Is Rickie Weeks the biggest disappointment in Brewers history?

[Bombers]

I came to this late, so all I can do is play Flava Flav to several people's Chuck D: Gold, Braggs, Neugebauer, Danny Thomas (nice!) . . . it's like a death trip down memory lane. Weeks has actually played right about up to the expectation for a guy drafted where he was. You hope he'll be a Hall of Famer, but that's almost never a realistic expectation. He's been a MLB starter, and he's had some good years.

 

(I would add that you always have to ratchet down expectations for 2bs, because they tend to get hurt a lot and flame out early. That's what makes Gantner such an odd player. He was never great, and only briefly was he really a positive, but he managed to play at a solid, mediocre level for like 50 years. I think Weeks at his peak has clearly been better than Gantner was at his peak. They're almost total opposites as far as their strong points; put the two of them together and you have one of the all-time greats.)

 

BTW, I think Sheets is pretty clearly the second-best pitcher in Brewers' history, in terms of career value. Only Higuera topped him. Sheets is somewhat like Weeks in that injuries had a lot to do with keeping them from better careers, but that happens a lot.

This is pretty much spot on with what I was thinking. In addition if you look at the top 10 drafted he is the only all star so who else should they have taken? So was Rickie a bust I would lean towards no with what else was available. The Brewers just drew the 2nd pick in a bad draft.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Major_League_Baseball_Draft

[pre]Pick Player Team Position School

1 Delmon Young Rays OF Adolfo Camarillo High School

2 Rickie Weeks Brewers 2B Southern University

3 Kyle Sleeth Tigers RHP Wake Forest University

4 Tim Stauffer Padres RHP University of Richmond

5 Chris Lubanski Royals CF Kennedy-Kenrick High School (PA)

6 Ryan Harvey Cubs CF Dunedin High School

7 Nick Markakis Orioles OF Young Harris College

8 Paul Maholm Pirates LHP Mississippi State

9 John Danks Rangers LHP Round Rock High School

10 Ian Stewart Rockies 3B La Quinta High School[/pre]

[JohnBriggs12]

Weeks is right up there for me. Early in his career I saw him pull a 99 mph fastball from Joel Zumuya over the left field wall. I thought his ceiling was higher than any Brewer I'd ever seen up to then, and I'd seen them all. His bat speed was off the charts and he could really run too. Wrist surgeries, ankle injuries, etc, and he looks lost at the plate the last couple years. When he gets fooled now, he misses pitches by feet, not inches. I have to wonder if his eyesight is gone too.

 

He had some productive years, so yeah that's to his credit. But even those years weren't up to the level of his talent. Now he's an old 31, broken down somewhat physically and without much apparent confidence.

[jerichoholicninja]

Does the fact that Weeks played with Braun and Fielder, two players who more than lived up to their expectations, make us look at Weeks any differently? I think so. If those two don't exceed their superstar potential around Weeks I think we would look a little more favorably on him.

[Outlander]

This is pretty much spot on with what I was thinking. In addition if you look at the top 10 drafted he is the only all star so who else should they have taken? So was Rickie a bust I would lean towards no with what else was available. The Brewers just drew the 2nd pick in a bad draft.

I think some are confusing bust for disappointment and nobody is arguing the Brewers should have drafted somebody else. Even if he was the best player from a particular draft it does not mean he wasn't a disappointment. It all depends on what expectation were. It works the other way as well, a guy could be the 50th best player from a draft and still exceed expectations if there were none to begin with.

[JimH5]

I think some are confusing bust for disappointment and nobody is arguing the Brewers should have drafted somebody else. Even if he was the best player from a particular draft it does not mean he wasn't a disappointment. It all depends on what expectation were. It works the other way as well, a guy could be the 50th best player from a draft and still exceed expectations if there were none to begin with.

 

I am much more disappointed in the careers of Dave Krynzel and Chad Green and Antone Williamson than the career of Rickie Weeks.

I'm more disappointed in Marc Newfield than Rickie Weeks.

 

Eric Gagne was signed to a big money contract to close games on a team that was to poised to be champions. Then a couple days later, he was named in the Mitchell Report. And he issued an incomplete apology and pitched terribly. I was (& remain) disappointed (& outraged) by Eric Gagne.

 

Dan Thomas was the 6th overall pick in the 1972 draft, he produced a 0.8 career WAR, he had severe mental health issues and committed suicide in prison after being charged with raping a girl. That draft produced Dennis Eckersley, Gary Carter & Willie Randolph. Dan Thomas's career and life were more disappointing than Rickie Weeks.

 

I understand that you may be really, really disappointed in what Rickie Weeks has become vs. what your expectations of him were. I am also disappointed in Weeks. But not as much as I am disappointed in at least 20 other guys.

