Melvin on WSSP

[aracko]

The big news was that Braun has said he is willing to move to LF if it helps the team!

 

- He was at the Bucks game and enjoys basketball and grew up a Pistons fan.

- LaPorta is not on the same track as Braun - MAYBE he could be up here the year after next.

- Sheets - Freaky injuries - they need 30-40 starts from him this year.

- Looking at FA catchers - wants to upgrade that position. Possibly looking to trade for a young catcher.- no names.

- Matt Wise just didnt have a good year but he is a huge value at his contract. Guys like him get 3-4 Million a year.

- Talks to the agent for CoCo every day. As long as they are communicating every day they are stilll in it.

- Shouse - they want to resign he had a great year.

- TBOW and Shouse were 2 of the top 10 RP in the stat of innings not scored on at over 84%. Cordero was actully behind them.

[Tbadder]

*%%#+ in the armor (although the sample is too small [as always on this forum]) LaPorta can't hit lefties.

 

Braun would make an awesome leftfielder. I think his speed would make him an easy convert.

 

I absolutely love the young catcher talk.

 

Tbow that good? YES!

[colbyjack]

Hearing that Melvin is considering moving Braun to left is good news after defense wasn't even touched at his season ending press conference.

 

Although he has said that he wanted to acquire a LF and is determined to leave Hall in CF. I guess it shows these things can change, but if he is indeed set on keeping Hall in CF, who plays 3B?

 

And where would LaPorta play upon coming up, or did he (and Gamel) just become giant trading chips? There's plenty of time to figure that out, and there are other internal options to explore (Hall to third, Hart to CF, Braun to RF, etc.) but Braun in LF could be a bigger block that Braun at 3B.

[JohnBriggs12]

Ugh!

 

Most discouraging words from Melvin since he said Yost would be back. Are you kidding me, they are going to bring Wise and Turnbow back??

 

And again this "need" from Sheets. As long as they need Sheets to do anything, they're in trouble. The guy can't and shouldn't be relied on.

[Tbadder]

I just want to apologize in advance. I didn't know that word was off base. I meant no offense and am pretty red-faced right now. Sorry all.

[Patrick425]

I agree with Tbadder - I like the thought of Braun moving to the outfield (does that mean BHall would come back to the infield? - hope so) and upgrading the catcher spot.

[twobrewers]

Are you kidding me, they are going to bring Wise and Turnbow back??

I am a Turnbow fan. So I am bias.

 

But he was unscored on 84% of the time. If he converted 42/50 saves - that isn't too bad.

 

And that is assuming he blows every save that he allows a run in. Which given his propensity to blow up, might be the truth. But Turnbow has lots of value. (It is just painful to watch the bad times)

 

Wise had some great games with the Brewers. I have to think a lot of his problems were mental - I would be all for bringing him back, assuming he has put that behind him.

 

If Braun would shift to LF we would have a large organizational hole at 3B. And we already have a surplus of OF in the pipeline. I don't think Green is going to be too special of a 3B. But in the outfield we have commitments to Hart & Hall - with LaPorta, Gamel (he has to move eventually), Gillespie, Ford, Cain, and Gindl.

If Braun moves to LF (And Bill Hall doesn't play 3B) - Hall would have to be traded before next season.

 

Of course, Melvin just said Braun would be willing to move, not that the team was willing to move him.

 

[brewers19]

Not your fault, Tbadder. It's a perfectly acceptable saying. It's Yuku's cuss filter that picked that one up, not ours.

[Tbadder]

Thanks brewers19--Whew. On to Turnbow. Are we dealing with preception here. Turnbows blow ups are so big, and so publicized that he might seem much worse than he is. Yost inability to "catch" the warning signs might be destroying Tbow real value. That's such an interesting stat.

[Fatter than Joey]

TBOW and Shouse were 2 of the top 10 RP in the stat of innings not scored on at over 84%.

 

Of course this is not the best way to gauge RPs -- I could come in with bases loaded 2 outs give up a double and get the

next guy out, and actually have my ERA go down, while another pitcher gets tagged for the runs.

 

For the second straight year Yost had to quit using Turnbow in key situations.

 

If Braun moves to LF (And Bill Hall doesn't play 3B) - Hall would have to be traded before next season.

 

I don't think so -- Hall has a decent contract -- and quite frankly I don't know why they just don't use him like they

have in the past -- Have him play 2b/ss/3b/OF. Of course I'd be all for plugging him into 3b for the time being, but

in the long run, they should use Hall for what he is best suit for -- utility.

