TooLiveBrew

I would imagine your manager having almost literally zero faith in you might make you press a lot at the plate. Couple that with facing big-league pitching for the first time, with sporadic at-bats, and I can see why your K's might go up. People are waaaaay too critical of Gamel. Even without considering that he performed markedly better when starting at his normal position of 3B, his overall production is very much in line with what you might expect from a youngster adjusting to the big-leagues. After seeing Gamel play, I revised my expectations for him downward to an "Adam LaRoche" type Even if he only manages to be an 'Adam LaRoche type', he'll still be extremely valuable as a third baseman. Plus he will probably walk a lot more than LaRoche, and can handle LHP (unlike LaRoche). It's really not a good comparison imo, not that anything based off of such a small sample would be.

I would be very leery of adding Webb. He's having shoulder surgery & I would definitely want to wait to see just how bad the shoulder is, structurally, before even considering him at $8.5M

Wanted to bump this thread, since Manny just turned in his 3rd really good start out of the 5 he's made since re-joining the big club. A hat tip for you, Mr. Parra -- I admire your fortitude & ability to remain confident in yourself. Like naivin said, this revival has really been crucial for both the Brewers & Manny. He used 96 pitches to get through 8 innings at LA tonight, which imo is even more encouraging than his good results. In the 8th, he retired Ethier thanks to a couple of filthy curves & K'd Ramirez on another one. I heard Vin Scully mention Parra had induced 13 groundballs through 7 innings. All in all, just a great performance by Manny & really reassuring. I wish Macha would have capped his night after 96 pitches through 8 innings, though. There's no reason to run him back out there with a 4-run lead. Macha just seems to have no clue with young players. Parra is an arm that needs to be monitored extra closely, since he had such injury trouble in the minors. - As an aside, I really appreciated umpire Marvin Hudson's strikezone tonight. I thought he did a great job.

I don't know if it's Dusty's fault or not, but the Reds & their medical staff sure come off looking pretty clueless.

But those that point to his BABIP as unsustainable just haven't been watching the games No, I have 'been watching the games'. To say a .353 BABIP is sustainable is just false.

Yikes, thanks for that update, molly fan. Here's a link.

I agree with DHonks for the most part. I think his HR in St. Louis shows he knows what to do with fastballs in, but it's pretty hard to repeat that kind of swing when you don't get regular playing time. I am so excited about the addition of Mat Gamel to this team. He will definitely (imo) be an improvement in terms of offense, and might wind up being a defensive improvement too. I can't trust his stats since being sent down as any kind of red flag. Getting sent down after not really having the confidence of your manager in the bigs can't do much for a guy's confidence.

I would hate to see the manager diminish the value of a player like Gamel. I just can't stand the thought that the Brewers would give up on Gamel at this point, especially given his strides defensively. He has range at 3B that few big-leaguers share, and a stellar arm. I'm confident that the Brewers can help iron out his footwork issues. If Ken Macha thinks playing McGehee at 3B over Gamel is his only choice in terms of job security (he made comments this season that he has to put the best team on the field or risk being out of a job), I think the Brewers need to reinforce the message that not playing Gamel at third will be very, very bad for his job security.

Just as The DL Informer's Chris Neault predicted weeks ago, Brandon Webb will have season-ending shoulder surgery.

I also wouldn't want to pay for his bat again. In the monetary or figurative sense... I for one can't wait for the Brewers to have a catcher that isn't Jason Kendall. I'm sure he does a very diligent job working on things like scouting reports & gameplans, etc. ... I just can't stomach him as a near-automatic out in the lineup. I swear Mike Burns could hit as well as Kendall, given fulltime-ish ABs. Also, well-played, GB 12. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Katin is an interesting case. Given some comments from him this season, it seems he's aware that his discipline or lack thereof will be the make or break aspect of his game. He certainly gave the impression that he realized he needed to make a big change, & pronto. I don't remember when exactly he made these comments, but I'm certain I saw them in the minor league forum (& I think pre-All-Star game). I wonder if altering his approach (if he's been able to do so beyond that first week or so after commenting) will result in any sapping of his power, temporary or otherwise, as he tries to basically re-invent his approach. I recall the Brewers asking Richie Sexson to work at striking out less for one of the seasons he was with the org. I remember I posted about this a long time ago on this site, and looked into his numbers. While Sexson was able to cut down the K's, he also wasn't as powerful a hitter, either, and the project was scrapped. I hope that Katin is able to have more success. A quick glance at Katin's monthly splits shows a marked increase in his walk rate, albeit in of course a small sample. June saw 13 BB over 83 AB, after tallying just 11 BB in his first 272 AB. Unfortunately his June line is .191/.313/.361/.674 -- his LD% dipped, as did his BABIP, but I'm not sure if only a month's worth of data is relevant enough in those two cases. I will try to remember to keep tabs on Katin's August numbers. If Sept. 1 comes & the Brewers have slipped out of contention, I would really like to see get Katin some PAs with the big club -- if nothing else, against LHP. He could be a valuable (cheap) asset if the Brewers decide to use Hart to help acquire pitching. (I hope this isn't too off-topic of a post; I just find Katin to be a very intriguing player)

