Farewell to Rickie Weeks

[gregmag]

Rickie Weeks is, for all practical purposes, done as a Brewer. I can't imagine a scenario in which both sides would want to continue the relationship.

 

I've always liked Rickie as a player. As far as I could tell, he kept his head down, worked hard, and got what he could out of his talent. The talent was considerable. At his peak he was an All-Star and an exciting player. Unless Molitor or Money counts, I think he's had the best career of any Brewers 2b (though I realize a lot of people like Gantner much more than I do).

 

He was a strange package of strengths and weaknesses that always seemed to leave us wanting more. On one hand, he had an elite combination of power, speed, and plate discipline at his position. On the other hand, he never fully solved his contact problems, he got hurt a lot, and his fielding maxed out at adequate (before it fell apart completely). He never quite put together everything he was capable of doing for an extended period; and, like a lot of second basemen, he got old fast.

 

He's up there on some team leader boards, an important, long-time Brewer. I wish him the best, and I'd love (though I don't expect) to see him come back strong somewhere.

[3and2Fastball]

I'll miss him, a lot

 

While much of team slumped, he quietly hit .302 with a .400 OBP and .938 OPS in the 2nd half

 

An argument could be made that on a team full of free swingers, it wouldn't be the worst move to re-sign Weeks

[JimH5]

I wish he would have made an appearance during the last game. I think the fans would have been thankful and respectful.

 

It's hard when a player of his tenure leaves without any fanfare. He didn't live up to the expectations of being taken #2--almost nobody does. He seemed so private and quiet publicly, that I don't know anything about him, despite a 10-year run.

 

He might land somewhere next year. I can't see him playing every day for a contender, but he has shown power at a position often lacking in power, so someone might give him a shot.

[Bombers]

I'll miss him, a lot

 

While much of team slumped, he quietly hit .302 with a .400 OBP and .938 OPS in the 2nd half

 

An argument could be made that on a team full of free swingers, it wouldn't be the worst move to re-sign Weeks

And he refused to try first base. And unfortunately that will be everyone's lasting image. Maybe his bat in the lineup could have made a difference.

 

Oh well. Thanks for the decade of effort - Good luck to ya Rick.

[SRB]

The front office (and yes, the fans) treated him pretty poorly this season, in my personal opinion, so I'm not surprised he went out with a bit of a whimper. And at the end of the year the only Brewers hitters who performed better this season were Gomez and Lucroy, imagine that.

 

Gennett is serviceable and more importantly cheap, so I don't think Rickie will be back, but I could see him having a bit of a resurgence with a new team kind of like Hardy did.

 

Farewell Rickie. We'll always have 2009-10 when you looked like one of the best players in baseball.

[AdvantageSchneider]

Rickie Weeks is, for all practical purposes, done as a Brewer. I can't imagine a scenario in which both sides would want to continue the relationship.

 

I've always liked Rickie as a player. As far as I could tell, he kept his head down, worked hard, and got what he could out of his talent. The talent was considerable. At his peak he was an All-Star and an exciting player. Unless Molitor or Money counts, I think he's had the best career of any Brewers 2b (though I realize a lot of people like Gantner much more than I do).

 

 

Career Brewers WAR per baseball reference

 

Gantner 22.3

 

Weeks 12.3

 

Per Fan Graphs

 

Gantner 19.5

 

Weeks 18.2

[davego]

I'll miss Rickie. He was one of our guys. I wish him luck and hope he finds a role out there.

[The stache]

I always liked Rickie Weeks. Even when he struggled, you never saw or heard anything from him. He did his job to the very best of his ability. The results weren't always there, but it wasn't from a lack of effort, in my opinion. That injury he suffered stepping on first base in 2011 just tore my heart out.

 

He was asked to learn to play left field, and I do think, too, he was asked to try first base. He didn't want to do either. That bothers me a little bit, but that was his decision.

 

There's no way he could have lived up to the massive expectations that his draft slot came with. But when he was at his best, he was one of the most dynamic players in the game. I wish he'd been able to stay healthier, because the sky was the limit.

 

But anyway, thank you Rickie. Good luck to you.

[LouisEly]

Weeks was the #2 overall pick in 2003 and has by far the highest career WAR of any of the top six picks in the 2003 draft, and the sixth highest career WAR of any of the 37 first-round selections that year. No one from that first round has a career WAR (according to B-R) >26 and Weeks is at 12.3. He was a good player and a good pick in a pretty lousy draft.