[billyhallfan]

this is excellent, i really hope he moves braun, that would be awesome, maybe he will realize that the defense needs to be fixed.

[JohnBriggs12]

Statistics can be manipulated in many ways, and you Turnbow supporters are being manipulated.

 

Here are the relevant facts. Since July 1, 2006, Turnbow has worked 88 2/3 innings during which time he has walked 68 batters and allowed 65 earned runs for an earned run average of 6.60.

 

More telling is that by the end of both 2006 and 2007, Ned Yost, a guy who's biggest fault may be sticking too long with guys, had completely lost faith in Turnbow in key situations. Do we want to go through that a third straight year with the same guy?

 

Turnbow has proven that he doesn't have the mentality to pitch in highly leveraged situations in the heat of a playoff race. I don't think physically he's the same pitcher he was in 2005 either. Back then, he routinely worked with a 97-98 mph fastball. This past season he worked mostly 94-95.

 

My only hope is that in this interview, Melvin was working on his sales pitch for other GM's.

[dpapo]

Someone else wrote that Melvin mentioned the same thing about Braun on WTMJ. I wonder if there is something up, as anytime the subject of moving Braun to the outfield was mentioned in the past, it was a non starter. Maybe Melvin didn't like his options of possible available leftfielders. Then again, Melvin wasn't shy about stating that they were thinking of moving Hall to the outfield before they did it, so there may be nothing to it.
But, it sure can give us a whole lot to talk about. Braun to left, Hall to third, and the Brewers signing or trading for a centerfielder. Signing or trading for a 3rd baseman. Let the rumors, real and made up, begin. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Fatter than Joey]

I guess it shows these things can change, but if he is indeed set on keeping Hall in CF, who plays 3B?

 

My guess is that DM will leave 3b/Bill Hall unaddressed for the time being --- probably because there are at least 3 solutions, and

DM doesn't want to weaken his trading/FA leverage.

 

Once you do the painfully obvious and move Braun to LF, then DM can:

 

1.) Move Hall to 3b and acquire a CF.

2.) Keep Hall in CF and acquire a 3b

3.) Keep Hall in CF move Weeks to 3b and get a 2b.

 

If DM says "We are going to move Braun" and immediately declares Hall to be the new 3b -- that severely limits DMs options.

 

If I were DM and the best FA/trade option was a 3b -- I'd keep Hall in the OF -- If the best trade/FA option is another OF, I move Hall to 3b.

 

Of course I am glossing over the fact that Hall is a pretty bad CF, so moving him to 3b has other advantages as well.

[joepepsi]

Maybe Melvin has decided there are better 3B options available through trade. Reportedly both Miquels, Cabrera and Tejada are available. Tejada isn't the power hitter he once was, no more "vitamin B" shots for him in the clubhouse, but he did hit 11 homers in his final 60 games after coming off the DL. Also, he's only signed for two more years, about $13 million a year.

 

Picking him up would be similar to the Carlos Lee deal from the White Sox. He could resurrect his career as a 3rd bagger, then Doug could dump him at the '09 deadline.

 

I don't know who's available at LF that would provide the kind of boost Cabrera or Tejada would.

 

The comment about T-Bow is spin set up for a trade.

[endaround]

Well Cabrera isn't much of a 3B at this point. He's is about to be moved to the outfield.

[dadofandrew]

Turnbow certainly has value to the Crew and to others, but it's tough to see him as a 9th inning man for anyone except a terrible team. Heck, if never used on back-to-back days and such, he might be a very nice 2 inning guy, but it's tough to baby one guy like that, as others have to pick up the slack.

 

Braun said that a while back as well. He also said he'd prefer to stay at 3B. As stated, the only way he's moving is if they pick up a solid 3B...I've mentioned Chad Tracy, and Scott Rolen is available. Other than that...

[aracko]

Melvin Mora is also said to be available. I dont believe he is the answer, but he hit the ball real well after the ASB last season.

[brewmann04]

I agree if Ryan does move to Lf ,it will give Melvin plenty of Options and one might be Move Hall and a Pitcher for a 3rd baseman . i would not mind a future OF of Braun ,Hart and laporta with Hall at Trird either.

[pitchleague]

I don't get the calls to move Rickie Weeks to third base.

 

He's never been the most gifted defender at second base, what with the poor throws and the muffed easy grounders. And there is talk of moving him to the "hot corner"? Less reaction time, longer throws, coming in on bunts, etc that Weeks would have to make? No, thanks. Keep him where he is--we don't need to get his confidence back down after his great September.

