The Return of 3TO (Ridiculously Raking in Nashville) [merged with Hall platoon thread]

[shelmark]

Toolive,

 

I was surprised to see he had a lifetime OPS of over .800, but in Branyan's last two seasons, he has mashed some hr's like always, but in 404 AB's he is hitting .220 with 158 strikeouts. I just think he is more of the same for this team, too many k's. The most frustrating thing is that who would've thought that we would be having this thread about Branyan in the first place? Frustrating because we were expecting better from those currently on the field.

[1992casey]

From a player evaluation standpoint, if strikeouts are the cause of poor hitting, they're a problem. If they're a side-effect of good hitting, no sweat.

[DrWood]

.220 from branyan is not the same as .220 from counsell.

.220 from branyan is ok for the top lh bat off the bench if he's ripping those hits over and against the outfield wall.

[kramnoj]

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/05/17/why-branyan-wasn-t-called-up.aspx talks about Branyan and how the Brewers didn't want to bring him up for 3 games and then have him clear waivers to get sent back down. They like the flexibility of the roster. I'm with others that wonders why Gwynn is on the team. Yost will use Kapler as a PH against righties before Gwynn, so he's not really adding much value right now.

[bando1234]

but in 404 AB's he is hitting .220 with 158 strikeouts

Its still better than Hall is hitting right now.

 

 

Why cant the Brewers just put Dillon down, bring Russ up & use him to platoon with Hall. As far as Im concerned Weeks needs to be sent down & we can bring up Hernan to play second also. While Im at this I am starting to agree with everyone about Gwynn. They can bring Nelson up too or try Nix again. I know they would need to mess with the 40 man roster a little but something needs to be done now.

[DuWayne Steurer]

At this point, giving Branyan 3-4 weeks of starts vs. righties at 3rd base can't possibly hurt anything. We're past the threshold where "small sample" can be the rallying cry against putting Hall on the bench for a while. He's completely lost up there, and a .272 OBP is "backup catcher" bad.

 

While we're at it, let's mention that if JJ takes an 0-fer today, his SLG% is going to dip below .300

[yfinn6]

At this point, giving Branyan 3-4 weeks of starts vs. righties at 3rd base can't possibly hurt anything. We're past the threshold where "small sample" can be the rallying cry against putting Hall on the bench for a while. He's completely lost up there, and a .272 OBP is "backup catcher" bad.

I completely agree.

 

I used to really dislike Branyan, but he can't possibly be worse than Hall at this point.

 

[brettac1]

I can't believe that Tony Gwynn Jr. was a DH. That's embarassing. Worse than using Jose Vidro as your DH, or something.

 

I'm all for getting a good player to replace Kapler, too.

[trwi7]

Slappy is now hitting .219 with a .566 OPS. There is no excuse for him to be on the major league roster. This goes on both Ned and Doug.

[BrewCrewForever]

Slappy is now hitting .219 with a .566 OPS. There is no excuse for him to be on the major league roster. This goes on both Ned and Doug.

Yeah I second that. If Branyan or even Nelson is not up on the big club by the end of this road trip or sooner I will probably explode.

 

[trwi7]

Boston - Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin will head to Nashville today to see if there are any players at the Class AAA affiliate who might help his struggling club.

"I just want to go and take a look," said Melvin, whose team has lost five in a row and 12 of 17 in May. "I don't believe that any one player or two players is going to dramatically make a difference. It doesn't usually happen that way.

"There's reasons why those guys are down there and these guys are up here."

One player of interest is veteran third baseman Russell Branyan, who has been on a run-production tear much of the season. Entering play Sunday, Branyan was batting .368 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI, with a .449 on-base percentage and .706 slugging percentage.

Branyan is a left-handed hitter and the Brewers are predominantly right-handed, but Melvin also is aware that Branyan is a career .229 hitter in the big leagues. He has 121 home runs in 716 games but also has struck out 755 times in 1,868 at-bats.

"We know Russell," said Melvin, who had Branyan on his roster in 2004 and '05. "Does he get another chance? It's something we have to look at. We're a little short of left-handed hitting but we're not in a platoon situation with many of the guys.

"Some people think that if you make changes, it keeps people on their toes. It depends. For others, it's unsettling."

As for his team's offense, which was sputtering badly before a four-homer barrage Sunday against Boston's Josh Beckett, Melvin said: "The expectations for the hitting were so much higher. You don't want to put pressure on these guys."

Link

 

The bolded parts stood out to me.