 

Go figure - the year the Brewers get the #2 overall pick in the draft is one of the worst drafts in recent history talent-wise. No Justin Verlander, Byron Buxton, or Kris Bryant there. That's Brewers luck for you.

[kalle8]

i know Rickie didn't want a farewell apparence, but i think the fans deserved it, i think brewer fans wanted to stand and cheer for one of their guys.

 

sad it didn't happen.

 

ciao e arrivederci Rickie.

[torts]

I'll miss him, a lot

 

While much of team slumped, he quietly hit .302 with a .400 OBP and .938 OPS in the 2nd half

 

An argument could be made that on a team full of free swingers, it wouldn't be the worst move to re-sign Weeks

 

sure, he hit .302 in the second half, in 47 of the 66 games, and only getting 125 at bats.. which is less than half of the AB of an every day player, so yeah, he did pretty well in the second half, getting select opportunities.

[monty57]

I'll miss him, a lot

 

While much of team slumped, he quietly hit .302 with a .400 OBP and .938 OPS in the 2nd half

 

An argument could be made that on a team full of free swingers, it wouldn't be the worst move to re-sign Weeks

 

sure, he hit .302 in the second half, in 47 of the 66 games, and only getting 125 at bats.. which is less than half of the AB of an every day player, so yeah, he did pretty well in the second half, getting select opportunities.

 

The same could be said of Gennett, who didn't have to face the lefties because Rickie was there, but in his "select opportunities," he didn't even do "pretty well" in the second half. If both players were healthy all season, and both got 600 PAs (facing lefties and righties), I'd bet that Weeks would be far and away the better hitter.

 

Gennett is pre-arby, so he has a lot more "bang for the buck," he's probably a better defender, and Weeks seems to be more injury prone. But, if they were both the same price and a team were looking for a second baseman for a year or two, Weeks could be the better choice. Since that's not the case, and Gennett is pre-arby with lots of team control, he's obviously our guy, but it's money and control that make that decision, not pure talent.

 

The big problem with these players for the Brewers this year was that neither of them played any position other than second. I don't ever remember an MLB team having a platoon at 2B with players who only played that position. For this reason, I'm sure the Brewers tried to trade Weeks last offseason, but teams didn't want to take on his salary, and we really didn't have any better options for the roster spot, so we weren't going to eat salary to be rid of him. He'll get signed somewhere, and I hope that he can finally stay healthy and productive.

[1992casey]

Rickie Weeks didn't want farewell appearance

 

It's just one of those things where what's done is done. We had a good conversation earlier this morning with Doug. I told the manager if the time permitted itself during the game to put me out there, OK. If not, so be it.

 

Life still goes on. It's not like this is the end of all. I'm the type of person that I move on. That's the way it is. I don't think I'm going to be here next year. It's just for me to go out there and move forward with my life.

 

I'm the type of person that keeps moving forward. That's just the way I work, really. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I had to play here all this time and the fan support. It's all been a great thing.

[Baldkin]

Rickie Weeks didn't want farewell appearance

 

It's just one of those things where what's done is done. We had a good conversation earlier this morning with Doug.I told the manager if the time permitted itself during the game to put me out there, OK. If not, so be it.

 

Life still goes on. It's not like this is the end of all. I'm the type of person that I move on. That's the way it is. I don't think I'm going to be here next year. It's just for me to go out there and move forward with my life.

 

I'm the type of person that keeps moving forward. That's just the way I work, really. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I had to play here all this time and the fan support. It's all been a great thing.

 

That irks me that Ron didn't put him in the game. He had a perfect opportunity in the 7th, before the fans started filing out, and instead, went with Overbay.

 

I'll miss Rickie. All he did was play hard, do his job, and not complain about anything. He was never the same after they rushed him back on his busted up ankle in 2011, and you never heard him say a word about it. He seemed to lose a lot of lateral quickness as a result of that injury which really hurt his defense.

[3and2Fastball]

Career stats:

 

Weeks 140 HR's - .247 BA - .346 OBP - 103 OPS+

Kinsler 144 HR's - .272 BA - .350 OBP - 111 OPS+

B Phillips 130 HR's - .272 BA - .322 OBP - 100 OPS +

 

Weeks compares fairly well, offensively, to a few of the best in the biz... he just wasn't able to stay consistently healthy

[dlk9s]

And he refused to try first base. And unfortunately that will be everyone's lasting image.