[Klements Bratwurst]

When I heard Melvin on WTMJ and WSSP this morning, I was surely very happy with what I heard. The fact that for the first time, he is strongly considering moving Ryan to the outfield to help shore up our already weak defense would be a huge upgrade and make Ryan's bat even more valuable in that even with his strong offensive production, he won't have a WARP of around 3-4 if he gets moved to LF, which is obviously not as taxing of a position. Ever other time it was mentioned to DM about moving Braun, he would site that "young players struggle with their defense and Ryan will figure it out, and for comparison look at Rickie Weeks and the strides he has made."

 

I was doing cartwheels with the fact that he sat Ryan down, to get his feelings on the situation of being moved to LF, obviously not to try to upset one of your key players by just making him change positions. Better yet, Ryan said he would be willing to do it to make the club better, if we could get a "bonafide third baseman" that Melvin mentioned in an article the other day.

 

Bottom line, moves like this can really make the club better. Now DM is not pigeon holed into just finding a corner outfielder. As Fatter than Joey said, you could do so many things. Look for a third baseman, leftfielder, or maybe even a centerfielder if you think Hall could go back to third.

 

Cudos to Melvin!

[joepepsi]

Mora has turned into a pretty good 3B. He blasted the Orioles a couple weeks ago, with arrogant, "I'm a star" type talk. He has said he will waive his no trade to go to a contender.

[Brian the Automator]

Here's the quote from Mora:

 

"I can't tell you right now what I'm going to do," Mora said. "But I want to be on a winning team. I don't want to be like, 'Let's make the fans wait six more years and then we're going to try to start winning again.' You don't want to deal with that."

 

It's pretty out of line, I think, for a player to say this... But honestly, the Orioles are a disaster and have been for years, so I can imagine that the frustration has got to be unbearable.

[MNBrew]

maybe he will realize that the defense needs to be fixed.

BHF, are you that convinced Melvin doesn't realize this? Sorry, it just seems an inappropriate remark.

 

It sure seems to me with Melvin's remarks that he's just keeping all his options open. The Matt Wise comments, like those on Turnbow, also sound like typical GM winter spin. Surely Melvin would rather get something in a deal for Matt Wise than have to non-tender him and get nothing in return.

[joepepsi]

Absolutely, Brian, Mora has been great throughout his career. The Orioles got 2 -1/2 years of him hitting like Rogers Hornsby for a cheap salary. No they are probably overpaying considering his declining numbers, but consider it back pay. This is the first time he has lashed out publicly. He, like Tejada a year ago, both has valid reasons to be disgruntled.

 

I think there are some ill conceived comments in this part of the story from the Baltimore Sun.

If he does return, Mora made it known that things need to change. The veteran felt that the Orioles clubhouse was divided last season.

 

"The problem is you have people that have been in the big leagues for five, six years, and they think they own the Orioles," he said. "They need to fix that problem. I treat everybody the same, and it's something that I can fix if they let me fix it."

 

Mora maintained that he was "cool" with Dave Trembley, but said that he felt disrespected when the manager sat him several times in September to get a look at recently acquired Scott Moore at third base.

 

"I don't want to make it seem it was Moore's fault. This kid was hungry to play," Mora said. "But I've been busting my butt for seven years in the organization. I'm a two-time All-Star, I've won a Silver Slugger [award]. I don't deserve that. If I have to take that crap, I'd rather go somewhere else."

 

He was also disappointed in the manager's public criticism of enigmatic starter Daniel Cabrera. Trembley called Cabrera "unprofessional" after the pitcher threw behind the head of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, nearly inciting a brawl.

 

"What Cabrera did was wrong, and I told him that. I told him, 'You could have killed that guy.' But what [Trembley] said to the media wasn't right either," Mora said. "This is the one guy that I want to have on my team. We have five starting pitchers, and Daniel is the only guy to stay healthy and throw 200 innings. But nobody says anything about that."

 

Trembley denied a rift with Mora, saying "he's done everything that I asked of him."

 

Mora made it known that he'd be against a move to left field unless he felt it made the team significantly better. If Tejada isn't traded, the Orioles would consider moving him to third base and Mora to left field.

 

"I don't want to play those games," he said. "I'm one of the best third basemen in the American League and in baseball. If you are going to move me, you have to make the team more competitive."

 

Ultimately, that's all Mora wants, he said. And while he hopes it is with the Orioles, he won't rule out leaving if the team doesn't expect to be competitive.

 

"I don't want to leave Baltimore. I'd die for the Orioles," he said. "But sometimes you also have to move on. I can't control that, but I can control where I go. I'm a Baltimore Oriole unless Andy MacPhail wants to change that."