Brewers new top 10?

[bork]

Sounds about right igor. I think Gamel needs to bring a lot of gloves to Spring Training. If he's healthy and rakes in Spring Training, his bat will have to play somewhere. Even if that means multiple positions to get him on the field. While it's too early to hand over 1B to Morris, you need to factor him in when deciding what to do with Hart.

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Roenicke is quoted in today's paper as saying that he really wants Hart to be the permanent 1B next year, but it's up the Melvin. Sounds like Gamel better start working out in the OF when he gets healthy.

[igor67]

There is depth, which could allow us to trade Hart and I'd explore that just to kind of see if it leads anywhere exciting. I'd also want a more sophisticated look at how much glove value Hart is delivering. The long scoops are definitely nice, and there were multiple years where I've thought that was the ideal first basemen because the errors they save might be equal to the runs a guy might save with range instead. However saving other guys wild throws makes it easier to play stronger bats at other positions. Think of how Gamel and Jose Valentin would have been perceived differently with smaller error totals. That said I haven't seen any solid analysis on how well Hart's range is playing at first and that could have a big impact on where he grades out for the future.

That said there is not a crunch of guys just yet, you could easily have the big competition and fill out your reserves from the list of corner OF, and have guys like Davis and Morris play a full year in AAA (or maybe one forces his way over Gindl or Schafer). In any event as we saw this year that gives you a lot of protection against guys who underperform for whatever reason and injuries at a whole bunch of positions. You can assess again at midseason, maybe you deal someone else and resign Hart, or maybe you let him finish out the year and play the younger guys. I guess the biggest thing is that it is not a problem that demands an immediate solution, and we are well situated to be patient and act at the best time to the best deal rather than bow to a time table.