Rickie Weeks

[SRB]

Maicer Izturis out 4-6 months, and Jose Reyes is already out too. Seems like the Blue Jays have a massive hole in their middle infield, I wonder if they would be interested in Weeks? Maybe it would be asking too much even as a salary swap, but Adam Lind ($7M this season) would make a great platoon partner for Reynolds

 

Career wOBA splits (L/R):

Mark Reynolds (.362/.338)

Adam Lind (.265/.365)

[pogokat]

Jose Reyes will be back on Friday, so I don't think that would factor into the Blue Jays decisions

[reillymcshane]

I just don't see any reason anyone trades for Rickie. I realize this season's totals are a small sample, but he's hitting .158. He hasn't even taken any walks. He's swinging at junk (33% of his swings are at pitches outside the strike zone - lifetime he's at 21.6%).

 

Since he's not playing every day, perhaps he's pressing and trying to make something happen.

 

If anyone would want him, we'd have to pay his entire salary and the buyout.

[TURBO]

I think Weeks is more valuable to the 2014 Brewers than some of you are giving him credit. I could seem him playing a lot more down the stretch, especially if Gennett is mediocre or worse. The reason they don't want to use him very much early in the season is because of his vesting option.

 

Too many people are expecting Gennett to fail. We know what Rickie brings to the table these days, and Gennett is unproven, one way or the other. I get tired of all the "experts" on this board expecting Scooter to flop. So far, though last year and this, he has outplayed Weeks in every aspect of the game.

 

If we have to play Weeks for any extended period of time, that is a bad sign for the Brewers. He has no value to this team, none. He is wasting a roster spot at this point.

 

I find it hard to believe that his vesting option has anything to do with his playing time. Could it be that Scooter is kicking his butt, and he is on the bench because he deserves to be on the bench? If Weeks had tore it up in spring training, do you really believe he would not be starting every day? I don't. He was outplayed, has been outplayed for quite some time now, and that is why he isn't playing.

[Roderick]

You likely see a team take the risk to claim him on waivers(maybe) or at least sign him and you save that amount at least.

 

No team will pick him off from waivers, as trading with the Brewers would be a better deal as the Brewers would pick up most of the salary in a trade (for a bag of balls). So Weeks will get through waivers and there will be a team or two that he will get to pick from that will end up just paying the prorated minimum wage piece of his contract - if and when the Brewers cut him outright.

 

I think if I was another team that just had my 2B hurt, I would trade for Taylor Green before I looked to pick up Weeks. I believe Green has an option where the Brewers can't stop him from leaving if a MLB team wanted him, but the Brewers get compensated (not sure how much is decided).

[SRB]

I find it hard to believe that his vesting option has anything to do with his playing time. Could it be that Scooter is kicking his butt, and he is on the bench because he deserves to be on the bench? If Weeks had tore it up in spring training, do you really believe he would not be starting every day? I don't. He was outplayed, has been outplayed for quite some time now, and that is why he isn't playing.

Scooter isn't kicking anybody's butt right now. He's hitting .258/.303/.323 for a .267 wOBA (in comparison, in Weeks's disastrous 2013 he had a .299 wOBA). Weeks is getting old and losing bat speed, but you have to be pretty fickle to conclude after such a small sample size that he is suddenly a useless player. He still has way higher upside than Gennett. I'm sure it's just hard to suddenly adjust to being a rarely-used bench player.

 

Scooter is being given a chance to replicate his short 2013 performance, but if he is still a replacement level player a couple months from now, Weeks is going to start getting many more starts.

[TURBO]

I guess I am just fickle then.

 

Suddenly useless? No, I think his uselessness has been building for quite some time...

[logan82]

I just don't see any reason anyone trades for Rickie. I realize this season's totals are a small sample, but he's hitting .158. He hasn't even taken any walks. He's swinging at junk (33% of his swings are at pitches outside the strike zone - lifetime he's at 21.6%).

I wouldn't read much into even the secondary stats yet. They have not had enough time to stabilize. I would expect pretty similar swing percentages this year from Weeks. None of that stuff changed even last year and the results stunk. I don't think Weeks will hit well this year but not because of a change in approach. He lost power in 2013 but everything else in the stats looked similar. He just doesn't have the bat speed anymore to generate power.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Time to play gennett full time. It's better and more productive than weeks playing.

[nate82]

Time to play gennett full time. It's better and more productive than weeks playing.

 

If you like weak popouts that would be a good move.

[TURBO]

Time to play gennett full time. It's better and more productive than weeks playing.

 

If you like weak popouts that would be a good move.

 

weak pop-out vs strike out...

 

well, at least when Weeks strikes out, he is using more pitches......possibly.........or not.

[brewmann04]

make a decision and go with it full time.

[Roderick]

make a decision and go with it full time.

 

How about a decision that Gennett will start 60-66% of the time and Weeks will start the other games, while planning ahead so that Weeks is obviously starting against lefties?

 

Seems like that is a decision and one I would go with until one player obviously earned the position or one player obviously lost the position. Weeks is getting closer to that latter point, but is not there yet.

[danzig6767]

make a decision and go with it full time.

 

How about a decision that Gennett will start 60-66% of the time and Weeks will start the other games, while planning ahead so that Weeks is obviously starting against lefties?

 

Seems like that is a decision and one I would go with until one player obviously earned the position or one player obviously lost the position. Weeks is getting closer to that latter point, but is not there yet.

