monty57

I think Betancourt will be the starting SS for a while. I'd rather that not be the case, but I think he'll be starting until at least around the trade deadline, barring injury. However, Roenicke has to be blind not to see that Morgan / Almonte should be platooning in RF over Kotsay until Hart's back, and Morgan / Gomez should platoon in CF after that. The fact that the state of our "bad" players is so pathetic that we're pleading for more of Nyjer Morgan, Craig Counsell, George Kottaras and Eric Almonte has me worried about any playoff hopes. Hart and Lucroy can't get healthy fast enough. When they're healthy, if Nieves and Reed are gone, Morgan/Gomez platoon and Kotsay only sees PH duties, then I think our offense will be vastly improved from it's current state. Of course, that's assuming we get the 2010 Hart, and not the 2009 version, and Lucroy improves over last year's offensive production.

Fish around for a no hit, slick fielding SS. We had one, and thought it was more important to keep Kotsay and Reed on the roster, so we let him go to Texas. Is there anyone right now who would rather have Kotsay and Reed than Boggs and Cruz?

Didn't Gindl miss a bunch of ST with a hamstring injury? He might not be up to task due to that. He (and Schafer) are at least close to MLB-ready, and I certainly hope we aren't dragging out some gimpy has-been in front of them at this point next season. If we brought someone else up right now to take Kotsay or Reed's roster spot, my vote would be for Boggs. Of course, if that was the plan, we would've just went with him out of ST. I doubt four games and a handful of PAs will change Melvin & Roenicke's minds.

It's been really tough having that out-machine in between Rickie & the middle of the lineup. I like that nickname but I can't figure out if it should be the nickname of Gomez, Betancourt, Nieves or Kotsay. I guess Betancourt at least has the possibility of hitting .270 or so, and Nieves and Kotsay ought to be relegated to limited duty (or off the team) soon, so there it is... Carlos "The Out Machine" Gomez, turning PAs into outs 75% of the time.

With our offense struggling out of the gate, there seem to be three obvious steps to take right now: 1) Get Gomez out of the #2 spot. It's frustrating seeing Rickie rake the ball and then watching Chuckie Carr Jr hack away. It's funny how the "new attitude" lasted until he was out of ST. 2) Play Nieves as little as possible. I'm not opposed to a defense-first catcher, but his offense is beyond terrible. 3) Let Morgan get the majority of starts in RF until Hart comes back, and put him in the 2 hole. When Hart's back, run a straight platoon between Morgan and Gomez in CF. Of course, all of these moves should have been obvious long before opening day. Hopefully the bad start will jar Roenicke/Melvin into making the right moves.

I'd say the biggest negative would be talent dilution.

Starting a large number of your games at 9:00 local time would kill the TV ratings, and that's what pays for the MLB. Without that, it would make sense to simply move the Astros to the West, so both divisions would have 5 teams, but then every Astros road game would go basically unwatched in Houston.

Now I think I'm just worried about the closer :-(

My only hope about Kotsay is that his bat will stay hot for the (hopefully only) week or so that Hart is out. I don't hold out hope that he'll hit well all season, and I'd certainly rather see Morgan in the lineup than Kotsay. As Logan said, if Morgan doesn't have the arm for right, put Gomez there... he certainly has a strong enough arm.

I know Kotsay's been set in stone in RF for quite a, but I'd certainly rather see Morgan in the lineup batting at the top of the order with Gomez batting further down the lineup. At least Morgan has shown some aprtitude for getting on base. Wil Nieves would probably be outhit by Juan Nieves, so hopefully Lucroy will be back soon, and hopefully when he's back Kottaras stays with the team and Nieves is sent packing.

As MJ & Strawboss commented, there really weren't a lot of better options available, so Melvin asked for him to be added to the trade, which I'm sure the Royals were happy about since they were getting Escobar and it saved them some money. I can understand Melvin wanting someone who's got some experience over relying on someone like Cruz. Yuni's offense is almost certainly going to be better than Escobar put up last year. Since we had a very good offense last year, we should have a very good offense this year (or at least Yuni won't be the reason it suffers). I just wish we had an internal backup plan in case Yuni's defense is as bad as reported. Our upgrades at pitching could be somewhat negated with a bad defensive SS to complement our bad defense all over the field. As far as mid-season upgrades, in addition to Furcal, both Rollins and Reyes will be free agents at the end of the season. I don't really think the Phillies will be out of the race, but there's a good chance the Mets could be shopping Reyes.

