Rickie Weeks so far this season

[monty57]

Around six weeks ago I mentioned that I'd think about trading Weeks next offseason or the offseason after and I got my head bit off because he's so vital to the future of the team. Now a month-and-a-half later people are talking about putting him on waivers and hoping he's claimed for nothing. Weeks has had a bad start to the season, but that's extreme. He is one of our most talented players, and I'm still confident that if we let him play through this we will be able to trade him for something of value this offseason or next.

[RockCoCougars]

I hate to blame Narron, but is Narron telling these guys to work the count? Don't you think other teams know that by now?

 

I'm starting to think that this is the case. I'm too lazy to look things up, but the entire team seems less aggressive at the plate this season, particularly Weeks.

 

I think that Sveum is missed a lot.

 

As for Rickie, if he continues this approach at the plate, perhaps he should be moved to the #8 hole. I bet that his patient approach would draw plenty of walks down there.... or would pitchers go right at Rickie to avoid the pitcher?

[longball04]

My father, the eternal pessimist, made this two word comment. Gary Sheffield. Now that is a very far-fetched idea, but his best friend did leave the team. Like I said, very far-fetched.

 

If they think that the best thing for him to do is play through this, then fine. Let him play through it. But don't leave him in the 2-hole. Move him as far away as possible from the top of the order. I say 7 in the order. Let Lucroy bat 2nd. At least he puts the ball in play and moves runners. You just can't keep him in there the way he is playing offensively. He is providing no benefit to the team. Throw out last night, and at least Ryan has been productive when they actually get guys on. But 2nd and 3rd and 1 out and he has to get the ball out of the infield. Last night's single was a friggin gift.

 

He's bad right now and it is very painful to watch him go through this.

[rluzinski]

4 years, $38 mil is a long, expensive contract? Is it 1994 again? I think some longtime baseball fans are struggling with the notion that average players get $10 mil/year these days. Right or wrong, that's the market.

 

And the idea that there's any possibility that Weeks is put on waivers this year is pretty unbelievable, in my opinion. If Melvin wants salary relief, he can trade him for nothing and recoup over 50% of his current contract, easy. Putting him on waivers would result in a significant risk of recouping 0%.

 

I'm not sure what you are saying here. If a team puts a player on waivers and another team picks him up, the team that picked him up pays the rest of the contract in its entirety. There is no risk in putting him on waivers if your goal is to dump his salary.

Sorry, I was thinking of a DFA for some reason.

[3and2Fastball]

Weeks is hitting 6th tonight. Hopefully that helps a little.

[longball04]

Well, he is hitting .200 against lefties. So to quote Dumb and Dumber: "So you're telling me there's a chance?"

[crewcrazy]

The only thing less predictive than batting average after ~160 plate appearances are batting average splits after ~160 plate appearances.

[Dollarbill13]

Weeks is hitting 6th tonight. Hopefully that helps a little.

 

And Hart leading off... why not Aoki?

[TURBO]

He needs to cut his hair. I truly believe that will turn the tide...

[ReverendBrewmeister]

He needs to cut his hair. I truly believe that will turn the tide...

 

Reverse Samson Effect? At this point, Weeks should be willing to try most anything.

[Gobias Industries]

The worst starting position player in baseball is making 11 million dollars this year and is the fifth highest paid player at his position ahead of studs like Kinsler, Pedroia, and Zobrist. He has not had a multi-hit game since April 17th. He has struck out in more than 1/3 of his offical AB's (53/143). Ron Roenicke has still started him in every game he's been healthy. Let that sink in a minute.

[Schlitz001]

Pedroia and Zobrist would still be in arbitrations years if they hadn't signed extensions. And as far as Kinsler goes, get back to me in 2018 when he's 36 and making $12M.

 

I don't see this as more than extended slump in a year where Rickie's numbers were likely to decline anyway. Is there a reason to think that Rickie's numbers so far this season should be predictive of his future performance? I would think that his career numbers would be a better indicator of what's to be expected. Also, it's hard for me to believe that someone else on the roster can put up comparable numbers to Rickie at the position.

[brettac1]

I think it's just an extended slump, as well. It's really painful watching the fans just waiting to boo the guy, though. It's not like he's a guy that has questionable work ethic, "desire", etc., or has ever said a bad word about the city or anything. Yet it seems like he has always had this tenuous relationship with the fanbase.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I think it's just an extended slump, as well. It's really painful watching the fans just waiting to boo the guy, though. It's not like he's a guy that has questionable work ethic, "desire", etc., or has ever said a bad word about the city or anything. Yet it seems like he has always had this tenuous relationship with the fanbase.

