2B

[OnaBadger58]

Tom Flanagan came out today and said that Keston will start the year DHing more because he had some discomfort with certain throws. They'll need to make sure his arm is ok before bringing him up.

 

The fact that Hiura is starting the season in A+ ball and not AA makes me think the Brewers are not fast tracking him for 2019. The arm thing is scary. Maybe he ends up being a Khris Davis type in LF? Maybe by the time he's ready for MLB there'll be the DH in the NL?

 

Keston barely got his feet wet in A ball, so I wouldn't say starting him in A+ to start his first full season isn't fast-tracking. This arm issue sucks. Agreed it is scary. Will this be a lingering thing every year? Is it worth to get it operated on and get it over with? Tough questions that don't have clear answers. This is one thing that could be limiting his fast-track to the MLB.

[reillymcshane]

I don't see Hiura being a factor for at least 1.5 years. More likely 2 years. They'll use this year get him back to working in the field. Next year get him there full time. I think it will take at least that much time to get it where he's comfortable in the field.

 

Just my guess.

[reillymcshane]

I don't see Phillips or anyone being added by the Brewers for at least 6-8 weeks - if not longer. They've got Villar, Perez and Sogard to play 2B. They'll give them time to see if anyone seizes the job by playing well. They're not going to pull the plug on these guys after a couple of weeks. That's just too short of a time span.

[monty57]

Not signing Walker (or anyone else) seems to show that the Brewers are going to see if Villar can bounce back. They may give up on this project at some point, but it's going to be months, not days of poor performance. I was at last night's game, and he looked better, so I'm hoping he puts things together and has a good year.

 

Stearns has said that we are going to have to rely on contributions from "young" guys in order to remain competitive. The ideal situation for the Brewers would be for Villar to become a valuable player who mans second until Hiura is ready (however long that takes), and can then be traded for something when Hiura replaces him.

[Fear The Chorizo]

We'll see how Hiura's arm issue shakes out - concerning, but then again I don't think the sky is falling with it either...yet. He basically took 1+ years off from throwing leading up to the draft, and he went through an entire MLB spring training without experiencing anything that caused him to drop out of fielding/throwing work. This could be normal fatigue experienced while building strength back up in the arm.

 

I do agree that if it continues giving him problems and Hiura isn't on the field defensively playing every day in the minors by Memorial Day, they strongly need to consider if surgery is the best option - and if so they need to get the thing done ASAP. I remember many wanted them to go ahead and get his surgery done right after he signed post-draft. The only thing keeping Hiura out of a major league lineup in 2019 is the defense question - frankly I think DH-ing him while resting his arm is pointless, unless it's for 1-2 weeks and they fully expect him back in the field everyday.

 

I'm sure other organizations have comparable things happen with prospects, but it sure seems like the Brewer medical staff leans on the rest/recovery/wait and see approach with arm issues a bit too much with certain injuries - and all it winds up doing is burning minor league service time without giving a prospect time to develop, only to wind up getting the surgery after the fact.

 

Specific to this thread - frankly Villar should be the everyday 2B until the ASB, and barring an injury I just don't see a move happening between now and then that would change that. If he's playing well, then there won't be a 2B move in 2018.

[LouisEly]

I don't see Phillips or anyone being added by the Brewers for at least 6-8 weeks - if not longer. They've got Villar, Perez and Sogard to play 2B. They'll give them time to see if anyone seizes the job by playing well. They're not going to pull the plug on these guys after a couple of weeks. That's just too short of a time span.

As they say in football, if you have two quarterbacks you have none...

[JosephC]

Hiura first hurt his elbow in April 2016 so now the problem has stretched out over a full two years. I was a bit skeptical about it when it was acknowledged that he first hurt his elbow in April 2016, then re-injured it in November of 2016 so the 7 months of "natural healing" did not fix the problem. Now we can tack another 17 months onto that and it still seems to be a problem.

[RollieTime]

I know it is early in the season, but I think it is time to address the second base issue. There have been 4 errors the last two games from second base alone. Hiura will not be up until late this season at the earliest. Please sign Phillips and get his gold glove defense for second base and solid offensive output in this lineup.

[pacopete4]

Phillips isn’t very good anymore. There is no reason to spend even more money on the second base position (Villar- $2.5m, Sogard- $2.5m, Perez- $2m) when it’s not a clear upgrade. They shouldn’t of signed Sogard (hindsight 20-20 but most said it even at the time) and they could have been in on Walker. They messed that up and so now we ride Villar and just hope the light switch flips on.

[adambr2]

Perez was responsible for half those errors yesterday. Villar I actually think has looked pretty decent at 2nd so far. He's never going to be a gold glover but it's certainly been a step up from the way he started last year.

 

I agree that Phillips isn't an upgrade anymore. They didn't address the position in the off-season, so for better or worse its up to Villar to re-establish himself. If he does, great. If he doesn't, they'll likely move on from him and pursue a veteran stopgap for 2019.

[Devinep]

I know it is early in the season, but I think it is time to address the second base issue. There have been 4 errors the last two games from second base alone. Hiura will not be up until late this season at the earliest. Please sign Phillips and get his gold glove defense for second base and solid offensive output in this lineup.