 

1. That's such a ridiculous statement to make. Are you telling me Branyan, Gamel, LaPorta, Iribarren and a slew of other minor leaguers couldn't outproduce Slappy right now? What an incredible stupid comment.

 

2. If they bring him up after the interleague series when he would've been a perfect DH then this management is more incompetent than I thought and I didn't think much of them before.

[Gobias Industries]

I'll echo everyone's statements as well. Branyan not being up here was an absolute joke. (Not as much as Gwynn DH'ing.)

Like you said Trwi, the list goes on and on down the minors for who could outhit TGJ. I noticed today that Gwynn still has just that one RBI from opening day. Very pathetic.

Gwynn aint 560 OPS bad; no one is. But he's a mid 650ish OPSer who wouldn't be in the bigs right now if not for his last name.

It is frightening that just a little over a week ago, someone on this board said we should not only start him, but bat him leadoff.

Let's end it and call up Branyan tomorrow.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Why are we all excited for Branyan to come up and bat .220 with 10 home runs the rest of the year? He should be hitting well in AAA for darn sake. If Branyan isn't your classic AAAA player then who is?

[trwi7]

Why are we all excited for Branyan to come up and bat .220 with 10 home runs the rest of the year?

Because it's better than Gwynn's .219 and 0 homers?

[Gobias Industries]

Why are we all excited for Branyan to come up and bat .220 with 10 home runs the rest of the year? He should be hitting well in AAA for darn sake. If Branyan isn't your classic AAAA player then who is?

Because that's 10 more homers Gwynn will hit off the bench and he's gonna make less outs doing it.

 

 

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Because it's better than Gwynn's .219 and 0 homers?

Yeah that's just great, but what do we do when Bill Hall's bat catches fire like it usually does at some point and Branyan starts racking up the K's? Now we have to try and get him through waivers again and we just wasted a major league contract on him.

 

If Bill Hall wouldn't be such a frustrating player, we wouldn't be this desperate right now. He's streakier than Will Ferrel in Old School.

[jjfanec]

Why are we all excited for Branyan to come up and bat .220 with 10 home runs the rest of the year? He should be hitting well in AAA for darn sake. If Branyan isn't your classic AAAA player then who is?

I am excited because Bill Hall just doesnt look good right now and I think he needs a couple days off and Branyan would only have to hit righties.

 

[Gobias Industries]

I really don't think he needs to replace Bill Hall (maybe against a tough righty), but rather TGJ.

 

When he plays and he slumps, sit him on the bench. We don't need to send him down. Gwynn has no use on this team compared to Branyan.

[trwi7]

Yeah that's just great, but what do we do when Bill Hall's bat catches fire like it usually does at some point and Branyan starts racking up the K's? Now we have to try and get him through waivers again and we just wasted a major league contract on him.

 

If Bill Hall wouldn't be such a frustrating player, we wouldn't be this desperate right now. He's streakier than Will Ferrel in Old School.

Why does Branyan have to go back down? Branyan can play in the corner spots as well and can provide valuable power off the bench from the left side, something we don't have right now.

[DrWood]

iirc, the brewers 3b put up the third best OPS in the majors at 3b, when hall, branyan, and helms were sharing time.

[iluvlamp]

I would like 3TO up. I would. He will not make our staff pitch better. Or the bullpen better. Do it. It will not change a thing though.

[rluzinski]

I want Branyan up primarily for the bench and for the few times Hall, Braun or Hart might need a break. A start a week, about.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Why does Branyan have to go back down? Branyan can play in the corner spots as well and can provide valuable power off the bench from the left side, something we don't have right now.

He doesn't. But Melvin seems to be sticking with Gwynn right now.

I am excited because Bill Hall just doesnt look good right now and I think he needs a couple days off and Branyan would only have to hit righties.

That would probably be the biggest benefit to calling up Branyan.

[trwi7]

He doesn't. But Melvin seems to be sticking with Gwynn right now.

 

Which is incredibly stupid. What exactly is Gwynn's role with this team? It should be pinch runner/defensive replacement. Well he's not going to replace Braun, Hart or Cameron running. If you want to pinch run for an infielder they might as well go with Counsell. He's not going to replace Cameron or Hart on defense and he shouldn't replace Braun either since Braun's bat would be far more valuable than any defense Gwynn would supply in LF.

 

He's on the roster with no role, Branyan would actually serve a role for this team.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

He's on the roster with no role, Branyan would actually serve a role for this team.

On that note, I officially agree with calling Branyan up and sending Gwynn down, but I'm still not that excited about it.