nate82

Cano, Weeks, Ellis, and Polanco NAME E DP RF ZR Mark Ellis, Oak 4 88 5.02 .868 Placido Polanco, Det 8 100 5.22 .833 Brian Roberts, Bal 8 110 4.98 .829 Rickie Weeks, Mil 15 84 5.02 .815 Robinson Cano, NYY 13 103 5.15 .810 This is ranked by zone rating. Weeks is 9th, Ellis 1st, Polanco 5th, Roberts 6th, and Cano is 10th. Ranked by range factor Polanco 3rd, Cano 6th, Weeks 9th, Ellis 10th, and Roberts 12th. So you do lose some defense with Roberts and you gain defensively with Polanco and Ellis and it is a wash with Cano. This is based on trading Weeks for any one of these players either through trade or free agency. This year Orlando Hudson had a RF of 4.82 and a ZR of .790. That is well below the numbers that Weeks put up this year.

The GM I believe it is used to be with the Braves organization and is absolutely in love with Francouer I don't see how the Brewers couldn't package Hart in a 3 team swap with the Braves Royals and Brewers. The Braves don't need a CF so getting DeJesus back to them would be useless while getting Hart a corner OF would be a better option. Now the Royals get their guy they want in Francouer and the Brewers get a guy they want in DeJesus. The Braves also get a player who is just like Francouer in Hart.

Instead of trading him. This is the same year that the Marlins traded Beckett away for Hanley Ramirez and another prospect. The Marlins also traded away Lowell in that deal. This was the following year where Sheets k'd 264 in a year and had an ERA of 2.70. That year Sheets was a better pitcher than Beckett was. Now if I remember correctly wasn't Sheets the player the Red Sox were really targeting and not Beckett? I know looking at this now it is rather unfair and is in hindsight. If the Brewers would have traded away Sheets for Hanley Ramirez and another prospect would that have been such a bad thing? When you look at the 2005 team the Brewers had there was no way the team would have been able to compete. Now what would this team do offensively with Hardy at 3B and Ramirez at SS? A lineup of: 1. Weeks 2B 2. Ramirez SS 3. Braun LF 4. Fielder 1B 5. Hardy 3B 6. Hart RF 7. Cameron CF 8. Kendall 9. Pitcher What kind of offense would that lineup put up? Pitching wise the Brewers would be in trouble though especially with no Sheets but looking at Sheets injury troubles would it really have mattered?

I believe DeJesus will be available this off season. He is a good OBP LH CF that could become available. Crawford could be had this off season also and you could move Weeks to CF. But trading Hart for Crawford is basically a wash except that Crawford is older and would cost the Brewers more than what Hart would cost. I could see the Royals trading away DeJesus they are in love with Francouer maybe we could a three team deal going on with sending Hart to Atlanta, Atlanta sending Francouer to Kansas City and Kansas City sending DeJesus to Milwaukee. To me that would improve the offense a lot. The only problem with this is we need a corner outfielder. There are two problems with this one do you bring up Gamel and have him play RF with no experience playing the OF or do you sign someone like Abreu, Dunn, or Burrell. The Brewers need another LH bat in the lineup. I still believe moving Hardy to 3B is the best option for the Brewers even if that means Escobar isn't ready hitting wise for MLB. Putting Escobar in the 7th spot in the lineup would be at worst as like having Counsell there. Who knows maybe Escobar is ready next year and suprises everyone. The second problem with this is that you are not getting any help pitching wise. Assuming Sabathia is not resigned the starting lineup without trading away the biggest chip the Brewers have (Hardy) the starting rotation is not very solid. You would have Yo, Parra, Bush, Suppan, McClung/Villanueva/???. I just don't see how the Brewers can solve the problems next year without shaking up the team. If the team doesn't get shaken up a little bit we are going to look like the 2008 Cleveland Indians. The team needs another LH bat in the lineup that can drive in runs. The Brewers have 2 options this coming up off season. Sign Sabathia or rebuild for 2010. Even with resigning Sabathia I don't see the Brewers being a contender if the same batters return next year. A starting lineup of 1. DeJesus CF 2. Abreu RF 3. Braun LF 4. Fielder 1B 5. Hardy 3B 6. Weeks 2B or Rivera C 7. Escobar SS 8. Kendall C or Weeks 2B 9. Pitcher This lineup would be an improvement over what we have this year. If Hardy refuses to move to 3B then you have to trade him either in the off season or at the trading deadline. To me the best value Hardy gives to the Brewers while playing for us is at 3B.

CF is the only place he could play in the OF. Weeks arm is comparable to Pierre's arm. Which if you have ever seen Pierre throwing a ball you know that it is like a high school girl softball player. Teams know they can run on Pierre when he is in the OF because he doesn't have an arm worthy of playing the OF. Weeks will be the same and the growing pains that we will have to go throw with Weeks in CF. If you thought Hall was bad last year in CF and cost the Brewers some games with his defense there. You are not going to like what Weeks will do in CF.

If you want to fix the problems there are a couple of easy fixes to do. Trading Hart for DeJesus would be a move in the right direction then moving Hardy to 3B and putting Escobar at SS. Sign a free agent like a Bobby Abreu or even a Adam Dunn depends how much these acquisitions would cost to fill out the OF. Two acquisitions and you fill all the areas of need for the offense. Abreu and DeJesus give you the OBP that the Brewers need. Or you put Gamel in RF and just have DeJesus adding more OBP. Either way there is going to be change this offseason. I wouldn't be suprised if Hart, Weeks, Hardy, or Fielder are traded this offseason for pitching or other needs for the team. I only see Braun, Gallardo, Parra, and Kendall as players being back next year with the Brewers. Those players are a guarantee to be back next year the others it is up in the air.