I agree that neither would be a star, the question is whether either one can at least be a passable MLB SS. Cruz's numbers at Nashville last year were .309 OBP / .414 SLG / .723 OPS with 10 HR, so I think he would at least hit better than Escobar's pathetic .288 OBP / .326 SLG / .614 OPS line from 2010, when the Brewers posted one of the best offenses in the NL. Betancourt last year was .288 OBP / .405 SLG / .693 OPS, and his career numbers are .296 OBP / .393 SLG / .689 OPS. I don't think we could've expected Melvin to find a SS who would've provided above average offense and defense this season, since he used his bullets to bring in pitching. However, he apparently brought over someone who can neither hit nor field well at the MLB level. Since Cruz's bat probably wouldn't be that much worse than Yuni's, and his defense is much better, I think he could be a useful backup and may be better than Yuni, and probably would be better than Counsell.

Good news on the Boggs front. In my mind, he immediately becomes the guy who gets called up if Almonte or Kotsay fails. I hope they succeed, but it's good to have insurance, as neither player has much of a recent track record. WTP, what I've said all along about Cruz is that he isn't a world-beater, but he does bring something to the table the team could use. We know he can play good defense, and can play everyday. He also hit pretty well last year, but that may have been a fluke. My worry is that if Yuni is either bad or gets hurt that we are pretty thin in the minor leagues. I don't want to see the train get derailed because a player like Yuni gets hurt and we don't have a Plan B.

I certainly don't think we're "Stars & Scrubs." This year we're bickering over the last guys on the bench. Last year we were discussing how Davis, Wolf, Bush and Parra would stack up after Gallardo, whether Hart would be cut, whether Escobar and Gomez could hit at the MLB level, would our offense suffer without JJ, was Zaun the answer at catcher, was McGehee a fluke with only one decent MLB season, etc. We have far less questions this season than we have in the past, and I think that shows how much more talent we have this year than we have in the past. It is also why our discussions may be perceived as a bit repetitive.

The Almonte & Reed carping on here, the assumptions they're major difference makers, using your quite-relevant '82 Brewers reference point, is the parallel to asserting that Rob Picciolo & Marshall Edwards made a huge difference by their presence on the team vs., say, a Bob Skube or someone else. Picciolo & Edwards made little difference at all. Edwards, despite his speed & defense, was a bit-part player at best. Picciolo was the only regular roster guy not to homer that year and really hardly ever played -- kinda the '82 version of Enrique Cruz from whatever year that was or of Mike Rivera this spring: not enough playing time to matter, no matter how you slice it. The '82 Brewers played in the AL with no interleague play. Bench players can sit for weeks in the AL without seeing the field. Being the only RH hitter on the bench for the 2011 Brewers, Almonte will get a PA in a majority of the games. I don't mind Almonte in this role, but I do wish we had another option in case Almonte doesn't cut it. At this point, I really don't see who that option is, and I never trust the "don't worry, we'll be able to find someone" arguement. I'm not upset with the Reed signing to a minor league deal, I just don't see why he was kept on the roster as the 3rd CF when that move meant cutting ties with Boggs. It probably won't matter, but there is a possibility Hart will be out longer than we expect (he's already missed a lot more time than anyone thought he would) or that someone else will get hurt. Why not keep Boggs around at least until Hart returns? Really, I haven't seen anyone "carping" on Almonte and Reed. Just on Kotsay and Betancourt... Kotsay because he really doesn't do anything well anymore and is a redundant LH bat, and Betancourt because he is likely to be below average offensively and defensively and his only real attribute is a little bit of power.

Of course, the year we traded Gabe Gross is the year Hart floundered in the second half and people were wishing we had a LH RF to platoon with Hart. Sometimes it's less about the overall player and more about the talents he brings to the table. Kotsay brings little to the table at this stage of his career. I'm fine with trading Dickerson for Mitre, as we have a lot of OF on the roster and I do see a spot on this team for Mitre, but I would certainly rather have Dickerson on the roster than Kotsay, who apparently is the reason Dickerson was expendable and Boggs was sent packing. I'd be much happier if we made this trade and then kept Boggs over Kotsay, as the ability to switch-hit and have some defensive acumen would be wonderful for the Brewers.

