Fixing 2B/C

[3and2Fastball]

I'd like to see the Brewers trade for Danny Jansen, AAA catcher in the Blue Jays system. He's a Wisconsin kid, too (grew up in Appleton).

 

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=643376#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL

[pacopete4]

What about Raffy Lopez from San Diego at catcher? I don't know a ton about him but he is a former Cubs 16th round draft pick. He is 30 years old and won't be a free agent until 2024. In 8 minor league seasons (over 2,000PA) he carried a .275/.358/.416/.774 slash line. He is a left-handed bat that could replace Vogt from that side of the plate.

[pacopete4]

Just looked at Lucroy's stat line. We could've used that here.

[wallus]

Just looked at Lucroy's stat line. We could've used that here.

 

How do you know he wanted to come back?

[pacopete4]

Just looked at Lucroy's stat line. We could've used that here.

 

How do you know he wanted to come back?

 

Where did I say that he did? Just stated that we could’ve used that production so far.

[Jaylyn]

Watching the Reds-Dodgers game highlights, their 2b is a really good player!

[LouisEly]

Watching the Reds-Dodgers game highlights, their 2b is a really good player!

I would have zero objections to bringing him back. Final arby next offseason, FA in 2020... wonder what it would take. Brett Phillips straight up?

[TURBO]

Scooter haters have been quiet.

[TooLiveBrew]

It'll be interesting to see what Cincy can get for him. They should absolutely be looking to deal him this year, when he's not just a rental.

 

Last year & so far this season, his road OPS has been .810-.815, & home about .940-.950. I'd still happily take an .800+ OPS from 2B, but he might go for a cheaper price than you'd expect at first glance of his stat line.

 

Would also be nice to add another lefty bat to the lineup. Not sure I'd give up Phillips for him, but not sure I wouldn't, either. Cincy is probably not happy with just Phillips.

[TooLiveBrew]

Lucroy's also off to a good start with Oakland. Definitely a small sample, but his slash line looks a lot like the Lucroy we had in Milwaukee.

 

If he can keep hitting, I wonder what his price tag would be (as a rental)

[LouisEly]

If you're not sure if you'd give up said player(s) in a deal and also think the other team may want more, then it's likely a fair trade.

 

If the Brewers are serious in contending this year, they make a package offer for both Lowrie and Lucroy. Ponce, Stokes, one of Derby/Perrin (with Villar thrown in)?

[JohnBriggs12]

Cano broke his hand yesterday and Mariners don't have an obvious replacement unless they take Gordon out of CF and move him back to 2B. Either way, Stearns should be on the phone discussing Villar or Broxton or both to the Ms. Not that the return would be great, but just to clear the logjam. Combined they could bring back more than each individually.

[pacopete4]

Cano broke his hand yesterday and Mariners don't have an obvious replacement unless they take Gordon out of CF and move him back to 2B. Either way, Stearns should be on the phone discussing Villar or Broxton or both to the Ms. Not that the return would be great, but just to clear the logjam. Combined they could bring back more than each individually.

 

Agreed with this. If we are not going to use Villar and obviously Broxton is blocked, we should be looking to move them. Now, obviously it takes two to tango but these two players make a lot of sense for Seattle.

[And That]

The way Broxton is hitting in AAA, I doubt he has much of any trade value at all at this point. Interested teams may just wait for him to be DFA'd.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Maybe if they sell the Mariners on Sogard's bad luck BABIP so far this year they can trade him for three more rookie ball arms and we can complain Stearns didn't get enough in return for an established MLB vet...

[Jopal78]

Scooter haters have been quiet.

 

I'll bite. He's still a poor defender at second and was equally bad in left field, right field and third base. With a GM who prefers strong versatile defenders (Perez, Sogard, Saldino) he's not really a fit with Milwaukee anymore.

 

Secondly, he still can't hit left handed pitching at all. His three biggest years at the plate: 2013, 2017 and 2018 also coincide with having a BABiP in those seasons of nearly .340 or better. More importantly, the percentage of balls he puts in play is less and the percentages of at bats that end in a strike out is up more than anything he did with the Brewers. Again with a GM who is actively trying to get away from the all-or-nothing free swingers, Gennett is the opposite of the type of player the Brewers having been building their roster with.

 

What he brings to the table is increased power. However, power for the sake of power isn't worth much in today's game. Mark Reynolds, Chris Carter, Mike Napoli, are all playing on minor league deals despite each averaging 30 home runs or more per 162 games over the course of their careers.

[pacopete4]

I don't know how we got to this place where we have the Scooter "haters" and the guys who won't let it go that he was moved on from but it sure does stink.