If Weeks can't get his act together quickly, just waive him and i'd like to see Scooter platoon with Bianchi. Then call up Elian Herrera who could add depth at many positions off the bench given he can play defensively in both the infield and outfield.

[brwrsfan]

Something is going to have to happen. We can't continue to get buy with 4 guys that can only play 1b and 2b. Especially with the Braun thumb situation, we can't have a game with no backup OF (Overbay does NOT count). Herrera seems ideal, though even Green would be sufficient too. I'd honestly like to see both Weeks and Overbay gone, with Green and Herrera brought up, but that's not going to happen.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Time to play gennett full time. It's better and more productive than weeks playing.

 

If you like weak popouts that would be a good move.

 

Whats' the difference? At least we will get plus defense.

[nate82]

Time to play gennett full time. It's better and more productive than weeks playing.

 

If you like weak popouts that would be a good move.

 

Whats' the difference? At least we will get plus defense.

 

Well there is first for everything and this is a first Gennett with plus defense? Maybe if your definition of plus defense is Yuni at SS then yes Gennett would fit that definition of plus defense.

 

Gennett is about equal to Weeks in terms of defense.

[BallFour]

No one wants Weeks to even sniff 600 PA. Also I would say Gennett has way better range than Weeks right now especially with Weeks coming off a blown up hamstring. At least that's what my naked eye has been seeing so far this season.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Gennett compared to Weeks has plus defense. That's what I meant. I've seen him make 5 plays already that Weeks would never make and it's only been 15 games.

[SRB]

What's the difference between saying we should cut Weeks in favor of Gennett and saying we should have cut Gallardo last season in favor of Fiers? (other than the benefit of hindsight in the latter case)

 

I'm fine with giving Scooter some extended time to show he isn't a fluke, but Weeks has a lot of value as a safeguard with more upside/bounce-back potential than many are giving him. I would be fine with trading Weeks if we get a solid return (for example, using Weeks as the centerpiece for acquiring Adam Lind). But simply releasing him when we are already on the hook for his salary is bonkers.

[brwrsfan]

Who was advocating cutting Yo last season???

 

He struggled some sure, but I don't think anyone was willing to just dump him because he was having his first bad season. Gallardo had been very solid up to that point, was likely messed up by the WBC and just never got it together but I don't recall anyone saying we should cut him. He also wasn't completely terrible and wasn't essentially wasting a 25 man roster spot.

 

Weeks has proven over the last 3 years that he's just simply not good any more. It's bad enough that in most games, when he PH for Gennett, they then replace him with Bianchi so he doesn't have to play defense. And he's not hitting....again. Plus we're handicapping ourselves with two 2b only on the roster. It makes no sense.

[SRB]

Weeks has proven over the last 3 years that he's just simply not good any more. It's bad enough that in most games, when he PH for Gennett, they then replace him with Bianchi so he doesn't have to play defense. And he's not hitting....again. Plus we're handicapping ourselves with two 2b only on the roster. It makes no sense.

What? From 2010-2011, Weeks was arguably the best 2B in the National League. In 2012 he wasn't elite but was still clearly one of the top 10 offensive 2B in baseball (.728 OPS, .321 wOBA). His only objectively bad season (aside from his cold start as a spot-starter/pinch-hitter this season) was last year, and that was only in 399 PA. And by comparison his "bad" 2013 was still better than Gennett has been performing this season.

 

I would love nothing more than for Gennett to show he is the real deal and replicate his impressive 2013 campaign, but right now he is barely hitting and virtually every statistical projection suggests that Weeks will be the better player. As I said before, giving Scooter some time to show what he can do is a fine plan (as is trading Weeks for a valuable return that would benefit the team), but I don't see how releasing Weeks makes any sense whatsoever (particularly when Overbay is still claiming a 25-man spot).

[Outlander]

I continue to find it amusing that there are still people that think Weeks will magically turn thing around and become a good player again. It doesn't matter what he did a few years ago he isn't any good now and really there is no reason to put quotes in the word bad because he is a bad player, just accept it and move on.

[SRB]

I continue to find it amusing that there are still people that think Weeks will magically turn thing around and become a good player again. It doesn't matter what he did a few years ago he isn't any good now and really there is no reason to put quotes in the word bad because he is a bad player, just accept it and move on.

Well, hard to argue with that reasoning.

 

I fail to see how 399 PA last season is definitive proof that he has somehow lost the ability to play baseball when weighed against the 4000+ PA over the rest of his career. Did he get old and lose all hitting ability overnight? He may be on the decline, but that's clearly not the entire explanation. In the month of June last season he destroyed the baseball and was the best player on the team, hitting .355/.429/.677 for a .472 wOBA. He was dreadful during the rest of the season, but his June alone is enough proof that he hasn't simply lost all of his physical tools.

 

I don't know why he was so bad in May/July last season, but I do know that I haven't seen enough to defy all logic and conclude that he should be released. It does seem that having to share time with Gennett (both last season and this year) does not help his performance.

 

If Gennett can turn things around, then that's fantastic. Fingers crossed. But if Scooter continues to hit like he currently is, I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of Weeks a month or two from now (and perhaps when people on this board get tired enough of Gennett their attitude on Weeks will suddenly change again too).

[logan82]

But if Scooter continues to hit like he currently is, I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of Weeks a month or two from now (and perhaps when people on this board get tired enough of Gennett their attitude on Weeks will suddenly change again too).

I am not so sure about that. The things Weeks does well do not really endear him to many people so even when he was doing well there were more than a few people who were just waiting for his decline so they could pile on.