The Cubs fans sure have turned on Fukudome rather fast.

Silver Lining in the playoffs at least the Cubs are playing worse than we are.

Wasn't complaining about the Counsell not being pinch hit for. I'm complaining about Hart not being pinch hit for and Dale wasting Gwynn early in the game again. Right now I have more confidence in Hall, Gwynn, Nelson, and Rivera doing something positive than I do with Hart.

For change. I don't want to trade Weeks but if they do trade him Polanco fits the bill as a stop gap guy. I just don't see two of either Weeks, Hardy, or Hart returning to the team next year. Two of the three are going to get traded. If it is Weeks I would rather see a stop gap at 2B than trading for someone else.

Ugggg same ole same ole. Did we even fire Ned Yost? I bet if Counsell would have gotten on Kendall would have batted there.

Please Dale pinch hit for Hart. It is the ninth inning who cares if Hart isn't out there if the game is tied. We need someone who isn't just up there hacking away.

Stop swinging at the first pitch!

Remove Hart from the lineup and we might score more than ONE run in the first inning.

That is what Polanco would be just a stop gap until the Brewers get someone better at 2B.

If Hart is in the lineup on Saturday I'm going to lose my mind here. If this was Hall or Weeks there would be a 20 page thread in the Major Leagues section complaining how they should be benched and traded. I would rather have Nelson in RF and him being a liability in RF than have Hart come up to bat. Can anyone be anymore horrible than Hart on this team right now?

I'll pass on Huston Street. If we trade Hardy I would rather get a young starting pitcher in the deal. Lowe is 35 years old not someone who the Brewers should be investing there money into for a contract that would be for at least 4 years long. That means Lowe would be 39 at the end of his contract with the Brewers. I don't see that as an option. Penny could be signed for a deal similar to what Cameron got a one year deal with a team option for the second.

I believe the three team deal would be this: Jeff Francouer to the Royals, Corey Hart to the Braves, and David DeJesus plus a low prospect to the Brewers from the Braves. Which wouldn't be a bad trade for either team involved. If you add Hardy into the mix you could get Greinke and another prospect from the Royals.

Nay. I would rather take a gamble on Brad Penny than sign Lowe.

As long as Corey Patterson stays away from Dusty Baker he plays decent. Maybe Baker lets Patterson get away with some things that his other managers haven't allowed him to get away with and that is why he plays better than when he is with Baker. His 2006 and 2007 seasons were alright for a #7 or a #8 hitter. I still wouldn't sign him but I would rather have Patterson than Pierre.

Polanco's stats this year and career. SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2008 Det 141 580 90 178 34 3 8 58 35 43 7 1 .307 .350 .417 .767 Total -- 1312 4893 744 1495 248 26 80 507 278 345 64 28 .306 .350 .416 .766 He is 32 years old but he would only be with the Brewers for 1 year. The Tigers are looking to dump salary. The Brewers maybe looking to go another direction with Weeks. Weeks salary will be lower than that of Polanco's. Even with Weeks getting arbitration he won't get as much as Polanco would be making a year. The Tigers looking to cut payroll would swap Polanco for Weeks. They get a younger cheaper player while the Brewers get a stand in until Green or Escobar are ready to play 2B for the Brewers. I believe it will be Green more so than Escobar. Dan Uggla's Stats SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2008 Fla 146 531 97 138 37 1 32 92 77 171 5 5 .260 .360 .514 .874 Total -- 459 1774 315 465 112 11 90 270 193 461 13 12 .262 .341 .490 .831 You want to see something scarier about Dan Uggla's fielding stats? Uggla has a Range Factor of 4.86 while Weeks has a Range Factor of 5.02 and Polanco has a Range Factor of 5.22 this year. Polanco is older than both Uggla and Weeks. Weeks is closer to Polanco than Uggla is. So yeah Uggla's defense is ugly. Weeks ZR for this year is .815 Uggla's is .803 and Polanco's is .833. If you look at Weeks defensive stats you will see that he has been improving each year a significant increase each year actually.

I wouldn't say a major upgrade over Weeks. It is a very slight increase compared to other players you could for a lot less talent wise in a trade. Polanco being one of those type of players. I would rather have Durham, Polanco, or Weeks over Uggla any day of the week.

Because I don't want to risk an injury to Gallardo either to his arm or to his leg. I would rather have Suppan go at home where he pitches rather well than have Gallardo go. It is not overblown when you have someone who hasn't pitched since the early part of the year. Gallardo is on a pitch count and I would rather have him fully available for game 1 of the NLCS than for a game 4 in the NLDS. If anything we will still have Sabathia for game 5 if necessary.

I would pitch Suppan in game 4 and then have Sabathia go on game 5 if we can make it that far. I don't want Gallardo to pitch on Sunday no matter what happens today or on Saturday.

Career wise this was Dan Ugglas best year OBP wise. I don't see how trading away Weeks and replacing him with another player who strikes out 150+ times a year is going to help anything. I would rather keep Weeks than trade for Uggla who is a batter that we already have enough of in our lineup.