 

There were so many factors in the move. Salary, defense, he wasn't hitting all that great for us, lack of another position, we had an up and comer at the same position who had a great year, plus probably other factors I'm not even remembering. It is what it is. Would his stat line be a great addition in our 6-hole? Of course. But the rest of this stuff is really a bunch of nonsense that just divides us for really no good reason.

[Jopal78]

I guess I'm not really a "hater". Gennett was just a guy on a mediocre club. A new GM was brought in to rebuild the club and jettisoned a mediocre player who upped his power game in the mythical "age 27 and 28" seasons. Nothing more nothing less.

[LouisEly]

From what I recall, Gennett made some adjustments to his swing/mechanics in Cincy. It's not unheard of to pick up power and become a decent hitter after age 25. Nelson Cruz is the obvious example, but Brian Dozier hit 16 home runs in his entire minor league career (1613 PAs), then 18 in the majors at age 26, then 23 at age 27, and the rest is history.

 

Just because a guy is average at best at age 25/26 doesn't mean he'll stay that way. And I don't care that he can't hit LHP (.691 OPS last year, which is better than the Brewers overall OPS from 2B this year) - 70% of pitchers are right-handed, and he OPS'd .930 against said RHP last year.

[bill hAll Star]

From what I recall, Gennett made some adjustments to his swing/mechanics in Cincy. It's not unheard of to pick up power and become a decent hitter after age 25. Nelson Cruz is the obvious example, but Brian Dozier hit 16 home runs in his entire minor league career (1613 PAs), then 18 in the majors at age 26, then 23 at age 27, and the rest is history.

 

Just because a guy is average at best at age 25/26 doesn't mean he'll stay that way. And I don't care that he can't hit LHP (.691 OPS last year, which is better than the Brewers overall OPS from 2B this year) - 70% of pitchers are right-handed, and he OPS'd .930 against said RHP last year.

 

That's fine - and you win some/lose some with that. Sometimes it's hard to know who that person is that will add power to their game.

 

If it becomes a pattern that the Brewers keep giving up on guys that just needed a tweak or a bit more time, that's one thing. They made a mistake in judgment on this one in hindsight. It is what it is at this point.

[KeithStone53151]

I'm a bit surprised Dozier isn't being discussed. The Twins are a shade below 500 right now. Mind you they are very talented and could improve...but if they don't, Dozier is in a contract year and would be a rental. I know he doesn't fit the flexibility that Stearns/CC desire, but the talent would play. We have enough flexibility elsewhere to make it work. Cain/Yelich/Braun/Shaw/Dozier/Thames/Pina/Arcia...take arguably our weakest offensive position and replace it with a 40 hr hitter.

[JohnBriggs12]

Both positions have started stabilizing with Villar and Perez recently swinging the bat better and Saladino replacing Sogard. Pina's on a bit of a tear too while Bandy has been MIA. They still need to replace Bandy with Bethancourt in the backup catcher role and let Nottingham continue to progress at AAA. If there are trades that make sense as the deadline approaches, then I'm sure they'll be considered.

[adambr2]

I'm a bit surprised Dozier isn't being discussed. The Twins are a shade below 500 right now. Mind you they are very talented and could improve...but if they don't, Dozier is in a contract year and would be a rental. I know he doesn't fit the flexibility that Stearns/CC desire, but the talent would play. We have enough flexibility elsewhere to make it work. Cain/Yelich/Braun/Shaw/Dozier/Thames/Pina/Arcia...take arguably our weakest offensive position and replace it with a 40 hr hitter.

 

Can't remember where but I was discussing Dozier fairly extensively with Louis in another thread.

[MrTPlush]

All this talk and Gennett was still only a 2.4 WAR player last year. Which tells me he isn’t even that special anyway because of defense. He was a nice player, but he didn’t make sense for us and there was zero logical argument at the time to keep him over Villar. Didn’t work out for us, darn. Sometimes players go elsewhere and magically break out...we got lucky with one in Shaw. You win some...and you lose some.

[KeithStone53151]

All this talk and Gennett was still only a 2.4 WAR player last year. Which tells me he isn’t even that special anyway because of defense. He was a nice player, but he didn’t make sense for us and there was zero logical argument at the time to keep him over Villar. Didn’t work out for us, darn. Sometimes players go elsewhere and magically break out...we got lucky with one in Shaw. You win some...and you lose some.

 

2.4 WAR is very solid, especially considering it's basically all coming from offense as he's an average defender at best. Obviously in hindsight, cutting the guy wasn't a wise decision. I agree above, and Stearns has won far and away more than he's lost. No GM makes the perfect decision every time.