Should Jeff Bianchi be given a chance? Latest -- He Will! Bianchi to be added to 40-man, called up

[Roderick]

Its only going to cost about 90-125 for the rest of the season to have him up

 

Not that I disagree about bringing him up, but that cost seems low. The MLB min salary is $480K. So he will earn $228K on the major league roster for the rest of the year. I'm not sure if there would be any savings in the minors between Bianchi and whoever replaces him in the system, but his cost I would think is more than $125K for the rest of the year.

 

Either that or you figure if he is a straight up switch from T.Green that there is no additional cost as Green goes from MLB salary to MiLB salary, right?

[markedman5]

How sad is it that when RRR is asked about Bianchi the 2nd thing he mentions is that he can bunt? lol

 

http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/2012/07/10/bianchi-will-be-bench-bat/

[FVBrewerFan]

Biggest question is, since Bianchi's name already ends with the "ee" sound, what nickname will RR use?

Bianchi-ee?

[PrinceEatMeat]

Biggest question is, since Bianchi's name already ends with the "ee" sound, what nickname will RR use?

Bianchi-ee?

 

Jeffy?

[Baldkin]

I'm not sure why everyone is so excited.

 

It's basically the new shiny bauble, making his big league debut thing. Always brings an additional edge to it -- I'm just hoping for better than Chris Barnwell production.

 

Lest you forget, Barnwell also managed to plow into Prince on two separate occasions on pop ups behind 1st base. I'm pretty sure after the 2nd one, he didn't see the field again for the Brewers.

[gregmag]

Absolutely ridiculous. Sit a 25 year old SS, in favor of a 36 year old who's hitting .186 and has fanned once every 2 ABs and a 32 year old who is struggling to maintain an OPS over .500?

 

Ok, so Bianchi is not a top prospect. But what else is there? They couldn't use a SS with say a .255/.305/.355 line instead of what they have (I guess not, look at what Maysonet did)? Maybe he could be better, but unless he plays how would we know? You'd think Fiers success would make them question their cautious approach to players that come up who weren't heralded.

 

I'd release both Ransom and Izturis, start Bianchi, and bring back Maysonet to be the backup.

Agree 100%. We're scraping the bottom of the ss barrel with Izturis. There's really no downside to playing rookies who present any shred of hope. The upside isn't huge, but so what? One is greater than zero. I can't fathom what RR is thinking.

[adamds22]

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. Regardless of if we buy/sell/don't do anything, we have a possibly shake up at SS, we have our starting catcher coming back off the DL, and we have Marcum coming back. Hopefully Bianchi gets a shot, Maldy is the backup catcher and Wolf gets sent to the pen. I doubt it but one can dream.

[HiAndTight]

Congrats to Jeff -- now best of luck on getting playing time ahead of Izturis, and to a lesser degree, Ransom. I want to believe RR will just turn over SS to Bianchi, but I can't bring myself to do so.

 

http://m.jsonline.com/more/sports/blogs/brewers/162024415.htm

 

Good call. RR didn't even seem very positive about him coming up.

.

Good call? On what? The Brewers literally haven't played a single game yet, so I fail to see how Brewcrew who said he feared he wouldn't be given a chance has been proven right. And these seem like pretty positive things.

 

"He's versatile, can play anywhere in the infield. They like him down there. They say he's a pretty heads-up player. Offensively, he can do a lot of things -- good hitter, can bunt, can hit and run. So, they liked him."

 

Roenicke said he'd give Bianchi an occasional start at short, depending on how he does, but the plan is to use others there as well.

 

So..the negative comment here is that he hasn't guaranteed that he will play everyday? This is nearly identical to what he said about Corey Hart playing 1st base. In fact, this is MORE definitive than what he said about Corey Hart potentially playing 1st base after Gamel went down.

"I'm going to try to get him out there soon," said Roenicke. "He didn't play well in the spring; he had a tough time. But he's played better there."

 

This is absolutely true. He was a bit of a butcher at SS defensively. He's played better. He's stating absolute facts.

 

I'm just wondering..to myself here if we can at least allow a single, just one game to be played before we rip on RR for not playing a guy enough? And say "good call," to the suggestion that he won't play?

 

 

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that if he hits, he'll play. If he hits .250/.325 and is just Cody Ransom, or even just slightly worse than Cody Ransom at SS, he'll play regularly.

 

 

I will say this, it'd be nice to grab another guy off the Cubs who ends up being very productive for us.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that if he hits, he'll play. If he hits .250/.325 and is just Cody Ransom, or even just slightly worse than Cody Ransom at SS, he'll play regularly.

 

I would like to believe this is true but Izturis is hitting no where close to Ransom (or any respectable Major Leaguer for that matter) but still gets plenty of starts. I think Jeff will have to play above average to garner much playing time for Ronny.

[Outlander]

I honestly believe Bianchi will be given a chance because Roenicke see his shortstops are hitting 186/297/314 and 212/231/271, respectively. If Bianchi plays anywhere close to average offensively it will be an improvement.

[HiAndTight]

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. Regardless of if we buy/sell/don't do anything, we have a possibly shake up at SS, we have our starting catcher coming back off the DL, and we have Marcum coming back. Hopefully Bianchi gets a shot, Maldy is the backup catcher and Wolf gets sent to the pen. I doubt it but one can dream.

 

 

Absolutely it will be. It's one of the things that's making the Brewers a little more exciting.