 

That is a little strange, don't quite get it either.

 

The only thing I can think of is the high expectations when he came up, followed by his first few years when he seemed to be either injured or making an error at 2B. Personally, I think it's bull, but maybe people still hang on to that?

[brettac1]

I think it's also that when he is going bad, he looks really bad since he strikes out a lot, and then they tend to be looking when he isn't seeing the ball well. It probably also has some to do with the expectations and now, the salary.

[adambr2]

I actually thought he was starting to figure it out tonight when he ripped that double to center.

 

Then he proceeded to swing at a pitch literally about 4 feet outside in the 8th inning for his unsurprising 3rd strikeout of the game.

[Gobias Industries]

I was watching from Gameday and could see the pitch was obv wayyy outside....did he actually go all the way around or did he check his swing?

[brettac1]

It was a filthy breaking ball that he chased off the plate.

[longball04]

It was a filthy breaking ball that he chased off the plate.

No different than all his other swings, year to date. Rock's comment after he ripped the double to LC. "Welcome back Rickie Weeks." Hey Rock, one hit doesn't mean he is back. The 3 k's that went along with it might have just meant he got lucky and made contact. I am cheering for him to do something every time he steps up to the plate, but I also am a realist and I can see what is going to happen when he is done hitting. It was great he got that double, but he is still basically hitting .160 this year. Do you know how hot he has to get just to make it to the Mendoza line? I am truly afraid that they will be re-naming it the Weeks line very shortly. I still love Weeks, but seriously, at some point and time, you have to move on. I don't see any other team in baseball putting up with that. The only reason the Braves put up with Uggla's junk average last year is because he actually made contact once in a while and hit it a country mile. I don't see that being the case here.

[JohnBriggs12]

It was a filthy breaking ball that he chased off the plate.

 

It started a foot off the plate and ended up 2 feet off the plate. He couldn't have hit that pitch with a rake.

 

Fans are right to expect more from him. We've seen his talent. He was picked higher in the draft than Fielder or Braun. I for one expected more from him than what he's produced before this year's debacle. This is more than your normal slump. We're almost to Memorial Day and the guy's hitting .158 and striking out once every 2.75 ABs.

 

I've seen nothing that tells me he's close to breaking out. He hasn't had a multi-hit game in over a month. Over the last 28 days he's hitting .128, and he's fanned 33 times in 78 ABs. Given his contract, we have no choice but to hope he breaks out. At most they'll only sit him a day here and there. It's part of what baseball has become with long contracts and it stinks. People pay good money to watch major league baseball. They have a right to expect play at a certain level. Can this go on all season? We need only to look at Adam Dunn of 2011 to know that it's possible. Dunn needed an entire offseason to get his mind straight to play the game like he's capable of and now he's back to his normal self.

[Bombers]

Rickie Weeks is on pace for 240 strikeouts this season. Which would give him 1st place on the all time list. (He would beat it by a comfortable 17 SO) ... I have to believe this can't continue. For Weeks career, he has struck out 23 % of the time. So it isn't like he doesn't strike out, but this is ridiculous. And the bad part is, you have to let him play through it. There is nothing that you can do. He is better than this, and he knows he is better than this.

[monty57]

I think the bottom line is that this offense (and therefore this team) won't go anywhere until and unless Weeks and Ramirez start producing. They are both paid a decent amount of money and are under contract for a few more years, so they are going to play. My hope is resting on the fact that they both have enough history to show that they should turn things around. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

[crewcrazy]

Romo is a really bad matchup for Weeks, and on the strikeout it looked like he guessed wrong on the pitch (both location and type) and got caught cheating. Pretty much swung through it before it even got to him like he was looking fastball for some reason.

 

The double last night definitely doesn't mean he's "back," just like the HR last week in New York didn't mean he was back. I do think it's encouraging, though, that he's slowly having more success -- the double last night was his 4th hit in 5 games, and while it still isn't great, it's more success than he's been having in about a month.

[TooLiveBrew]

I actually think Weeks's approach has looked much better over the last four/five games or so. I think he's going to start hitting. He hasn't looked as lost at the plate imo, & the results should start coming.

[Madtown343]

Every time I see him hit into a hard out (two today) I just cringe. He needs a game where the all find grass to get some confidence back.