[Oldcity]

Surprising stuff here. Weeks is arguably the Brewers' best 2B, and Sheets is their best SP.

[monty57]

I'm with JimH, Oldcity, gregmag and others.

 

Would you rather:

 

A) Buy a lottery ticket when the grand prize is $500MM, only hit a few numbers and win $10MM

 

or

 

B) Buy a lottery ticket when the grand prize is $250MM and not win a thing

 

I would take choice "A" every time. Weeks may have not lived up to the ridiculously high expectations pinned on him at a young age, but he has had a long and somewhat successful career with the Brewers, which is far more than we have received from almost every other first round draft pick in team history.

[RobertR]

I came to this late, so all I can do is play Flava Flav to several people's Chuck D: Gold, Braggs, Neugebauer, Danny Thomas (nice!) . . . it's like a death trip down memory lane. Weeks has actually played right about up to the expectation for a guy drafted where he was. You hope he'll be a Hall of Famer, but that's almost never a realistic expectation. He's been a MLB starter, and he's had some good years.

 

(I would add that you always have to ratchet down expectations for 2bs, because they tend to get hurt a lot and flame out early. That's what makes Gantner such an odd player. He was never great, and only briefly was he really a positive, but he managed to play at a solid, mediocre level for like 50 years. I think Weeks at his peak has clearly been better than Gantner was at his peak. They're almost total opposites as far as their strong points; put the two of them together and you have one of the all-time greats.)

 

BTW, I think Sheets is pretty clearly the second-best pitcher in Brewers' history, in terms of career value. Only Higuera topped him. Sheets is somewhat like Weeks in that injuries had a lot to do with keeping them from better careers, but that happens a lot.

This is pretty much spot on with what I was thinking. In addition if you look at the top 10 drafted he is the only all star so who else should they have taken? So was Rickie a bust I would lean towards no with what else was available. The Brewers just drew the 2nd pick in a bad draft.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Major_League_Baseball_Draft

[pre]Pick Player Team Position School

1 Delmon Young Rays OF Adolfo Camarillo High School

2 Rickie Weeks Brewers 2B Southern University

3 Kyle Sleeth Tigers RHP Wake Forest University

4 Tim Stauffer Padres RHP University of Richmond

5 Chris Lubanski Royals CF Kennedy-Kenrick High School (PA)

6 Ryan Harvey Cubs CF Dunedin High School

7 Nick Markakis Orioles OF Young Harris College

8 Paul Maholm Pirates LHP Mississippi State

9 John Danks Rangers LHP Round Rock High School

10 Ian Stewart Rockies 3B La Quinta High School[/pre]

 

 

Compare that to the 1985 draft when Surhoff was drafted. Arguably, the Brewers got the best player they could have out of the 2003 draft. It's certainly not true for Surhoff.

 

Which doesn't exclude Weeks being a disappointment, but that's a subjective observation. Surhoff may be the biggest missed opportunity in franchise history.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I'll just never understand the Weeks hate from Brewers fans. As pointed out before, I get the frustration if the expectations were a bust in Canton. However Rickie has had his moments including the best season ever by a Brewers 2B. I do worry that injuries have taken too great a toll on him, but for the most part he's been a second quartile producer among MLB 2B during his career with moments above like his AS year and below like last year or periods of injury.

 

In my book, this franchise has had a laundry list of FA and draft busts...Weeks doesn't even come close to the top 100.

 

As far as top quality hard workers this franchise has had...except for the top tier which includes only Robin Yount, I'd put Weeks right up there.

[brewers4eric]

There is plenty of opportunity in baseball for disappointment, so much so that I can't focus enough of it on any one player to call that person the greatest disappointment in Brewers history. I could blame any of 25 players on the active roster for blowing any one of 162 games during the season. Plus, you shouldn't really limit your disappointment to the players, as the coaches, trainers, and front office staff can factor into the ultimate product that takes the field.

 

I too, can remember the shot that Rickie hit off of Joel Zumaya. Someone in Detroit probably thinks he is the greatest disappointment in Tigers history. The Brewers won that game partly because Barnwell was on base before Rickie hit his shot. I was always disappointed that Barnwell didn't rake with the Brewers like he did in AAA that year.

 

Its a good thing we are all masochists, otherwise, we wouldn't look forward to being disappointed again this year and talking about it months before the first game.

[sheetskout]

The biggest disappointment to me was Teddy Higuera's left rotator-cuff which this organization back for years.

[nate82]

No.

 

Listach, Sheffield (what he did for the Brewers), anyone drafted in the first round from 1990-1998.

 

Anthony Williamson is by far the biggest disappointment in Brewers history. Picked 4th in the 94 draft where the Brewers should have drafted Nomar again or Konerko.

[rickmanningfan]

I thought Antone would be better too.