Link

Wow, that's just shocking to me. This just makes Macha's stonewalling of Gamel even more frustrating (imo). http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

This is a good topic to discuss, DJ43. I think if Melvin can find an organization high on McGehee from this season, see what he could net -- or add him on to someone like Hardy or Hart. I agree those kinds of pairings would probably be enough to return a #2 type SP. His defense has been weak at third in the majors I feel quite the opposite, but that's just from watching the games. I haven't looked into the data on him at all.

Jeez, get well soon Corey, nevermind the baseball angle. I'd ask what else could go wrong this year, but I don't want to tempt the baseball gods.

Two talented young hurlers with pretty bad-sounding situations.

If we don't retain Cameron, I sure will miss watching that smooth glide. I have never had the joy to watch a CF as skillful as Cam on 'my' team, and I'm not sure I ever will again.

Nowhere near 90% of fans know Escobar and Gamel...I'd say 20-25% is closer. I'm pretty sure that 100% who watched the team earlier this season know who Gamel is. 6. "It just didn't happen," Melvin said. "Both of them revolved around what another team was doing. Those are always tough." That must be so frustrating as a GM.

1.) How would he think that the initial rotation would eat up most of the starts/innings for the season? Bush is a solid #3 or so in the NL, and I don't think most people expected Parra to not take a step forward heading into this season. Perhaps I am wrong on that. 2.) DM has been around long enough to know that the acquisition of CC last year -- and his performace in Milwaukee -- was pretty much an aberration. The only likeness I intended in my theory was adding a pitcher before the deadline, which is what Melvin set out to do. Might he have realistically expected to pick up a decent 3-4 starter, like Bannister from KC? Sure. But that's about it. Like I said, he pretty clearly expected to pay to get Peavy, or Halladay, with Bedard as the 3d option. I agree with trwi7...beating teams to acquire top-tier SP at the deadline just doesn't seem like a healthy plan for 2009 or into the future. I am confused, and may have not worded my previous post correctly. By "beat the trade deadline frenzy" I mean target a SP well before the trade deadline nears/arrives, which is exactly what Melvin attempted. Iirc the 'frontline SP' rumors were in May.

The 2007-2010 Brewers teams really ARE like Melvin's Texas teams - heavy on offense, subpar defense, and not nearly enough arms to do any good. The Brewers' defense is among the best in the league, and iirc was last year as well. I also don't see how you can say there aren't "nearly enough arms" -- is it Melvin's fault that Bush took a rocketed liner off his tricep? Or that Manny Parra didn't take the step forward to open the season that many/most people were expecting? I just don't agree with the criticism of Melvin's plan (or lack thereof). As best I can tell, here was his plan... - Enter the season with a rotation of Gallardo/Bush/Parra/Looper/Suppan - Beat the trade deadline frenzy (just like last year with CC) & acquire a top-tier SP, under salary control through at least 2010 When the three rumored main targets all were injured on the same day, there went that plan. To me, that is impossible to blame on Melvin. And if the Brewers are able to hang around, continue to see improvement from Parra, and get Bush back, there would be nothing but Ricciardi standing in the way of acquiring Halladay after the deadline. While I see that this is playing long odds, the season is by no means dead. Perhaps Ricciardi will realize he's not going to get the kind of deal he wanted/demanded, and that the offers won't exactly get better next season for even less service time of Roy Halladay. And as far as the general criticism that Doug doesn't know how to identify pitching, I'd say Sabathia was a great target, as were Halladay & Peavy. Those were two of the rumored three targets that got hurt, Bedard being the third. I have to think that Bedard was option C.

I, for one, would love to see Cameron back at $10M. He would probably still outplay that value.

Even ignoring the well-discussed difference in Gamel's production as a starter at 3B, his MLB line is not really discouraging at all to me. It's really roughly what should be expected from a prospect making the adjustment to MLB pitching. Given (admitted hindsight) the way this season appears to be turning out, I think I would argue that Macha's refusal to give Gamel the 3B job fulltime is my least favorite development... either that or Parra's early season WOAHs. I like logan's rationale -- Counsell isn't going to net any comp. pick(s), and furthermore could conceivably really fade the rest of the way (age, injury, career norms).

Gamel is probably the most expendable top prospect we have. Too bad Melvin called him up and killed his value by exposing the giant hole in his swing... the entire inside portion of the plate. Unless you count that insanely impressive, way-way-way inside on his hands HR he hit in St. Louis, then yeah, I guess he just can't hit the inside pitch. Bat speed paired with discipline like Gamel's doesn't come along very often. He will hit, without question.