Doug Melvin on the D-List (Tejada, Gagne, Braun)

[ELCABALLO45]

I dont want Jenkins sorry...

[monty57]

I'd really hope that at this point, Melvin either has or will soon ask Hall about playing 3B. It's always good to keep your options as numerous as possible. Bill's a great guy, and at worst wouldn't be offended if asked, I'd guess.

 

Yeah, it's almost comical at this point. Other teams want to trade for Hall so that they can play him in the infield. Meanwhile, we're beating our heads against the wall trying to find a third baseman. It just makes too much sense, so it almost makes me feel there's more to the story. Is Melvin that unwilling to admit a mistake, or has Hall told them he doesn't want to move again?

 

Also, it is good to see the Brewers going after big money players. I wonder if shared revenue, etc have evened the playing field more than I thought.

[TauPentaRei]

I'd really hope that at this point, Melvin either has or will soon ask Hall about playing 3B. It's always good to keep your options as numerous as possible. Bill's a great guy, and at worst wouldn't be offended if asked, I'd guess.

that's an enormous amount of egg on doug's face. is he too prideful to do that?

 

[Ennder]

Hall is not a natural 3B and displayed below average range there in 2006. Hart is not a natural CF and posted very poor ability there last year(-3.5 runs in just 232 innings vs Hall's -2.7 in 1022 innings), Braun has never played LF. I'm not sure that moving Hall to 3B really fixes anything unless we are going to let Gwynn start in CF.

 

Hall is going to be an above average CF, he was at something like -8 at the all star break and pulled back up to -2.7 with his fielding in the second half. I don't have much faith in Braun ever reaching average but I don't think Hart is going to be a good CF either.

[clancyphile]

How about Cameron in center, Hall in left?

[TooLiveBrew]

Hall is going to be an above average CF, he was at something like -8 at the all star break and pulled back up to -2.7 with his fielding in the second half.

See, that's probably the best numeric description I've seen for Hall's fielding - in terms of how I'd describe his progression in CF. Just my opinion though. I think he'll be solid there in '08.

[MNBrew]

Every time someone brings up Mike Cameron as a potential OF solution for the Brewers, as Clancy just did, "how much better Kenny Lofton is and why would we ever favor Cameron over him?" is all I can think of:

 

Cameron has 4 seasons with a >.350 OBP and none over .370.

Lofton has 12 seasons with a >.350 OBP including 7 seasons >.370.

 

Cameron has 1500 Ks in 5400 career ABs

Lofton has just over 1000 Ks in over 8100 career ABs.

 

Both those things point me big-time toward Lofton in spite of his age.

Since the Brewers are trying to strike out less and get on base more, I don't see any reason at all why they would want Mike Cameron, even with his defense. Lofton is hardly a defensive disaster. And while the Brewers' OF wasn't great defensively (Bill Hall was bad but got better), it was the corner IFs who led the majors in errors at their respective positions.

 

So I'll take Kenny Lofton over Mike Cameron every day of the week and twice on a good FA signing day.

[dadofandrew]

Cameron has played in pitcher's parks his entire career. That said, he's not a kid anymore.

[Gopher74]

Cameron has played in pitcher's parks his entire career. That said, he's not a kid anymore.

Exactly. That just gets glossed over everytime his name comes up.

 

He's a VERY good player. Possibly a .275/.350 25/25 type guy for the Brewers.

 

And the difference between he and Lofton is that he can throw the ball and he covers more ground.

 

I think Cameron's the better player, but I think Lofton fits in better offensively for our team right here and now.