Any thought to having Joey O be defensive replacement SS?

[BigWoo53]

First, what a phenomenal AB by Mona last night and rewarded with GW 1B. It really (started a couple weeks ago) started when Mona went on a terror with Joey O on injured list. Mona has been great in his opportunities this year and wondering if down the stretch here, if Mona might start? Joey O can come in if the Brewers have a lead kind of lake Perkins in OF. This team isn't short on great defenders and while the announcers for the Brewers try to say how phenomenal Joey is defensively, I feel they do that because of how bad he's been offensively. He is pretty good defensively but not close a GG or anything imo.

He's been anemic at the plate. Mona has earned a spot similarly to Vaughn did when Hoskins was hurt. Mona has an OPS over .800. Ortiz is under .600, the lowest of any qualified hitter. Or is it too late in the season now to make a sizeable change to what the Brewers have been doing and keep things how they are? 

[formerlybis]

It’s a worthy discussion. I do want Monasterio’s bat in the lineup more, but the gut tells me they won’t replace Ortiz when it matters. And he had a good couple of months at the plate before going on the IL, too. Just reverting a bit of late.

[bm1090]

Ortiz is so much better defensively I think they are going to keep him in there. Mona made some nice plays while he was out but you could tell the defense just didn't operate like they wanted it to. I like Durbin, but I wouldn't mind giving some of his starts to Monasterio. 

[sveumrules]

3 hours ago, BigWoo53 said:

This team isn't short on great defenders and while the announcers for the Brewers try to say how phenomenal Joey is defensively, I feel they do that because of how bad he's been offensively. He is pretty good defensively but not close a GG or anything imo.

StatCast thinks Ortiz has saved ten runs so far, 5th most in MLB among 31 shortstops with at least 500 innings this year.

[BigWoo53]

I do think Ortiz has been pretty good just not to the extent like decent plays are made into unreal ones. He's a good SS but not to the extent where you can be this anemic offensively. 

[BrewerFan]

3 hours ago, BigWoo53 said:

I do think Ortiz has been pretty good just not to the extent like decent plays are made into unreal ones. He's a good SS but not to the extent where you can be this anemic offensively. 

He really has been that good defensively though. 12 OAA

Since the Middle of June he's hitting .275/.307/.385 with a .692 OPS

I don't think there's any chance they'd consider sitting Ortiz in the post-season for Monasterio... a guy who has been a great utility player, but he's got BABIP that's .356(vs Ortiz .256 for the year) and he hasn't been a plus defender. 

Monasterio had an abnormally great August with a .486 BABIP

One August in which Monasterio put up a .396/.418/.696 1.116 OP in 55 PAs, a guy who before that hit .184/.259/.286 545 OPS... you'd LIKELY be trading a both a less talented hitter and a far less talented defender.

 

A better(though still not a good answer) if you were going to make a change... to an offense that I don't think NEEDS a change, would be Collins to 2B, Turang to SS and then you go with I guess Yelich in LF, Chourio in CF(though I don't know why not Frelick as his instincts are better, but they don't) and Frelick in RF.

Vaughn at 1B, Hoskins at DH

*Left handed
#Switch Hitter

Lineup of 
*Frelick-RF
Chourio-CF
*Yelich-LF
Contreras-C
*Turang-SS
Vaughn-1B
#Collins-2B
Hoskins-DH
Durbin -3B

Bench, Quero, Ortiz, Bauers, Monasterio?

But I think the BEST balance of both(and the most likely) is having a balanced lineup and your defense is/will be;

*Frelick-RF
Chourio-LF
*Yelich-DH
Contreras-C
*Turang-2B
Vaughn- 1B
#Perkins-CF
Durbin   -3B
Ortiz      -SS

Bench-Jansen, Monasaterio, Hoskins, Collins
Collins-Switch Hitter
Hoskins- Power Bat off the bench

I'd like to see guys like Perkins and Lockridge on a post-season roster, but you're limited. 

The Pitching Staff is in a MUCH more dubious place at the moment. We have a number of players that I don't think we can win multiple series without. 

1-Megill- Closer, dominant, slides Uribe, Mears, Ashby, Koenig down.
2-Mears our 7th inning man/Fireman. I'm not going to say I have a ton of trust. This is the area of the team I most wanted to upgrade(not for the price Mason Miller cost and probably not for what Duran cost).
3-Hall- He's a luxury to have throw the 5th and 6th inning after a RHed pitcher with lefties coming up. Ashby is being used here. I'd rather use Ashby as needed more than just calling on him there. 
4-Logan Henderson- Is there a chance he's back? He seems like he'd be at his best working 2 innings out of the pen... if healthy. Throwing in the 95-98 range in the pen with a plus Change. You don't always get what you want. 