 

You have Fiers coming up. Thornburg is up to try and help out the pen, and I absolutely have to believe he's going to. He should be able to bring it at 96-97 at least with that curve working out of the pen.

Bianchi....

Maldonado, the guy I prayed to make the team as our backup to begin with. I can't imagine HE gets sent to the minors when Lucroy comes back when he's been our starting everyday catcher. And he's been a very good pinch hitter.

 

The only thing left to do in my opinion is PERHAPS talk to a team like the Twins for a Jamey Carroll type addition, a guy we could probably just have, or a guy we could give up a fringe prospect for to have the Twins pay 1.5 of his remaining contract. He's a guy who's been a pretty consistently good hitter and can play some SS. Though I'd like to see Bianchi get his shot first....which I'm confident he will. I'm guessing he'll be in there the first game out of the break, and they'll go from there.

[HiAndTight]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that if he hits, he'll play. If he hits .250/.325 and is just Cody Ransom, or even just slightly worse than Cody Ransom at SS, he'll play regularly.

 

I would like to believe this is true but Izturis is hitting no where close to Ransom (or any respectable Major Leaguer for that matter) but still gets plenty of starts. I think Jeff will have to play above average to garner much playing time for Ronny.

 

 

.186 .297 .314 with poor defense

Or

.212 .231 .271 with very good defense

 

I don't think using Ransom(who's the first of the two obviously, using his 37 games with the Brewers) as an example as to why Izturis(the 2nd in his 42 games with the Brewers) offense is a good argument for why Bianchi won't play if he hits .250/.325.

 

 

I just meant if he was at least Ransom defensively...as that's been his biggest issue....his defense.

[brewmann04]

If he hits 220 it an upgrade , but they need to play him since they know what they already have.

[logan82]

I honestly believe Bianchi will be given a chance because Roenicke see his shortstops are hitting 186/297/314 and 212/231/271, respectively. If Bianchi plays anywhere close to average offensively it will be an improvement.

Sure about that are you? Gomez keeps batting leadoff while Weeks bats way down the order.

[Outlander]

I honestly believe Bianchi will be given a chance because Roenicke see his shortstops are hitting 186/297/314 and 212/231/271, respectively. If Bianchi plays anywhere close to average offensively it will be an improvement.

Sure about that are you? Gomez keeps batting leadoff while Weeks bats way down the order.

 

That is a completely different situation. One is who will get the playing time, the other is lineup positioning.

[slappzilla]

To echo what most of you have said already, you have to Bianchi his chance. The other options are crud so it's not like you're going to really hurt the team in anyway sans maybe a bit of a hole in the defense, but even on that note maybe the kid's defense is good? Only one way to find out...

[logan82]

I honestly believe Bianchi will be given a chance because Roenicke see his shortstops are hitting 186/297/314 and 212/231/271, respectively. If Bianchi plays anywhere close to average offensively it will be an improvement.

Sure about that are you? Gomez keeps batting leadoff while Weeks bats way down the order.

 

That is a completely different situation. One is who will get the playing time, the other is lineup positioning.

Not really to different at all. He is sticking with his guy in both cases.

[HiAndTight]

That is a completely different situation. One is who will get the playing time, the other is lineup positioning.

 

Not really to different at all. He is sticking with his guy in both cases.

 

 

No, it really is. He's playing his best player in those positions and the previous poster was correct, it's a matter of lineup positioning. The other is playing time.

 

 

So not really the same at all.

[jerichoholicninja]

That is a completely different situation. One is who will get the playing time, the other is lineup positioning.

 

Not really to different at all. He is sticking with his guy in both cases.

 

 

No, it really is. He's playing his best player in those positions and the previous poster was correct, it's a matter of lineup positioning. The other is playing time.

 

 

So not really the same at all.

 

Isn't putting one of the worst hitters on the team in a position that will give him the most at bats in a game putting a player in the wrong position?

[packfan79]

Well it looks like he is getting his first start today, hopefully he performs or he won't get another start again for another week.

[PrinceEatMeat]

On the bright side, Roenicke didn't play Ransom for a week straight just because he hit a Grand Slam on Friday. I was kind of surprised that he didn't play last night. And Bianchi drew a start 3 days in. That's slight progress for Ron.

[djoctagone]

likely a temporary move, but jeff bianchi is up for a few days while mark rogers is on paternity leave.

 

fans should note that this returns the brewers to a 12-man pitching staff.

[markedman5]

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if Bianchi stays and McClendon is sent down when Rogers returns

 

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2012/8/13/3239812/brewers-place-mark-rogers-on-paternity-list-recall-infielder-jeff

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'd just send down McClendon when Rogers returns. He won't get any opportunities to pitch anyway. I think he's pitched once since he came up. There's really no need to carry 13 pitchers anymore. We could use the extra bench bat more.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd just send down McClendon when Rogers returns. He won't get any opportunities to pitch anyway. I think he's pitched once since he came up. There's really no need to carry 13 pitchers anymore. We could use the extra bench bat more.

 

I'd just release K-Rod. Mclendon's not getting opportunities to pitch because Roenicke has this fantasy that if he keeps running K-Rod out there, suddenly he's going to revert to last year's form. Melvin needs to put his foot down and take away that option. K-Rod's proven there's no lead big enough he can't surrender. Of course that's true for most of the pen, but some of those guys might actually return next year. Livan has no future here either so, why is he taking up a roster spot? Might as well have Claudio Vargas up here than Livan.