Would Koskie make sense now?

[Weirdos19]

If his health is good, I seem to think so. With Hall at third, Koskie could play against tough right handers. Another lefty against Zambrano, Oswalt, and even guys like Snell and Harang would make alot of sense.

Another minor league deal? I hope so. I'd much rather see his LH bat coming off the bench instead of Counsell's when Gross has already pinch hit for somebody.

Infield: Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, Hall, Counsell, Koskie

Outfield: Braun, Cameron, Hart, Gross, Dillon

Catchers: Kendall and Rottino or Rivera

Edit: Excessive punctuation in title. - Toby

[lukevan]

I really like Koskie and would've been for bringing him back before the acquisition of Cameron, but in the instance of Koskie coming back, I would be compelled to start a 100% Corey Koskie against all righties and I don't want to see that happen to Bill Hall.

[brewerfan82]

I like Koskie. I don't know if it's a good idea (as Hall's head might explode), but with Koskie in the fold, you could start the season with Hall in center and Koskie at 3rd and then have some options once Cameron comes back.

[sbrylski]

Would Koskie make sense now?

 

I'm sure by now his PCS has subsided enough for his speech and thought patterns to have returned back to normal.

[logan82]

I would say no. If he had played last season and was completley healthy I would say yes, but who knows where he is in terms of health. Since we are in a win now mode I see no reason to take a chance on him. If we were talking 2-3 years ago when wins didn't matter as much I would be all for giving him a chance. I know how heartless that sounds. I wish him well and hope he can at the very least return to a normal life and hopefully play baseball as well as before.

[Weirdos19]

I just think that Gross will be the #1 pinch hitter from the left side and Gwynn will collect dust.

Gwynn could be used as a pinch runner, but for who? Prince? Everybody else runs very well and shouldn't be taken out for a pinch runner anyway.

At least Koskie could be a valuable infield, LH bat. If we need to replace Weeks defensively, Hall moves to second and Koskie comes in at third.

I like this idea.

[sheetswannabe]

Or we save money and Joe Dillon goes to 3rd. Plus Joe was healthy and he has been playing. Koskie hasnt played in over 1 1/2 years.

[Gopher74]

Since we are in a win now mode I see no reason to take a chance on him. If we were talking 2-3 years ago when wins didn't matter as much I would be all for giving him a chance. I know how heartless that sounds. I wish him well and hope he can at the very least return to a normal life and hopefully play baseball as well as before.

I don't understand this logic. If anything, it'd seem to be the complete opposite.

 

A couple years ago, why would we want a aging player who had to sit out all last year and is a question mark this year? The only reason it would make sense is because we're in a "win now" mode, and you take that chance that he can come back and help you win a couple games this year.

 

And really, it'd be a very small "risk". I'm sure he's not getting a big league deal right now anyway. He would have to take a minor league deal and come to camp as a non-roster invitee.

 

[Invader3K]

Has anyone heard if he has even actually done any baseball related activities since his accident on the field? The last I heard, it was "no."

[MoneyballMan]

Has anyone heard if he has even actually done any baseball related activities since his accident on the field? The last I heard, it was "no."

That was going to be my question as well. Do we even know that he is "coming back"? Last I heard (I thought) was that he was probably through.

[JohnBriggs12]

If I were Koskie and wanted to try a comeback, I'd start out playing indy league baseball near home in St. Paul.

 

No major league team is going to take a chance on him at this point until he proves ready to stand up to the daily rigors of the game.

[patrickgpe]

I do not like the idea of making hall switch positions again 25 games into the season. He hasn't played 3rd in a year and he will most likely need a little time to readjust. I have been a fan of Koskie's since he was on the twins and would like to see him again in a brewers uniform, but at this point i think Dillon has earned a chance to be the full time backup to Hall and Prince at 3rd. This is the same stance on had when the possibility of bringing back Cirillo came up.

[JohnBriggs12]

Not only as patrickgpe pointed out that Hall hasn't played 3B in more than a year actually, but he has hardly played third his entire career. Remember Hall played SS primarily both in the big leagues and the minors. He also played some 2b in the minors, but he hasn't played all that much third anywhere.

[dadofandrew]

Koskie will have a handful of teams interested, but at this moment, he is not able to play. Spring training is a month away.

 

Much ado about nothing.

[Big Reed]

I'd rather add Cirillo. Cirillo would not pose a threat to Hall's ego. Cirillo can play 1st. 2nd and 3rd. he's a nice guy to have around. On the same note, I'd rather have Loretta. Houston can't be asking for much for loretta.

[RockCoCougars]

I guarantee that Koskie ends up with the Twins if he plays.

[lukevan]

Cirillo only hits LHP and he doesn't hit them as well as Bill Hall. I don't think Cirillo fits with the club no matter how much we want him on the team.

 

As for Loretta, when would he get to play? Twice a week at best?

[Invader3K]

I don't think the Brewers are in need of any middling utility infielders anymore.

 

It's nice that people want to find jobs for guys like Jeff Cirillo and Corey Koskie, but that era of the Brewers is done with.

[dadofandrew]

The Twins have a 3B now, so I would not see a match there. He's a nice role player, but as I said, has he picked up a bat or glove yet?

[Scooter1027]

I don't think the Brewers are in need of any middling utility infielders anymore.

 

It's nice that people want to find jobs for guys like Jeff Cirillo and Corey Koskie, but that era of the Brewers is done with.

