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He's not a great fielder at 3B, but that people keep pushing that he's bad is just literally indefensible. Exactly, and I would love to go on and on about how bad I think Hall is, but it just isn't true. Heck, last offseason I thought that we were gong from historically bad defense in Braun to bad defense in Hall. I was wrong. I don't like Hall is a little to strong of a statement really. He isn't on the level of Wes Helms pre game winning HR. He is more like Capitol Brewery Island Wheat. I don't dislike it, but there are many wheats I like better.

The same season that Hart put up a .353 OBP, Weeks put up a .374 OBP. Hart's best OBP is almost the same as Weeks career OBP(.352). I think that Weeks ends up wit a higher OBP than Hart.

I don't like Hall. I think of a matador whenever I see him field. Always off to the side. Annoys me to no end. Stats seem to back up that he is a good 3B though. I think he got better towards the end of the year. He was a butcher in the first couple months though. His range lets JJ play a little more up the middle.

Didn't buy it for a second. There is no way we would trade Parra.

Cameron, Hardy, Kendall and maybe Braun are about the only regular players I'd consider above average defensively. All of our regulars should be expected to be at least average defensively except Weeks and Fielder. Even Weeks has a chance to improve to average. Hart is as good in right as Braun in left. He was a little worse last year, but over his career Hart has been average in right.

SS and 2B are pretty comparable for offensive production. I think .718 vs .747 off the top of my head and the SS position is really dragged down by the AL. If you look only at NL they are much closer. Considering that SS and 2B are also pretty close in the defensive spectrum, he wouldn't hurt his value much playing 2B and could easily slide back over when JJ leaves. Nothing really has to be decided for 2 years. Edit: NL is .746 vs .738.

In other words, with Gwynn out of options, the Brewers are deciding if the want to put him on waivers and risk losing him. Risk it, please. I think the best thing may for the Brewers and TGJ to part ways. It is obvious that he isn't going to get much of a chance to be more than a 4th/5th outfielder for us. He would get a better chance with a different team. Then we can move on and have veterans as bench players. I would agree with Lamb if he had hit well sometime in the last year or he played good defense. His defense has been really bad for quite a while.

Take BABIP for example... because of how BABIP is used it's biased towards power hitters, because if 2 players hit for exactly the same average but one hits 30 HRs and one hits 2, the guy with 30 will have a more sustainable BABIP because he had 28 more hits removed from the equation so his average is lower. Not sure I would necessarily say bias. The more true outcomes(K/BB/HR) a player has the less his stats are going to be impacted by a change in BABIP. Most players should fall within a certain range of BABIP. I would guess in the .280-.350 range. Gamel, Salome, and Escobr all had really high BABIP's last year. Probably not sustainable for any of them. Salome and Gamel put up around .800 OPS with a normalish BABIP(because there really isn't a "normal" BABIP) in previous years where Escobar was only around .700 OPS with a normalish BABIP. I think that Escobar will carry a higher BABIP through his career than either Salome or Gmel because he has speed so his BABIP won't drop as far. Edit: Forgot to add that players will usually stay within a certain range of BABIP. If Fielder for instance would have a BABIP in the .330 rang one year, we would expect him to have a drop off the next year since he is usually in the .290-.300 range. Gamel and Salome haven't been really picked apart as much because they really didn't have as much of a chance to make the MLB club this year. Not that Escobar does, but trading Hardy to get a pitcher seemed somewhat plausible where trading the players in from of Gamel or Salome didn't. I am sure you would have seen the same things about Gamel or Salome's seasons in 2008. Of course they had around .800 OPS in previous seasons so they both had decent season's before. Of course they would have had their defense picked apart. Then add to that, both are playing behind somewhat average or below average players in some aspect of the game where Escobar is playing behind our best al around player. Next year when the talk switches to Weeks vs. Escobar will be even more interesting. If Weeks plays around average defense while putting up a .370+ OBP and Escobar repeats his 2008 season in AAA, then I think the organization has a really tough choice. If Weeks has bad defense or another OBP in the .340 range, I think Escobar is the starting 2B for a season until Green or Lawrie get the call up.

C-SS-2B-CF-3B-RF-LF-1B Hardest position for defense on the left, easiest on the right. Usually players will move left to right. Rarely does a player move right to left. Many times the catching position is left out because it requires such a specialized set of skills. Also I don't think many catchers can easily move to and play 2B, SS, or CF. I know it happens, but not very often. Fielder is already moved to the least valuable defensive position. I know there are adjustments used to value players depending on what position they play. I am just throwing numbers out, but I think around -10 of defensive value for playing 1B and +10 for playing catcher are figured in before even evaluating the quality of defense. A bad defensive catcher is still more valuable defensively than a bad defensive 1B. I think you are right that we could make Weeks more valuable defensively if we moved him to another position. The problem is that there really isn't any place to move him to.

I do think its rude, but if people don't take the initiative I will mosey on over. I always look at the people in front of me and if they look at me I gesture them to move ahead or at least wait a few seconds for them to move That's what I do as well. I am also generally the type to get in and out of a store because I know what I want. Can't really get to upset with the checkout lines though. Don't have much control over them. I just bought a new printer a few weeks back at Staples and went through the whole "do you need a cable/warranty/ink" stuff with the cashier. I wish I had just told the guy "I know which cable I need and no I do not have one, but you are insane if you think I am going to buy the $20 one here when I can easily go somewhere else and get it for under $10." Instead I just did the yup I already have one thing. Almost have to walk up and tell the cashier to just ring up the total and let me pay before they go into their whole spiel. I know they are probably trained to do that, but it is very annoying.

