2008 Brewers (Braun/3B)

[brewcrewnation]

I am not sure if Ryan Braun can be the every day third baseman in 2008, to put it nicely, Braun is a lilabily at 3rd base, my question is why don't the Brewers put Braun in the outfield and either trade, some one from the minors or free agent or move Bill Hall to third base. If you fell this can go into another thread fell free to close it.

 

EDIT: clarified subject - Brian

[Brian the Automator]

If Rickie can make a U-Turn on defense, so can Braun. He'll be at third for at least another full year.

[Ennder]

I'd move Weeks who is still terrible in the field before I move Braun. Weeks isn't making the errors but his range is pathetic. Braun is still learning the position so there is some hope that he can improve. Of course unless Weeks starts to hit he wouldn't have any value anywhere but CF.

[bklynbrewcrew]

I love Braun as a hitter but his defense is brutal. We have to have the worst defensive team in baseball.

[Ennder]

I love Braun as a hitter but his defense is brutal. We have to have the worst defensive team in baseball.

 

See my post called the Rotation for details about our defense~ We are the 2nd or 3rd worst in the NL at the very least and its why our pitching has been so bad.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think Braun's defense just needs to be more consistant. He has made a lot of the tough plays with ease. He just needs to get more reps. Im not to worried, I think he'll be a fine 3B.

[Fatter than Joey]

Yeah -- We knew Braun was going to struggle at 3b, in a more ideal situation, we still have Koskie playing 3b, and Braun gets to work out some kinks in Nashville -- he just needs more repetition.

[Invader3K]

All of this talk about Braun's defense is suddenly coming up after one bad play last night. Yes, he should have at least knocked that ball down, but I wouldn't say it was an easy play, either. That ball took a tough hop, and he just missed coming up with it.

 

Overall, he's made some great defensive plays and throws, but he's missed some balls, too. He's going to develop defensively like Weeks...slowly at first, but then you're not going to notice him out there because he'll be making pretty much all the plays he should. He's only been in the majors for not even four months now...give him time.

[Ennder]

Weeks is a pretty terrible 2B still. He's statistically the worst 2B in baseball using RZR. UZR has him costing the team a run every 5 games or so. He's not making the errors any more but this team needs Braun and/or Weeks to improve on defense a lot more next year with the young pitching that we should hopefully have.

[brewcrew00]

All of this talk about Braun's defense is suddenly coming up after one bad play last night. Yes, he should have at least knocked that ball down, but I wouldn't say it was an easy play, either. That ball took a tough hop, and he just missed coming up with it.

 

Overall, he's made some great defensive plays and throws, but he's missed some balls, too. He's going to develop defensively like Weeks...slowly at first, but then you're not going to notice him out there because he'll be making pretty much all the plays he should. He's only been in the majors for not even four months now...give him time.

 

Couldn't agree more, good post.

[Fatter than Joey]

He's going to develop defensively like Weeks...slowly at first, but then you're not going to notice him out there because he'll be making pretty much all the plays he should.

 

I hope he develops faster than Weeks -- Weeks struggles, and his bad defense is still noticeable.

[JJHardy7]

I agree all the talk because of last night. He was a SS in college I believe? Well either way he has 2 years of professional baseball experience at 3B. Rickie played 2B in college (if I remember right) and he still struggled. Putting Braun in the OF gives us a glaring need at 3B and makes drafting LaPorta questionable at best -- they won't move Hall unless they'd have to.

 

I stand by Braun and some people might just need some patience. He should still be in Nashville defensively, but we didn't have that luxury.

 

We all knew this would happen and just because his bat isn't advanced doeesn't mean we can expect that in all facets of his game.

 

There are a lot more issues on this team than his glove...where was all this talk in June?

[Fatter than Joey]

I stand by Braun and some people might just need some patience. He should still be in Nashville defensively, but we didn't have that luxury.

 

Well -- There is a point where Errors > Offensive production.

 

I suspect that Braun will be able to play 3b down the road -- but if you are losing games because of a defensive liability -- they need to come off the field.

[Ennder]

Braun has hit the ball way too well to bench him over his defense. You send him out there, hope he improves and just add it to the long list of reasons that young teams are so inconsistent.

[RightFieldCoder]

If Braun keeps hitting at his .350 while slugging .680 I will take his defensive woes. He won't be able to keep up that pace, but I believe he will also improve his denfense. Braun is the last guy on this team that I'm worried about. I'd take Weeks's and Hall's bad defense if they would hit like I think they could. You should go out and get 8 hitters and just fit them somewhere on the diamond and not worry too much about defense.

