Nick Franklin claimed off waivers from Tampa; Blazek DFA'd

[gregmag]

I've been pretty down on Gennett for his whole career, but I think he was a decent starter last year. If his improvements against LHP and his defensive stabilization stick, then he can be a passable starter. If what you need is a warm body to play every day at 2b, I could see the case for preferring Gennett to Franklin.

 

However, if you need absolutely anything else, there is no case. Let's go down the list:

 

Franklin plays seven positions passably. Gennett plays one.

Franklin switch-hits.

Franklin is a year younger.

Franklin had a better prospect pedigree with scouts and has hit better in the minors.

 

The only thing you can say for Gennett is that he has hit better in the majors than Franklin has. That would be a big deal, but it comes with big caveats. Franklin has never had regular playing time. Franklin over nearly 200 PAs outhit Scooter last year; in fact, last year Franklin topped every Scooter season offensively, except that great half-season at age 23 in 2013 that juices Scooter's numbers and that he has never come close to matching.

 

I was a little bummed when we didn't get anything for Scooter. Now we essentially got a guy back in trade, and I like the trade for us.

[newrivervalley]

Big Gennett fan and think that Villar is a liability where ever he plays. Astros dumped Villar for what we're seeing now, no real baseball or team plays. Scooter might not steal 50 bases, but he'll score more runs and be a better team player than Villar.

[adambr2]

Big Gennett fan and think that Villar is a liability where ever he plays. Astros dumped Villar for what we're seeing now, no real baseball or team plays. Scooter might not steal 50 bases, but he'll score more runs and be a better team player than Villar.

 

What does this even mean? What is a 'team play?' 19 HRs and 65 or so SBs aren't baseball plays?

 

Villar also scored 92 runs last year to Scooter's 58, so no, Scooter won't score more runs than Villar.

[RobertR]

There are reasons to be wary of Villar, spotty defense and decision making. But, that doesn't make Gennett anything more than a below average second basemen without versatility. The long term answer at second base might be "other" but it sure wasn't Scooter.

[superfly]

Big Gennett fan and think that Villar is a liability where ever he plays. Astros dumped Villar for what we're seeing now, no real baseball or team plays. Scooter might not steal 50 bases, but he'll score more runs and be a better team player than Villar.

 

The upside with Gennett is oozing...man I wish we had 8 of him out there every day during a REBUILD. Kind of like expecting Matthew Dellevadova or AJ Hawk to take us to the promised land.

 

Villar put up more WAR in one season than Gennett has in nearly his whole career. And that was while being deficient. We have a slightly worse Robinson Cano if he figures it out.

[JohnBriggs12]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

[Boomer5]

You know your team is not very interesting if you have a Franklin vs Scooter argument.

[adambr2]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

 

Yes, he was only asked to play one position, which is a position we no longer require, thus the reason he was waived.

 

I get why people were upset about Villar getting caught stealing in bad situations last year but your accusation that Villar selfishly swings for the fences in key situations rather than try to come up with a big hit is such an odd and baseless claim. Villar hit .313 with an .881 OPS with RISP last year. He was one of our better hitters in key situations.

[pacopete4]

You know your team is not very interesting if you have a Franklin vs Scooter argument.

 

It is when you're discussing them in a bench role. Maybe you want to knock this Brewers team but they have some pretty good depth on the roster. Intriguing players up and down it.

[logan82]

Scooter would be nice filler on a contender. He isn't much use on a building team when you have the option to play a younger player with much higher upside. It would have been nice to get something for Scooter in trade.

[3and2Fastball]

You know your team is not very interesting if you have a Franklin vs Scooter argument.

 

Franklin vs Villar is coming. So far Villar is an absolutely horrible defensive 2B.

[brewmann04]

I am sorry but Stearns missed the boat he had many options to add a Young Arm instead of fringe players at this point.

 

 

Who are the young arms he missed on?

 

I was talking about losing Diaz when it was easy to handle him on the 40 instead of the junk he kept

[Boomer5]

You know your team is not very interesting if you have a Franklin vs Scooter argument.

 

Franklin vs Villar is coming. So far Villar is an absolutely horrible defensive 2B.

 

On this team I'd be willing to put up with his D if he was hitting like 2016. But striking out 50% of the time and bad D?

 

It's still early but he needs to start hitting.

 

As for Franklin, he is a guy 29 other teams didn't want. And while position flexibility is nice, it's only nice if he can actually field. Which he can't. I'm not going to get bent out of shape for a 25th man on a 2-5 team.

