Gamel's Injury (Torn ACL, needs surgery, likely done for year)

[pretendastronaut]

The word on Twitter is Gamel is coming back to Milwaukee to be evaluated by Raasch. I can't expect that's good news.

 

[pretendastronaut]

@AdamMcCalvy

Re: Gamel. I don't think you send a player halfway across the country to see your head Dr. if he has just a "twisted" knee. Stay tuned.

 

@Haudricourt

#Brewers announce 1B Mat Gamel is returning to Milwaukee to have right knee examined by team doctor. Sounds somewhat ominous.

[AZBrewCrew]

Yeah that cant be a good thing. Lets hope they are just being over aggressive with the evaluation

[PrinceEatMeat]

Right now, the hope just has to be that it's not a season-ending injury like an ACL tear. It still might be some type of tear or something that requires minor surgery, but hopefully he'd only miss a few months tops then. That might be best case at this point. I'd be shocked if it was just something minor now. Either way, I'm just hoping for the best. Feel very bad for Gamel.

[RockCoCougars]

Best case is probably a Wes Helms type knee injury (minor ligament tear if I remember). Helms missed a few months with that one didn't he?

[GormanHarvey]

At this point I'd say best case scenario is an MCL tear (typically heals on its own in about 3 wks) or meniscus damage a la Corey Hart. Get well soon Mat

[TooLiveBrew]

I can't help but be pretty pissed off that they didn't pull Gamel immediately after the injury.

[JohnBriggs12]

I assume he's at least headed for the DL. Ishikawa figures to play the bulk I would assume at 1B but it might behoove them to get a platoon partner for him.

 

It's pretty telling that Brooks Conrad is in the Nashville lineup today at 1B(edit and he's already mishandled a throw for an error). That's the first time he's played there this season. He's hardly a prototypical 1B guy at 5'10" but he's been swinging a hot bat.

 

Jorge Cantu recently elected FA and is out there also.

 

Either way, they'll need to create a 40 man spot.

[Roderick]

 

Either way, they'll need to create a 40 man spot.

 

Not if they bring up Taylor Green and move Ramirez to 1B. But that isn't very likely is it? I see Green isn't exactly on fire in Nashville.

[Funketown]

I wonder if they consider giving Kottaras some starts at 1B? Zips projects him for a .250/.330/.430 type of line, which is not terrible for a stand-in at 1B, and almost certainly better than what Ishikawa will do. He has 4 career innings at 1B, less than I initially thought.

 

Ramirez has never logged an inning at 1B in the majors. I'm not sure he'll want to play 1B, and even if he does, I'm not sure it's wise to have him make that type of transition during the season.

 

There's got to be some AAAA guy that can be better than Ish and can be had for cheap on the waiver wire or for a B/C prospect.

[Thurston Fluff]

Last season we were remarkably lucky with injuries. I guess it was to much to ask for that again this season.

 

There's got to be some AAAA guy that can be better than Ish and can be had for cheap on the waiver wire or for a B/C prospect.

 

I think Ishikawa is the definition of AAAA guy.

[Crew2323]

Word is Gamel needs surgery.

 

https://twitter.com/#!/AdamMcCalvy/status/197774566779658241

[DatHoser]

Both Tom H. and Adam M. tweeting that Gamel told players that he needs knee surgery.

 

Not good.

[hawing]

Adam McCalvy tweet from about five minutes ago:

Gamel has told teammates he needs surgery. We're waiting to talk to him now and I'll have a story at #Brewers.com immediately after.

[Invader3K]

Disappointing to hear about Gamel. We'll have to wait and see if this is something where he could come back in a few weeks, or if it's worse.

[Menotti80]

Screw you Brewers trainers/coaches.

[brewtank34]

Best of luck on the recovery Mat. Time to bring in Hart at 1st. Aoki in RF and leadoff.

 

Aoki, Weeks, Braun, Ramirez, Hart, Gonzalez, Lucroy, Morgan/Gomez, P.

 

Frankly, I am pretty pissed off that RR hasn't already put Weeks in the 2 hole by now. What is he waiting for?

[Funketown]

There's got to be some AAAA guy that can be better than Ish and can be had for cheap on the waiver wire or for a B/C prospect.

 

I think Ishikawa is the definition of AAAA guy.

 

When I say AAAA guy, I mean a guy who absolutely mashes in AAA but just can't seem to perform in his brief stints in the majors. Ishikawa was at or below league average in AAA last season. This guy is pretty much what I'm looking for:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=5462&position=1B

[Thurston Fluff]

As a team the Brewers can absorb the injury. I feel bad for Gamel more than for the Brewers.

[patrickgpe]

i agree, this offense has been anemic so far, putting ishikawa and conrad in a platoon is not going to help. Getting Aoki regular playing time, moving Hart to 1st and letting morgan and gogo platoon is the best option as of now.

[RobDeer 45]

Dang! This sucks.

 

I don't know how mad you can be at the trainers. If things checked out and he said I'm staying in, not much you can do. Looking back, ya they should have said you're not going out, but they couldn't tell from the tests that something was wrong. Maybe in a 162 game season it's best to always be safe, but players are always told to be tough and play through pain.

 

Either way, I feel bad for Gamel.

[Funketown]

How much experience does Hart have at 1B? He only has 8 innings in the majors, but if I'm correct I think he may have played there some in spring training. I also thought he mentioned that he didn't want to move to 1B. But if he were willing and able to make the move, running a 3-man platoon type thing in CF/RF with Gomez, Aoki, and Morgan wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, and is preferable to Ishikawa playing every day.

[patrickgpe]

he has said he doesn't want to go there, its best for the team though.

[TooLiveBrew]

Screw you Brewers trainers/coaches.

qft

 

I see Green isn't exactly on fire in Nashville.

Actually, as Mass Haas points out in the MiLB Transactions thread...

 

Taylor Green, who's hit. 378 in his last ten games, probably never wished he was right-handed more than right now, should the Brewers go the Conrad route.

[pretendastronaut]

That really hurts to hear about Gamel, but hopefully it's something more akin to Hart's spring training surgery, but I'm doubting it. I said last night when it happened that I was having nightmares of Gallardo's 2008 injury in my head.

 

As for Hart and first base, here's what McCalvy reported in January;

 

Tim and Sparky also asked Hart about the potential of playing first base. I have not seem him quotes elsewhere since this idea came up, so I wanted to pass along that, too. Brewers officials have been raising the idea of Hart playing a limited number of games at first (20? 30?) while the team breaks in Mat Gamel. Hart is a right-handed hitter and Gamel hits lefty.

 

Hart said he’s taken grounders and throws at first base as recently as September.

 

“I didn’t think I was going to be a first baseman again, but you never know,” he said. “You see a lot of guys that play outfield who came up as an infielder, and there’s always a chance you can go back and mess around once in a while. I kind of thought there might be a chance in the future that I might be stuck over there again. I thought I’d go over there and mess around a few times this year. Practice is one thing, but you definitely need some game time experience to get comfortable over there.”

 

The part where he says, “stuck over there again” sort of jumps off the screen, no? Doesn’t sound like Hart is dying to use his first baseman’s glove.

 

Host Tim Allen heard the same thing, and asked Hart, “Do you want to do it?”

 

“I talked to [general manager] Doug [Melvin], I talked to [manager] Ron [Roenicke] and I said I would do whatever helps us,” Hart said. “I told them, it’s going to be up to them to get me ready and comfortable, and I’ll do whatever they tell me to do. Every drill that they have me do, I’m going to do as much as I can to get better over there.”