With Cirillo, I agree with you.

 

But when Koskie was here (and healthy), he was better than "middling". He posted a pretty sharp .343/.490 in 2006 (career .367/.458), and on this team, his left-handed bat and very good defense sure would be nice to have. He was one of my favorite Brewers when we had him, I think he brings a lot of things to the table that this team could use. Unfortunately, it's more than likely a moot point, as I really doubt he's going to be able to play again.

[Invader3K]

Right, I understand Koskie was very effective...I guess I shouldn't have generalized so much. I just don't think it's realistic to talk about him, since no one seems to have even heard of him picking up a bat or glove since his injury.

[Mass Haas]

Boston Globe : Latest on Koskie's health

 

Koskie's goal: a normal life

Effects of concussions plague third baseman

By Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe | January 27, 2008

Two weeks ago, he was able to walk through a crowded mall in the Minneapolis area for three or four hours without experiencing the excruciating symptoms he's endured for about a year and half.

Doesn't sound like much, does it? But for Corey Koskie, once a very good third baseman for the Twins, Blue Jays, and Brewers, this was a sign that he's on the road to living a normal life and may someday soon resume his baseball career.

Koskie has suffered from postconcussion syndrome since he was hurt on July 5, 2006, while backpedaling to catch a popup. Koskie said he never banged his head. He fell on his back and shoulder. But his life would never be the same.

All the medical tests indicated Koskie should be OK. Except he wasn't OK. He had constant headaches, severe neck pain, nausea. He felt his head was swimming and his thought process was cloudy.

The symptoms lasted for months, and the Milwaukee medical staff thought he was experiencing anxiety or that the problem was in part mental. Once he sought the expertise of Dr. Robert C. Cantu of Emerson Hospital in Concord and Dr. Michael W. Collins of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Sports Medicine's Concussion Center, he was assured he wasn't going crazy, but that he had classic symptoms of the injury. He heard the postconcussion stories of former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson and pro wrestler Chris Nowitzki and realized the scope of what he was enduring.

"Before I saw Dr. Cantu and Dr. Collins, I kept being told that my brain had healed and what I felt was mental," Koskie said. "I felt I had to justify or explain how I was feeling to the trainers, and until recently, when I hired a personal trainer who understands concussions and postconcussion syndrome, nobody quite understood what I was feeling.

"Until someone says to you, 'You feel like your head is swimming or like the Earth is coming up from under you,' until you hear those descriptions that others understand and feel, all you think is that people think you're nuts."

Koskie, who estimates he'd had anywhere from 8-15 mild concussions in his professional career, remembers feeling so tired for so long.

"I would start feeling tired around noon and sleep until 3 p.m., and then by 7 p.m., I'd be so tired I'd sleep right through until the next morning," he said. "This had never happened to me. Doctors kept telling me, 'Well, it's because you're not doing anything. You're getting lazy.'

"All I knew was I was so tired. I couldn't even play with my kids and it got to the point where they knew that I wouldn't be able to take part in whatever activity they were planning that day."

He said he felt intense pressure all over his head. Little by little, the pressure localized to the side, and now it's just in certain spots in his head. Before he received the experts' advice, he'd try to work out but he'd feel so awful during and after that "it just reached the point where I couldn't do it anymore. As it turns out, the doctors told me that I shouldn't have been working out while I felt the symptoms, that it hurt me even more."

He tried to come back in spring training of '07. He showed up to Brewers camp early in the morning, but when the Arizona sun beat down on him, it made him feel worse. It reached the point where his teammates noticed he was different, and Koskie had no way to explain to them in terms they could understand what he was going through.

He never felt the Brewers grasped the magnitude of things because the X-rays and MRIs were clear. One day Koskie met with general manager Doug Melvin and told him he just couldn't do it anymore. He left the team.

Looking back, he said, he made a series of strange decisions in his personal life because his cognitive skills were so diminished.

"I look back and say to myself, 'I decided to do that?' " he said. "I wasn't thinking properly. You think at the time you're OK, but then when you get tested and your cognitive skills are so poor, you realize in what kind of shape you're in.

"I think now I'm back to normal with all of my testing. For the longest time, I'm thinking, 'I just want to live a normal life again.' I wasn't even thinking about baseball because that was so far off. I just wanted to be able to play with my kids again.

"In the last couple of weeks, I've started to feel well. I haven't worked out since Christmas because I was having some problems while trying to work out then. But now, I've got a program in place and I'm going to see what I can do. If I can get through it without feeling badly, then maybe I can try to play again.

"I know I've got a long way to go. I would certainly not want to lead any team on at this point. I've got to see if I can do it and see if I can play in a game and go through the everyday stuff that a major league ballplayer has to go through.

"I'm also 34 going on 35. There are a lot of players out there looking for jobs. I have no idea what I'd be like if I came back. I think I can still play. I think I can still hit. The last two weeks have been so encouraging that it's started to make me feel like I'd like to give this a go again."

[dadofandrew]

Again, best of luck to Corey, but he still can't play baseball. That's a sign you are not going to be playing baseball for a living.

[twobrewers]

Nice to hear he is feeling better.

 

But honestly, he really sounds like someone who only knows how to play baseball.

 

I doubt many doctors would suggest he try to continue in that career path. But it's what he is. And it is what he knows how to do.