Bowden asks for Weeks for Cordero

[TooLiveBrew]

As far as the attitude concerns, I think JJ7 was just referring to some grumblings from other Sounds players. He's down there in Nashville, so I'll trust him on that. But JJ, even with his horrid beginning to 2007, Rickie's final line was nice. An OPS north of .800 - without hitting .240! 2008 is the year of the Rickie. Just think how good our offense is going to be with both Hall & Weeks healthy & slugging!

[JJHardy7]

As far as the attitude concerns, I think JJ7 was just referring to some grumblings from other Sounds players. He's down there in Nashville, so I'll trust him on that. But JJ, even with his horrid beginning to 2007, Rickie's final line was nice. An OPS north of .800 - without hitting .240! 2008 is the year of the Rickie. Just think how good our offense is going to be with both Hall & Weeks healthy & slugging!

I'd love a big year out of Rickie in 2008 and like I said I don't want to trade him right now, but Weeks will hopefully be healthy and be the player most of us around here think he can be.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yea - don't worry about the power until we see something has changed. What we know most recently is that Rickie's slugging the crap outta the ball. Until he shows differently, I'll just continue to daydream about 2008.

[rluzinski]

I do think there comes a point and time where a decision will have to be made at 2B if Weeks can't put together a full season.

 

I'd love him to have a nice consistent year but if his overall numbers match his 2007 numbers, he's not going to be easy to replace.

[endaround]

Th guy slugged 433 while hitting .235. That's serious Home Run power. Its right there. His average is bound to go up causing his slugging to increase by at least the same amount. If he hits .280 you'll have a .280/.375/.480 2B. That's Kent like.

[gregmag]

Th guy slugged 433 while hitting .235. That's serious Home Run power. Its right there. His average is bound to go up causing his slugging to increase by at least the same amount. If he hits .280 you'll have a .280/.375/.480 2B. That's Kent like.

 

Actually, it's even better than that. If you take Weeks' numbers last season, elevate him to a .280 BA, and assume the same percentages of the extra hits would go for singles, doubles, triples, and homers as his hits actually did, the line you get is .280/.410/.513. From a 2B, those are borderline MVP numbers; add a bit more power and he's Chase Utley. I'm not saying that will happen, but I'm saying there's a very sound reason to believe it could happen.

 

The Utley comparison is interesting for another reason. Folks who are getting impatient with Weeks should consider that he'll be 25 next year, and Utley didn't play a full season in the majors until he was 26. No, Weeks hasn't proved anything, but so what? The Brewers' job is to make the most realistic projection they can of what he'll do. Even if he doesn't advance an inch, he's a strong regular now; and the idea that a guy his age, with his skills, who has just finished recovering from a wrist injury won't improve strikes me as highly unlikely.

 

Greg.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm not saying that will happen, but I'm saying there's a very sound reason to believe it could happen.

Agreed. I like your musings on the development time with Weeks v. Utley. I also like your objectivity. I think that, while maintaining said objectivity, to suggest that Weeks will someday soon challenge & perhaps eclipse the kinds of numbers put up by Utley is only reasonable.

 

Utley's first real full-time season came in 2005, at age 26. 2008 will be Rickie's age 25 season. If there's a better candidate for breakout player of the year in 2008, I'd be surprised. Oh yea - one more thing... Rickie's 78 BBs in 2007? Better than Utley's highest total to date (69 in 2005), and while Utley's career best came over 543 ABs, Weeks posted his over only 409 ABs. When you've posted a better walk rate than Utley, your power projection ceiling is similar to, if not better than, Utley, and you're 4 years younger than Utley, you absolutely have a chance to run him down as the best-hitting 2B in baseball.

[bobskube]

As far as the attitude concerns, I think JJ7 was just referring to some grumblings from other Sounds players. He's down there in Nashville, so I'll trust him on that. But JJ, even with his horrid beginning to 2007, Rickie's final line was nice. An OPS north of .800 - without hitting .240! 2008 is the year of the Rickie. Just think how good our offense is going to be with both Hall & Weeks healthy & slugging!

I'd love a big year out of Rickie in 2008 and like I said I don't want to trade him right now, but Weeks will hopefully be healthy and be the player most of us around here think he can be.

Like JJ was worth anything in the second half last year. Take it easy on the Ricker!

 

JK, JJ7, but I could not resist. (I know this is not a Hardy thread so I'll leave it there.)

 

 

 

 

[ILuvDaBush]

So we're all in agreement? We march on Washington (Or Nashville) to string up Bowden for wasting our time with such a ridiculous trade proposal?