[Boy Jeenius]

Check Mike Schmidt's first years fielding (and hitting for that matter)stats. They are brutal. He too was a converted ss. You just have to stay patient with extremely talented young guys(especially if they can rake it) and they'll come around. IMO it's extremely short sighted to look at a rookie's or second year player's performance and call for position changes. I can only tell you that any of us that played the game for a long time, would tell you that we were completely different players at 27 or 28 than when we were 21 to 24. I urge us all to be patient and let them grow at their own pace, not our percieved(irrational) pace.

[dlk9s]

All of this talk about Braun's defense is suddenly coming up after one bad play last night.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1443/orlygd0.jpg

 

 

I do still think he'll work it out eventually.

 

[Fatter than Joey]

If Braun keeps hitting at his .350 while slugging .680 I will take his defensive woes. He won't be able to keep up that pace, but I believe he will also improve his denfense. Braun is the last guy on this team that I'm worried about. I'd take Weeks's and Hall's bad defense if they would hit like I think they could. You should go out and get 8 hitters and just fit them somewhere on the diamond and not worry too much about defense.

I agree that right now Braun's Offense > Defense -- however -- I was speaking in generalities in my previous post, there is a point where the Defense > Offense, and you have to be less patient.

I disagree with the last thought in this post though -- I think Braun and Fielder you can take the good with the bad -- but for most MLB players, they have to contribute defensively as well as offensively for the team to win. We can't just disregard D.

[pitchleague]

hey, at least he's keeping up his spring training regimen of "make an error, hit a homer".

 

I think Braun will be fine and I totally agree with Boy Jeenius regarding Mike Schmidt. I was looking for somebody like that on baseball reference, a player that struggled big-time defensively at first then blossomed. Robin Yount came quickly to mind. Gotta give the kid some time. IMHO, he's been better at third than I expected so far, as most reports made it sound like every other throw would end up in the first base stands. I haven't gasped and held my breath when a ball was hit to Braun (ala Weeks last year) in quite a while.

[JJHardy7]

If you want Braun's stick he has to play somewhere. We all wish his defense was better, but he's won a heck of a lot more games than lost.

 

This is not Rickie Weeks. Rickie did not win us that many more games than lost his first year. This is almost a non-point right now. If Braun finishes with less than 25 errors this year I'll give him a grade of like a C - for defense. He was a SS in college...is this getting lost on anyone? He's played this position a little over 2 years.

 

We need to not be so negative about everything once in awhile. Braun is having a historic season let's enjoy it and it'll work out on the field. If we're 1-2 years from now with the same problems the Brewers can address it then.

 

If you want Braun off the field due to defense, that is your opinion. We all knew what we were getting into with his glove. This isn't shocking.

[molitor fan]

Ryan Braun currently has a slugging percentage of .684. If he ends the season at at level, he will join only 23 other players that have slugged at that level in the history of major league baseball. The other players that have slugged .684 or greater in a season - Babe Ruth (10 times), Barry Bonds (5 times), Lou Gehrig (4 times), Jimmie Foxx (4 times), Rogers Hornsby (3 times), Mark McGwire (3 times), Ted Wiiiams, (2 times), Larry Walker (2 times), Albert Belle (2 times), Mickey Mantle (2 times), Todd Helton (2 times), Jeff Bagwell, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Hack Wilson, Al Simmons, Stan Musial, Manny Ramirez, Hugh Duffy, Tip O'Neill, Chuck Klein, Luis Gonzalez, and Sam Thompson.

 

This talk of his defense is taking away from one of the most amazing season in major league history, considering this is Ryan Braun's rookie year. Plus, anyone with baseball acumen that saw Braun's play in the 8th inning last night knows Braun has the abiltiy to play third - he just needs the repitition.

[JJHardy7]

Amen.

[Nottso]

I can live with Braun's defense, especially with Jenkins backing him up in left. Jenkins' defensive ability and great arm minimize the damage done by anything that gets by Braun.

[Fatter than Joey]

This talk of his defense is taking away from one of the most amazing season in major league history, considering this is Ryan Braun's rookie year.

 

Well -- baseball is a game where you have to play well on both sides of the ball. His defense needs to be measured and used to evaluate his overall performance.

 

I certainly agree that he should get better.

[Mr QL]

I don't think his defense is a liability at all. He's actually made some amazing plays. It's not like he's throwing to a gold glover at 1st either. I see no reason his defense won't improve.