hit opportunities, primarily vs LHP, who he hits pretty well.

 

2) Bring up Maldonado. Eventually Roenicke's use of his backup catcher every game is going to come back to bite him. Having Maldonado allows Kottaras to be the LH power bat on the bench and allows Lucroy to pinch hit when Kottaras starts. As long as Lucroy and Kottaras continue to hit well, Maldonado would be a decent option for the bench. The problem with this option is that it still means that Izturis is the only backup for 2B, SS, 3B, so he will see more playing time than he probably should.

 

3) Bring up Green. He is undoubtedly the most talented of these three players, but I'm still in the camp of wanting him to get everyday playing time. At some point, Weeks or Ramirez will end up on the 15-day DL, and with everyday playing time, Green should be in a position to succeed as the everyday 2B/3B while Weeks/Ramirez is out. That said, Green is certainly a better option for the Brewers than Ishikawa, and he would certainly help the team if he were brought up.

 

I guess Farris and Maysonet could also be options, but neither are probably MLB-caliber hitters, Farris only plays 2B and I don't think Maysonet comes up unless Gonzalez or Izturis gets hurt.

[Nottso]

Gomez is playing like a stud, a guy that I, and probably I alone in Southeast Wisconsin and still holding out hope for,

 

You're not alone. I want very much for Gomez to succeed and I too am holding out hope.