 

Megill threw a BP, didn't respect. UCL strain is extremely disconcerting. When I say I wanted a BP arm, that's IF we were going to give up something of substance. It seemed like the best fit with the staff we have. Duran, Bautista, Clase, NOT for Made, Pena... probably not Pratt(though...Miller does have 4 years left). 

Henderson is scheduled to throw one tomorrow(Tuesday). That should be very...informative. He wouldn't be set to come back until the post-season as I don't think he's eligible until after the season. 

Mears seems like the best bet to be back. 

Hall-Still no BPs scheduled(that is troubling). 

 

Give me a staff with 
Peralta, Woody, Priester

Closer-Megill
SU Uribe
7th-Mears/Koenig
Hader Role-Ashby
4th-6th vs lefties-Hall
Misiorowski/Quintana available

Then Henderson in a RHed Hader role just throwing an inning or two and Patrick or Myers to come out of the pen, THAT is ideal.

Grant Anderson has also earned a role...

But I'm afraid 3-4 of these guys will not be available. Henderson is already a long shot. He hasn't even thrown in that role. 
Misi is just not a reliable pitcher at this point out of the pen. You can't bring in a guy who could walk 2 and give up a HR. He's still a guy I want signed for 8 years and 2 TOs and I think he'll be a Cy Young contender at some point, but back before he came up, I said I wanted him to spend the year in AAA. He proved me wrong, but we're still early on in the process and this was inevitable. Control issues. And he doesn't even need great command, we're talking more about trying to hit just areas. FB up, FB down, he doesn't need to paint with it like Maddux, not at 101 with a 96 slider, but he's just walking too many guys(also been getting squeezed, but hasn't responded well... which happens to Rookies). 

 

Hall still not throwing? It's 9/15. And when I say throwing, I mean BP. 

Mears is not the guy you want in the 8th inning. That pushes Ashby to a multi-inning, late inning reliever and now bridging the gap is tougher. Playoff games are SO often son in the 5th-7th innings. Before you get to the true aces of the pen. The SU men and then Mason Miller comes out for 5 outs, but you gotta shut them down then as well. 

 

 

 

That's a LOT to say... I think we're better with Ortiz, you may think Monasterio, but our pitching right now with the health questions is a FAR-FAR bigger concern. 

[Turning2]

Doesn’t get much more gold glov- ier than what Ortiz has provided in my opinion. 

[Brian]

21 hours ago, formerlybis said:

It’s a worthy discussion. I do want Monasterio’s bat in the lineup more, but the gut tells me they won’t replace Ortiz when it matters. And he had a good couple of months at the plate before going on the IL, too. Just reverting a bit of late.

Ortiz has logged 1127.1 innings at SS this season,  Monasterio has logged 184 innings at SS this season.  Just breath into a paper bag when you start thinking about major changes right after Brewers were the first team to punch a postseason ticket to the playoffs. 

[da swedish german]

doesn't it feel like turang fell off a cliff defensively the last month?

[Brian]

32 minutes ago, da swedish german said:

doesn't it feel like turang fell off a cliff defensively the last month?

The whole team seems to have fell off a cliff as of late. 

[jay87shot]

I agree with the general sentiment that I am ok with Ortiz, I like the idea of having Mone as a late game ph in big spots. 

[BigWoo53]

Yeah I think the changes would be next year. I mean Ortiz OPS is under .600. The worst qualified hitter in MLB. So even 12 OAA isn't making up for that lol. I do think it's too late for drastic changes as this team has won 92 games now with 11 to go. I would, though, think if Turang can move to SS, Collins could play 2B and Durbin 3B or sign someone and have Ortiz be UTIL potentially next year. I thought Durbin would just be a good UTIL, he has shown he can be much more imo and likely could make a jump next year. 

I wouldn't be surprised by a Regnifo or cheap signing as a LHH option on the inf. 

 

[LouisEly]

If Priester or any other ground ball pitcher is starting you can bet that Ortiz will be starting as well.

When you have a ground ball pitcher starting you put your best defensive SS in the game.

[folly412]

As others mentioned in the IGT, I didn't care for Ortiz batting with the bases loaded, tie game in the 6th facing a RHP.  Bauers should have taken that AB, then let Mona take over.  If we have the lead perhaps you keep Ortiz in since defense is the priority, but not tied or trailing.

[brewcrewdue80]

This season he's set in stone at SS. Brewers lucked in to another Arcia. All defense and no where close to hitting ceiling as batters.  Offseason, I'm finding any disposable SS and Ortiz plays at AAA til he resembles a batter closer to 700 OPS vs 550. Could be the entire season in '26 for all I care.

In the last 23 games Ortiz has 9 hits for a total of 9 singles. Not 1 multi hit game.  1 RBI.