Green and Gamel to waivers; Gamel claimed by Cubs; Gamel non-tendered by Cubs

[thebruce44]

There'd be no downside in picking him up... you'd rather continue on the 'Juan Francisco is terrible' merry-go-round?

 

That's quite the leap, TLB. I would rather see the Brewers re-sign Corey Hart, and/or give Hunter Morris the opportunity. Gamel had more than enough chances in Milwaukee. I'm not saying it's his fault he repeatedly got hurt, but that was the situation.

 

This I agree with.

 

Hart is probably our best option, and at this point, we will see just how serious he was about playing here for less money/hometown discount/etc.

 

I'd much rather roll with Hart or Morris. The page has been turned on Gamel and Green, I'd rather leave it that way and let someone else ride that merry go round. Outside of injury, Hart is a pretty safe option.

 

I agree that Hart is probably the best option at this point, but I also don't really care that much about "this point." Its entirely possible that Gamel will be the best option sometime in the future and I would hate to miss out on that.

[Invader3K]

If Mat Gamel was never a Brewers draft pick or had never worn a Brewers uniform, would we even be mentioning him on this forum?

 

- 6'1", 220 lbs

- 28 years old. Will be 29 this coming July.

- 4th round draft pick in 2005

- Corner infielder...generally regarded as having "OK" to questionable defense.

- Played none of 2013.

- Career .229 BA and .641 OPS in the majors.

- Has never played more than 61 games in a season in MLB, and that was back in 2009.

- Has had his character and work effort questioned in the past by teammates, former managers and coaches, and journalists. Once had his gear thrown out of the locker room by teammates.

 

I mean really...would anyone be talking about him without having the Brewers connection?

[logan82]

Career .304/.376/.498/.873 in the minors. Defensive issues were mostly throwing related. Never played enough in the majors to make those stats worth looking at. On a league minimum salary when the current option is Francisco, yes. VS Hart, maybe. Depends on what Hart wants.

[jjfanec]

If Mat Gamel was never a Brewers draft pick or had never worn a Brewers uniform, would we even be mentioning him on this forum?

 

- 6'1", 220 lbs

- 28 years old. Will be 29 this coming July.

- 4th round draft pick in 2005

- Corner infielder...generally regarded as having "OK" to questionable defense.

- Played none of 2013.

- Career .229 BA and .641 OPS in the majors.

- Has never played more than 61 games in a season in MLB, and that was back in 2009.

- Has had his character and work effort questioned in the past by teammates, former managers and coaches, and journalists. Once had his gear thrown out of the locker room by teammates.

 

I mean really...would anyone be talking about him without having the Brewers connection?

 

Nope. His minor league line is solid but not spectacular, apart from a couple years. There numerous guys who put him minor league numbers like Gamel and never make it.

[MNBrew]

If Mat Gamel was never a Brewers draft pick or had never worn a Brewers uniform, would we even be mentioning him on this forum?

 

- 6'1", 220 lbs

- 28 years old. Will be 29 this coming July.

- 4th round draft pick in 2005

- Corner infielder...generally regarded as having "OK" to questionable defense.

- Played none of 2013.

- Career .229 BA and .641 OPS in the majors.

- Has never played more than 61 games in a season in MLB, and that was back in 2009.

- Has had his character and work effort questioned in the past by teammates, former managers and coaches, and journalists. Once had his gear thrown out of the locker room by teammates.

 

I mean really...would anyone be talking about him without having the Brewers connection?

I get goaded about cherry-picking stats occasionally. This list of stuff is the same thing. There's a heck of a lot of very good hitting this guy has done in the minors, and once he got to the majors, he hardly played regularly, got shafted by Macha for a couple years, then tore his ACL AFTER he'd worked like heck to improve his attitude & work ethic AND had justly won the starting 1B job.

 

Without his having been Brewers property since 2005 (outside of the past 2 months), it would be easy to point out the negatives. But there are tons of positives and SOMETIMES guys like Gamel deserve another shot. In spite of his injuries, if it came down to Gamel vs. Francisco, I'd take Gamel in a heartbeat any day of the week and not think twice.