 

The time to address the issue was in the off-season, when players like Walker and Howie Kendrick were signing for cheap

[Jenkins5]

Villar is hitting .333 so far, Defense could be better from all 3 options. Sogard with huge error tonight. As long as Villar is hitting and not completely lost like last season at plate, he isn’t the problem. Our rotation not able to barely pitch 5 innings is the huge issue. Trading for 2B does nothing for this team if our rotation stays complete garbage.

[JohnBriggs12]

Villar seems to be trying to put the ball in play more and he's gotten hits with men in scoring position, but I don't think he's going to maintain a .474 BABIP for too long. It's not like he's hitting rockets. Sogard and Perez are out of the gate slowly but both have microscopic samples. Heck Cain was in an 0 for 16 stretch till his double last night.

[pacopete4]

Villar seems to be trying to put the ball in play more and he's gotten hits with men in scoring position, but I don't think he's going to maintain a .474 BABIP for too long. It's not like he's hitting rockets. Sogard and Perez are out of the gate slowly but both have microscopic samples. Heck Cain was in an 0 for 16 stretch till his double last night.

We have enough sample size to know exactly what Sogard and Perez are.

[MrTPlush]

Jonathan Villar is putting the ball in play and letting his wheels do work. His BABIP is high, but there is a reason for that (yes, obviously it is high). The power is there, just hasn’t been in situations where he is really trying to mash. The guy looks fairly good at the plate. We should not be having a conversation debating what we should do at 2B. Villar doesn’t need to be above average. If he is great, but average offense will be fine.

[brewerswinNLcentral]

i think villar is doing great too. ,333 so far..i predict he will hit .275 and get 35 stolen bases and i think its obvious he is wideky regarded as the best 2nd baseman we have...by counsell and the front office anyway...and sogard...hmm... i think he should be DFA, not aguilar..if thames had a season ending injury today, i think aguilar wd respond with similar stats or better

[Oxy]

Would anybody NOT trade Villar for Scooter Gennett right now? I'm not sure that I would, but their value is pretty comparable, something I wouldn't have said a year ago.

[adambr2]

Would anybody NOT trade Villar for Scooter Gennett right now? I'm not sure that I would, but their value is pretty comparable, something I wouldn't have said a year ago.

 

Probably not . I would agree that their current values are fairly similar. His defense at 2nd is below average, his range is non-existent and he's not versatile in any real way.

 

Much is made of his 2017 season, but it wasn't THAT great. Much of his power surge can likely be attributed to GABP. I wouldn't expect him to replicate those power totals ever again.

 

All that aside, he was only a 2.3 fWAR player, which is probably close to his ceiling, while his floor is replacement level. That's not very exciting. Don't get me wrong, he was far better than Villar in 2017 but that doesn't mean he'll be better going forward.

 

I'd be neither excited nor disappointed if we traded Villar for Gennett.

[JohnBriggs12]

Gennett has a .980 career FP at 2B and his range is about league average. He turns the double play well and throws are accurate. Villar does have better range, but he makes more errors (.964 career FP), makes mental errors and turns routine plays into adventures. I'd take Gennett over him any day of the week. In fact, I'd take Sogard right now over Villar too. Sogard's start reminds me of Aaron Hill in 2016. Hill was hitting rockets that got caught for the first 6 weeks as a Brewer. Then they started falling in. Sogard is squaring up as many or more balls than anyone in the lineup right now. It should be his job.

[Outlander]

They both are low on base guys that rely on batting average and not real good defensively. If Scooter's power isn't real they are pretty much the same player, very replaceable. If the Brewers are still in it at the trade deadline I would look for them to upgrade there again.

[wallus]

I would not want to be paying Gennett 5.7 million dollars this year.

[pacopete4]

I would not want to be paying Gennett 5.7 million dollars this year.

 

Yes, thank you for bringing this up because it is always left out when discussing him.

[Devinep]

They both are low on base guys that rely on batting average and not real good defensively. If Scooter's power isn't real they are pretty much the same player, very replaceable. If the Brewers are still in it at the trade deadline I would look for them to upgrade there again.

 

The problem is that means they will go April, May, and June (also probably a lot of July) with poor 2B production.

[pacopete4]

They both are low on base guys that rely on batting average and not real good defensively. If Scooter's power isn't real they are pretty much the same player, very replaceable. If the Brewers are still in it at the trade deadline I would look for them to upgrade there again.

 

The problem is that means they will go April, May, and June (also probably a lot of July) with poor 2B production.

We act as if we are the only team with possible holes on our team. Every team battles it somewhere. Second base MIGHT be that place by July but it might not be as well. Sometimes you have to let players prove one way or another. They have sunk about $7-8 million in the second base position already with Villar-Perez-Sogard so it probably was in Stearns best interest to let the dust settle there before making a move.

[Devinep]

They both are low on base guys that rely on batting average and not real good defensively. If Scooter's power isn't real they are pretty much the same player, very replaceable. If the Brewers are still in it at the trade deadline I would look for them to upgrade there again.

 

The problem is that means they will go April, May, and June (also probably a lot of July) with poor 2B production.

We act as if we are the only team with possible holes on our team. Every team battles it somewhere. Second base MIGHT be that place by July but it might not be as well. Sometimes you have to let players prove one way or another. They have sunk about $7-8 million in the second base position already with Villar-Perez-Sogard so it probably was in Stearns best interest to let the dust settle there before making a move.

 

You may be correct and that definitely seems to be what they’re doing, but it’s also possible that 2017 and the beginning of 2018 have already settled that