[Boomer5]

I am sorry but Stearns missed the boat he had many options to add a Young Arm instead of fringe players at this point.

 

 

Who are the young arms he missed on?

 

I was talking about losing Diaz when it was easy to handle him on the 40 instead of the junk he kept

 

That was insane. A 22 year old who throws 98 wasn't protected on a rebuilding team.

[MilwaukeesBest]

Maybe it's not as high of a priority to the new regime as it is to the fans. Magnifico was DFA'd with an 80 grade FB.

[Brewer Fever]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

 

For someone who seemingly cares only about the present and winning games in the current season, it's very odd to see you pine for Scooter Gennett as though he's some key, win now player. You're line of reasoning is really, really hard to read every day coming here.

[logan82]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

 

For someone who seemingly cares only about the present and winning games in the current season, it's very odd to see you pine for Scooter Gennett as though he's some key, win now player. You're line of reasoning is really, really hard to read every day coming here.

Not really. He likes guys that don't strike out much and put the ball in play a lot regardless of how well they actually hit.

[adambr2]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

 

For someone who seemingly cares only about the present and winning games in the current season, it's very odd to see you pine for Scooter Gennett as though he's some key, win now player. You're line of reasoning is really, really hard to read every day coming here.

Not really. He likes guys that don't strike out much and put the ball in play a lot regardless of how well they actually hit.

 

So, the opposite of Khris Davis?

[gregmag]

You guys that didn't appreciate Gennett need some perspective. Is he a core player for a contender? No. Is he solid complimentary player that has been consistently productive? Absolutely. Scooter plays to the best of his ability. He's not a showboat. He was only asked to play one position. Villar has proven he can't play SS or 3B. The jury is still out at 2B. He swings for the fences to pad his stats in situations where a HR isn't needed. As a result he strikes out a ton. Despite his size Scooter can generate plenty of bat speed too but he'll slap one to LF to drive in a big run like he did on numerous occasions in a Brewer uniform plus he was popular in the community.

No one here *needs* any kind of "perspective" that you have to offer, although you're entitled to your opinion. You, OTOH, need to discuss things in good faith rather than inventing and cherry-picking information to support your numbingly repetitive biases. Your "swing for the fences" knock on Villar is a perfect example. Villar has plenty of actual flaws, but you're trying to turn his power, actually a strength, into another flaw because that would make your preference for Gennett over Villar marginally less absurd.

[djoctagone]

if the brewers attempt to outright blazek to the minor leagues and no team claims him, he will be forced to accept the minor league assignment.

the brewers succeeded in outrighting blazek to the minor leagues.

[3and2Fastball]

I would agree that Villar is a heckuva offensive talent. Looking at the small sample of 7 games worth of stats is not worth commenting on.

 

The power/speed combo is extremely valuable and as others have pointed out he gets on base too. Even if he doesn't work out defensively at 2B he could profile as a LF of the future, or because of versatility be a guy that you can move to LF in late inning portions of games to get more D up the middle (this is of course assuming that Braun is gone by the end of the rebuild)

[wildcat2237]

if the brewers attempt to outright blazek to the minor leagues and no team claims him, he will be forced to accept the minor league assignment.

the brewers succeeded in outrighting blazek to the minor leagues.

 

I guess this is what you get for speaking out against your boss.

 

We will see what fate awaits Cravy and Scahill.

 

Here is the writeup from MLBTR:

 

The Brewers announced that right-hander Michael Blazek, who was designated for assignment last week when they claimed Nick Franklin off waivers, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A. The 28-year-old righty turned in a disappointing 5.66 ERA in 41 1/3 innings with the Brewers last year, but he’d previously been a reliable piece of the Milwaukee bullpen. In 55 2/3 innings for the Brew Crew in 2015, Blazek registered an excellent 2.43 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 47.4 percent ground-ball rate. Blazek’s home-run, ground-ball and walk rates all went backward last season, but he did maintain a healthy 93 mph average on his velocity. Pitching in Triple-A Colorado Springs will hardly be a cakewalk, but he’ll look to get back on track in that hitter-friendly setting and work his way back into the Brewers’ big league plans.

[logan82]

 

For someone who seemingly cares only about the present and winning games in the current season, it's very odd to see you pine for Scooter Gennett as though he's some key, win now player. You're line of reasoning is really, really hard to read every day coming here.

Not really. He likes guys that don't strike out much and put the ball in play a lot regardless of how well they actually hit.

 

So, the opposite of Khris Davis?

Yeah that one was kind of weird. Basically Villar of the outfield.