In "be careful what you wish for" news, Casey McGehee has made the roster. Stunningly Lamb was the odd mad out. If you aren't aware, McGehee is a right handed bat. The horrifying realization you are coming to is, sadly, correct.
Bill Hall is the Milwaukee Brewers everyday third basemen.
Let that soak in.
The Brewers did keep the better overall player, and a better bench option (since lefties dominate the backups) but in the process they have made the starting 8 much worse. Sure, Macha could throw McGehee in there against right handers, giving the Brewers the rare R/R platoon, but Haudricourt indicated this was not the plan.
In 2007 Hall had an OPS against righties of .713. In 08? .557!
This man is not an everyday player. He has made that abundantly clear.
In other Brewers news, Macha shuffled his lineup last night and hinted it would be this was to start the year. He had Hart hitting in the two hole and Hardy fifth. Any opinions on that?
Bill Hall is the Milwaukee Brewers everyday third basemen.
Let that soak in.
The Brewers did keep the better overall player, and a better bench option (since lefties dominate the backups) but in the process they have made the starting 8 much worse. Sure, Macha could throw McGehee in there against right handers, giving the Brewers the rare R/R platoon, but Haudricourt indicated this was not the plan.
In 2007 Hall had an OPS against righties of .713. In 08? .557!
This man is not an everyday player. He has made that abundantly clear.
In other Brewers news, Macha shuffled his lineup last night and hinted it would be this was to start the year. He had Hart hitting in the two hole and Hardy fifth. Any opinions on that?
25 comments:
And yes, I am very proud of that headline.
2009 Dallas McPherson = 2008 Russell Branyan. We must get him now.
Only opinion on Hardy-Hart is that this may get Hart a few more at-bats over the course of the season than Hardy. I'd rather it was the other way around.
At least Mike Lamb wasn't very good, which leaves open the possibility that a superior alternative will emerge.
I thought I heard Escobar said he was willing to play 3rd.
Right now Escobar is a worse bat than Hall and likely a worse fielder in the short term, based on unfamiliarity. I don't think that works well. I'd rather move Hardy to third and play Escobar at short.
I've got no problem with Hall facing lhp. It's just baffling to me that the Brewers don't recognize his failures vs rhp, and yet even more baffling that they let the solution to this problem -- Russell Branyan -- walk away cheap.
McPherson's had his issues, but I'd sure take my chances with him over the three present options vs rhp (Counsell, Hall or McGehee).
hall for his career:
249/300/441 vs rhp
278/355/493 vs lhp
that's a definite difference, but not a totally hopeless line vs righties. it sure ain't good though.
i suppose counsell can take some spot starts at 3b.
from my point of view, one advantage of keeping mcgehee is that now it's pretty easy to pinch hit for hall whenever you want. realistically, he should never face a right hander after the 6th inning. this is what brad nelson is for, afterall (i would hope).
certainly, 3b and c are the 2 weak spots in the lineup, but while catcher is pretty much doomed to be a sinkhole, they might have enough flexibility within the organization to intelligently cover 3b in a passable way (whether they will or not, is another story)
The extent to which he has plummeted against right handed pitching that last two years Ahren makes me discount his total career line. He's turned himself into a power hitter and has pretty much stopped going opposite field. Guy used to be a total gap-to-gap stud, not he pulls everything. The last two years he has been a different hitter, and that hitter cannot touch rhp.
yeah, that's fair. weighing trends vs. sample size is always difficult.
like corey hart, he's never seen a slider that starts on the outside corner and dives into the dirt that he doesn't like.
didn't he have LASIK or something this offseason? maybe that will help a bit with pitch recognition?
I wish we had been in on Keppinger. He'd certainly be an upgrade over Counsell.
I'm with Tracker. Letting Branyan go was such a mistake.
Hall did have LASIK, and I can tell you from experience that LASIK makes you better at baseball. I'm not sure how much better at the major league level, but it certainly won't hurt him.
Chris was the only person alive who thought that was a good move.
yeah, it's not clear to me either what effect LASIK has.
my impression/guess is that it helps guys who have big problems with pitch recognition, like christian guzman (who has been pretty good since his LASIK), while not mattering that much for guys who already have good pitch recognition, like jason kendall (who continues to suck after his LASIK).
in high school/college, there were a couple guys i played with who got contacts midway through their career, and it seemed to help them out quite a bit. different level and all that, of course...
and yes, i like keppinger too. the reds are dumb.
News on the Tony Gwynn front, indirectly anyway. Brewers are reported to be interested in released cf Scott Podsednik.
you're supposed to link to an awesome Kenny Powers video when you do stuff like that, track.
I suggest the "you have clothes like a dick head" video.
I would, except...
http://blogs.denverpost.com/rockies/2009/04/01/pods-will-be-released-rox-explore-deals-for-gaudin-hammel/
Chris still is glad they let Branyan go I am glad he is in Seattle.
Honest question: Do we actually want sluggin' Mike Lamb instead of Bill Hall? If anything, Hall gives us an outside chance at something resembling slugging.
No, we want a platoon.
That's why we want Dallas McPherson.
Did the Marlins release him or something? Why the call for McPherson? Is he available?
mcpherson is basically perpetually available as far as i can tell...
in fact, the marlins released him yesterday i believe. (waivers, options? anybody?)
the marlins have cantu, who they can move back to third and put sanchez (gaby) at first, without really losing much offensively or defensively.
i'd rather have mcgehee than mcpherson, to tell you the truth, and i'm about as big of a three-true-outcomes guy as there is. i'm a big branyan guy too, but i think mcpherson is branyan minus 10% on D, contact ability, and power... he's just not playable in mlb, i fear.
Marlins released him. Yeah, they have Cantu, but I'm partially troubled by the fact that they appear to have chosen Wes Fucking Helms in a backup role over McPh. I'm not fully familiar with their rh-lh needs, but I know they also needed a backup 1b and traded for Bad Baseball Player Ross Gload. Dallas is a 3bman and a 3bman only, and not really a very good one, I'll admit. So the circumstances are suspect.
But, he hits. McPh sat out all of 07 after getting a couple vertebra fused, then put up a .997 ops at AAA in a full season last year. The guy jacks (42 hr) and when he's not jacking, he's walking. Granted, his previous MLB auditions were so-so, but they're so ancient that Bill Hall was a good player when he was getting his run.
Yes. We need Dallas McPherson.
Also, a McGehee-McPherson comparison isn't relevant, because McGehee won't take ABs from Hall vs rhp.
Your comparison should be left-handed McPherson vs rhp compared to Hall vs rhp, because those are your alternatives. While I don't put a lot of stock in McPh's MLB platoon splits because they're 3 years old, they do demonstrate a clear preference (.301 ops)
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