Joe Crede?

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

Just saw on the chat at mlbtraderumors.com someone asked where Crede will end up, and the response was "I kind of like the Brewers for him."

 

This is interesting to me. He had a huge year in 06, and seems to be a guy that would fit in well. If Billy gets moved, this a possibility?

[Brian the Automator]

Crede's a Boras guy, and I have a hard time believing that Boras wouldn't find him a multi-year deal. If Gamel is on the front burner at third base, I wouldn't see the Brewers committing to a multi-year deal... Of course, if the market stays depressed this offseason, I suppose Crede might be had for a one-year deal.

[joepepsi]

Crede is very good defensively and has a bit of power. But he's a righty, has crappy on base skills, and makes lots of outs; so he's just like every Brewer hitter. Plus he has a bad back. More of the same, if you ask me.

[RU Rah Rah]

No. The guy has managed to play just 47 and 97 games the last two years, and not especially well. He's a trip to the DL just waiting to happen.

 

And I agree about the lack of OBP -- .258 and .314 the last two years. We don't need more of that....

[BrewCrewForever]

I would rather have a Hall/Lamb platoon this season then Crede. Gamel should be ready in 2010 if not at some point in 2009.

[aracko]

If I were to take a chance on a guy who was injury prone, Id rather try for Garciaparra. He can move around the diamond quite a bit and would be great in the clubhouse and probably be worth an extra appearance on ESPN.

[nate82]

If I were to take a chance on a guy who was injury prone, Id rather try for Garciaparra. He can move around the diamond quite a bit and would be great in the clubhouse and probably be worth an extra appearance on ESPN.

His brother is on the minor league team.

[Tbadder]

I'd take a chance on anyone who:

 

a) will accept a reasonable to cheap one year contract, and (boldface)

b) projects to a Type B free agent

[Brian the Automator]

If I were to take a chance on a guy who was injury prone, Id rather try for Garciaparra. He can move around the diamond quite a bit and would be great in the clubhouse and probably be worth an extra appearance on ESPN.

I think that's actually a really good idea. He can allow Macha to sit Fielder against tough lefties now and then, and if he gets hurt, you still have Lamb, Hall and Gamel to fill the void. As long as you can count on him to be healthy for the first few months, you've bought some pretty valuable time for Gamel, and you have a guy who can play all 4 infield positions.

[nate82]

Crede or Nomar would be OK signings if they were to be platoon only players. If Hall is traded in the Yankees deal with Cameron I wouldn't mind having Crede or Nomar not my favorite choices but I could live with Crede or Nomar platooning with Lamb at 3B.

[Brian the Automator]

Crede or Nomar would be OK signings if they were to be platoon only players. If Hall is traded in the Yankees deal with Cameron I wouldn't mind having Crede or Nomar not my favorite choices but I could live with Crede or Nomar platooning with Lamb at 3B.

Over the past 3 years, Nomar has put up a .768 OPS against righties, whereas Lamb has put up a .780 OPS. There might be a slight advantage to a platoon there, but factoring in that Lamb's pretty bad vs. lefties and he'd get "LOOGY-ed" at some point during the game, I'd almost rather go with a full-time Nomar solution at 3B (until Gamel's ready).

[TooLiveBrew]

Bringing in Nomar, while keeping Lamb on as injury insurance, wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

Here are Nomar's splits v. RHP over that 3-yr. span BtA referenced:

 

2008 - .224/.270/.374/.643 (115 PA)

2007 - .303/.342/.383/.724 (363 PA)

2006 - .294/.355/.484/.839 (423 PA)

 

His production v. LHP was great in 2006 & '08, but poor in '07. Clearly injuries have played a big role in hampering his recent production, so using Lamb against some RHP to just keep him fresh would hopefully help there, too.