I can't remember the last time the Brewers were considered a strong or above average defensive team and everything on defense starts up the middle so I am just intrigued with a player at the SS position that is considered a top notch defensive player. I think that many fans are stuck in the mindset that we are a bad defensive team because we were for so long. It just isn't true anymore. We were considered an above average defensive team in 2008. Dewan's system had us as the 5th best defensive team in MLB last year. UZR/150 on Fangraphs has us at 1.6 or approximately average in 2008. Hardy is considered a top notch defensive player. Of all our starters, only one(Fielder) doesn't have a chance to be average. Two are not expected to be at least average(Weeks, Fielder). Everybody else can be expected to be average at worst. I know there is some discussion on Hart and Braun as well, but Hart was average before 2008 and has the tools to be much better. I think we can expect average from him. Braun also has the tools and should improve in his 2nd year in the outfield. I know it is exciting to have a guy who will make highlight reel plays on a regular basis. I would just rather have the total package offensively and defensively like we have in Hardy. I think it helps us win more games than a great defender. My hope is that Escobar has a good season in Nashville and makes our offseason decisions in regards to Weeks and Hardy really difficult. I agree that Weeks to CF is not a good idea at this point. There isn't room in the outfield and we have decent 2B coming up through the system in 2 years max with Green(2 years) and Lawrie(2 1/2-3 years). I would just ride him out and let him go. Weeks is one of my favorite players, but I am a Brewers fan first and foremost. Edit: Also keep in mind that there was talk about Escobar playing some 2B in AAA this year. You hear prospects and players without regular MLB jobs talk about doing whatever is necessary to play all the time. Think back to when Hall was a super-sub. His favorite position was "starter."

Has anybody read the comments on Lawrie's blog? This one caught my eye. I am a huge Brewer fan and a brewer exprt, especially the off-season stuff. Are you in AA, or AAA?

Since fruity beers were brought up, has anyone tried Dark Horse's Blueberry Stout? My wife had that at Hops N Props and she loved it. You can taste the blueberry, but it isn't very strong. If I liked stouts I would buy it. I haven't come across it in a store in Wisconsin yet. Love almost all of the New Glarus beers - can't stand dancing man wheat though Not aimed at you in particular just in general I would think that people who like wheat beer would like D-Man. Now the Crack'd I can understand wheat beer drinkers not liking. It is much hoppier than a normal wheat. Probably the APA/american wheat mixture. Of course everybody's preferences are different and beer is very diverse.

I am honestly more concerned with actually winning games over people getting individual awards.

Yount I believe was our last Gold Glover. 1982 I think.

I hate the term Gold Glover because many players who win the award are not the best or in some cases even good defenders. I have no doubt that Escobar has the tools to be an elite SS, but would he be an elite SS if he played in the majors this year or next? There is evidence that he might be less than elite right now. Link Besides that there is the error total in spring training this year. I know, I ignored that as well because "spring training" and "errors" are things I generally ignore when looking at stats. Then there is the quote by Macha. I think all signs point to Escobar having the tools to be elite, but I have questions as to whether he would be elite right now. I agree that our money needs to go to the pitching side of things. I think we have reasonable replacements for every position player leaving in the next 3 years. I think we end up trading Fielder for pitching because we don't have enough ready anytime soon. Of course we can keep spending money on 1-2 years contracts for Looper type deals, but it would be nice to get a couple young guys.

Leave him a SS. JJ isn't going to be around much longer and Escobar will get his chance. If Escobar does well in AAA this year I think that we can start talking about bringing him up to play 2B next year. We have guys ready to play 2B by 2011 and we could slide him back over to SS after JJ leaves. Of course if Weeks plays well this year then either we trade Hardy or Escobar repeats AAA. It doesn't hurt us to have a guy in AAA that can replace JJ or Weeks if they get injured.

New Glarus is one of those breweries that doesn't put out a poor quality beer. If you have a favorite style of beer and they make it, you should try it. Luckily the Black Wheat is out till the end of May. Just over a month till D-Man. Stone Soup should hold me over until then.

I was going to post It doesn't happen so much on this forum, but why do people say "thats my 2 cents" or some variation? It's just stupid and annoying to me. I agree, but that's just my 2 cents. However I had been drinking and didn't trust my own judgment at that point.

This I do know, this oughta be the last go-round with him having his job guaranteed at 2nd base. Not until we have a guy in the minors ready to start it isn't. I think we have Weeks through the end of the 2010 season. I think Taylor Green might be ready to go by then and Lawrie shortly after. Weeks if far form our biggest problem on offense.

which i think will work wonders for certain guys (Weeks) Why , because Weeks didn't try as hard with Yost? I really doubt a manager change is going to make any difference with Weeks. The changes in his batting stance that Svuem made may make a difference, or Weeks may have just finally put it all together. It isn't like Weeks has never had any success in the majors.

Looks like Villanueva is now the closer until Hoffman returns. That's a pretty move from the quick doghouse to the penthouse. JSOnline link Milwaukee Brewers.com link I personally would prefer McClung since I think Villanueva is better. Both can go multiple innings in a relief roll so either is somewhat of a waste as a closer to me. Hopefully Macha will use Villanueva for the last 2 innings closing out games.

What about comments from the peanut gallery?

I also think that they will still need to watch Gallardo's and Parra's IP this year, so moving them down a little may give them a chance to pace them a little more if needed. I agree there may be some good to skipping Gallardo and Parra 2-3 times this year to keep their innings down. You don't need to move them down in the order to skip a start now and then.

Looks like TGJ, Nelson and Lamb will make the club over Duffy and McGehee. Link Looks like 6 more years of TGJ hanging around as a backup outfielder. Comments like the bolded part bug the crap out of me. I don't like a manager making decisions on what a player was 4+ years ago. Much like the Kendall batting leadoff stuff.