 

(That said, if Miami would trade us Morrison for Francisco, I'd do that trade before their GM could change his mind, but so far there are no such rumblings.)

 

Gamel & Green both have proven they're no sure things, but they've also proven to have the potential to be MLB regulars -- and yes, obviously, for both that's at least a year or two ago. But if they can still do what they showed they could do in the minors, they're at least guys who wouldn't hurt the team and may actually help quite well -- likely never stars and possibly not even as starters, but Lord knows we've lived through worse years, years when our role players were total crud with no hope of much success (late Counsell, Cody Ransom, Wil Nieves, 2013 Gonzalez, etc.).

[thebruce44]

If Mat Gamel was never a Brewers draft pick or had never worn a Brewers uniform, would we even be mentioning him on this forum?

 

- 6'1", 220 lbs

- 28 years old. Will be 29 this coming July.

- 4th round draft pick in 2005

- Corner infielder...generally regarded as having "OK" to questionable defense.

- Played none of 2013.

- Career .229 BA and .641 OPS in the majors.

- Has never played more than 61 games in a season in MLB, and that was back in 2009.

- Has had his character and work effort questioned in the past by teammates, former managers and coaches, and journalists. Once had his gear thrown out of the locker room by teammates.

 

I mean really...would anyone be talking about him without having the Brewers connection?

 

A 2009# 34 ranked prospect who was listed right behind Andrew McCutchen then got hurt a few years and was now looking for a league minimum contract.

 

Yes, he is the exact type of player I would be talking about bringing in given our options for the future at first.

[torts]

Gamel is signed by the Braves

[BarneyStinston]

Minor league signing for the Braves, who have their corner infield positions locked up. So, he's looking at a possible bench position on the team. I think everyone just needs to see if he can survive spring training. It doesn't matter whose club he's on at this point.

[JohnBriggs12]

He'll most assuredly start the season in AAA. I'm pretty certain he'd be out of minor league options and he needs the ABs after two years of inactivity.

[djoctagone]

in recent days, the competition for taylor green has intensified. it should be noted that green can elect free agency if he's not on the brewers' 40-man roster by 15 june 2014. green also can terminate his contract with the brewers should there be an opportunity to play for an asian team (the brewers would be compensated).

 

one can assume that mark reynolds and lyle overbay both have opt-out clauses as well (and likely earlier than 15 june 2014), but nothing's been confirmed yet to my knowledge.

[RockCoCougars]

Green looks to be one of the odd men out for sure. He is going to need to have a big spring. Even then, he might need an injury or two to make the team... That said, the way things went last year, he'll probably be the opening day 1B.

[djoctagone]

in recent days, the competition for taylor green has intensified. it should be noted that green can elect free agency if he's not on the brewers' 40-man roster by 15 june 2014. green also can terminate his contract with the brewers should there be an opportunity to play for an asian team (the brewers would be compensated).

 

one can assume that mark reynolds and lyle overbay both have opt-out clauses as well (and likely earlier than 15 june 2014), but nothing's been confirmed yet to my knowledge.

overbay's opt-out is 48 hours after 22 march. presumably, reynolds has an opt-out near the end of spring training as well. i can't see the brewers counting on reynolds to play third and first at nashville.

 

green just isn't established enough to be able to negotiate an earlier opt-out date.

[DHonks]

Green has had 1 1/2 good seasons in the minors in how many years? The guy needs to play every day at 3b in AAA. If he performs well, he will be in the bigs before long.

[brewmann04]

Great point let him play 3rd at Nashville that way we know if we have someone to repace AR.

[Roderick]

If Green can't crack the lineup for Milwaukee at 3B, 2B, 1B where could he in MLB? So I don't necessarily see him leaving even if he is AAA come his option date.

 

I suppose someone that doesn't have two 2B only types on the 25 man roster could use him as a utility player.