This is highly doubtful.

[fondybrewfan]

I already forgot that he was even asked to play 1st. Weeks will always be a butcher in the field so you can't blame him for not wanting to try another position he would be crappy at that would also require a learning curve.

 

Rickie should latch on somewhere; but as an infielder his lack of versatility will shorten his career substantially one would think.

[JohnBriggs12]

Weeks isn't retiring. Farewell appearances are reserved for retiring players. Aramis Ramirez didn't have one with the Cubs either.

[Baldkin]

Weeks isn't retiring. Farewell appearances are reserved for retiring players. Aramis Ramirez didn't have one with the Cubs either.

 

Fielder got one in 2010 when everyone was sure he was going to be traded in the off season.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL201009260.shtml

Jenkins got one in 2007.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL200709300.shtml

I just thought the longest tenured Brewer deserved better.

[monty57]

Weeks isn't retiring. Farewell appearances are reserved for retiring players. Aramis Ramirez didn't have one with the Cubs either.

 

While I agree to some extent, the situations are different. Ramirez was drafted by the Pirates and traded away (along with Kenny Lofton) for the great Bobby Hill. He was a good player with the Cubs, but never seen as a key guy by the fans, who much preferred the higher profile guys like "We've got Wood", "Big Z" and "D Lee". Ramirez was kind of disliked, as he was seen as a guy who "never hit until the team was out of the playoff race."

 

Weeks has certainly been a polarizing force among the fans, but he was probably the biggest name coming up among the wave of players who turned the franchise from a doormat to respectability. I wouldn't expect a stadium-to-stadium farewell tour, but it would be nice if in his last game he would make an appearance so the fans could stand and cheer. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but it would have been a nice gesture and a bit of a positive note to an otherwise bad end to a season.

[Point Beer Is Best]

So Weeks refers to Doug Melvin as "Doug" and Ron Roenicke is "the manager." Not sure how much to read into that, but I think Mark's individual exit interviews he's performing with a handful of players is really his way of getting a true finger on the pulse of what's going on in the clubhouse as it relates to Ron's leadership.

[TURBO]

And he refused to try first base. And unfortunately that will be everyone's lasting image.

This is highly doubtful.

 

Agreed, I highly doubt that will be on top of everyone's Rickie memories list... He probably knows his limitations, and knew that wherever he lands next year, it wasn't going to be as a 1B. Late in his career, he probably just didn't want to hassle of a position change.

 

It was completely ridiculous that RRR didn't get him in that game for an at bat. In his comments listed above, he doesn't call RRR by name, he said "the manager." I wonder if there is some resentment in there someplace. Just found it odd that he said "the manager" in that comment.

 

I wish Rickie the best of luck wherever he is next year!

[TURBO]

So Weeks refers to Doug Melvin as "Doug" and Ron Roenicke is "the manager." Not sure how much to read into that, but I think Mark's individual exit interviews he's performing with a handful of players is really his way of getting a true finger on the pulse of what's going on in the clubhouse as it relates to Ron's leadership.

 

I was typing my response while you posted this, which is why it says the same thing as you.

 

[3and2Fastball]

My lasting memories of Weeks will be what a tough guy he was. How he got hit in the face with a pitch and stayed in the game. How he was always the first player out of the dugout whenever the benches cleared. How much he always hustled. How quickly his HR's left the ballpark. Laser shots. How he worked the count and took pitches to help his team.

 

The Brewers could use about 10 players with Weeks' attitude and a lot less Ryan Braun types.

[dlk9s]

Weeks and Fielder are definitely the two guys whose homers I love watching.

 

As for the Braun thing, I don't get what you're saying. Aside from the PED thing, he's always said the right things, seems to be well-liked by his teammates, and as far as I can tell, always tries hard. I mean, hell, the guy played with nine fingers this year and we barely ever heard a complaint or a "woe is me" about it. I know a lot of people are down on him because of the PED's and that he "lied about it" (OH NOES), but I don't think he's ever given us reason to doubt his effort or commitment to the team. He seems like a pretty good dude overall.

 

But I digress. This isn't another Braun thread.