Strawboss, has there been any news on where they're going to play Gamel in AAA this year? I heard he didn't want to move off of 3B, but it would be nice if they'd play him all over the field, as I agree with you that he is their best hope for a "MLB ready" bat to replace an injured Brewer. I think they have a lot of OF at Nashville, so my guess is that Gamel will play 1B with some time at 3B & DH, with Zealous Wheeler (who had a good spring) as the primary 3B. That would allow Gamel to be the replacement plan if Fielder went down and it would be interesting to see what they'd do if McGehee went down. To me, it looks like Kotsay will be the primary backup at RF/LF this season with Morgan the obvious backup CF. Farris wouldn't be terrible at 2B, but I don't want him coming up as an everyday SS, as that's not his normal position, so unless he gets significant PT there at Nashville (unlikely with Maysonet on the team), he'd probably be pretty bad defensively there. I agree that any team that has an injury to a star is in trouble. However, since the Brewers had to trade a lot of their prospects for MLB players (moves I like), they are probably a little thinner than most teams in the depth department, as has been spotlighted by the onslaught of injuries this spring. Thankfully, none of them have been major, and I certainly hope they play relatively injury-free this season, as they should be very fun to watch.

Strawboss, I am a "glass half full" type. The post of mine you seem to have initially referenced simply said: "I'm excited and have high hopes for the team this season, but it does get a bit scary that we are relying pretty heavily on Betancourt and to a lesser degree Almonte and Mitre/Estrada." What people are negative on are the small things. This is a thread about our bench, specifically Luis Cruz and Boggs getting cut and Almonte and Reed making the team. We look to be a poor fielding team with a LH -heavy bench. Maybe they're pretty small things to complain about in the grand scheme of things, but I would like to see us keep a good defender and/or good RH bat over someone like Kotsay who is a poor defender with a below-average LH bat. If it helps us win one extra game during the season, then I'd like to see it. Again, I think we all agree that this looks to be a good year for the Brewers, but we'll talk about the news for the day. I don't think there would be much discussion in a "Who will be our first baseman" or "Will Ryan Bruan continue to hit" thread. I'll guarantee that once the season starts the threads discussing Luis Cruz will dry up pretty quickly, although we may still hear some grumbling over Kotsay and Betancourt.

Betancourt won't be off the hook for long though if he starts to play like crap when the season starts. That's alright, we can easily replace him with...??? Oh that's right, we don't have a replacement. I'm excited and have high hopes for the team this season, but it does get a bit scary that we are relying pretty heavily on Betancourt and to a lesser degree Almonte and Mitre/Estrada.

From some of the past posts/links, it kind of sounds like we've already lost Boggs. I think he, like Cruz, is going to try to find another team where he'll have a better chance of making the big league club. He has to figure that if the Brewers didn't keep him over Kotsay & Reed after Hart went down, that he's never going to play in Milwaukee. Neither Boggs nor Cruz are world-beaters, but they have some talents it would seem the Brewers need. Boggs is a switch-hitter with some power who plays decent defense at all OF positions. Cruz is a defensive specialist who also hits RH and had a decent year at the plate last seson (even though he'll never stick for his bat alone). We may not miss them, but then again we may... it all depends on how the season plays out. I certainly hope Betancourt proves all the detractors wrong, and Hart comes back healthy and hitting like he did last year instead of the previous two. I certainly don't want Farris as our everyday SS, and I don't want Nyjer Morgan or Mark Kotsay as our everyday RF.

Really though it comes down to stupidly having Kotsay on the roster. But my problem isn't Almonte, its Kotsay Kotsay at this point in his career couldn't hit a lefty if the pitcher walked up to the plate and put the ball on a tee Besides Kotsay being old and crap... I think I sense a common theme. The only person who's happy that Kotsay is on the roster is Betancourt, as he's not getting all the hate mail anymore.

scorpion > tearing phone book in half with bare hands > salad tongs There, corrected that :-) I think I saw one scorpion the 4 + years I lived in Phoenix. And it was about half an inch long. I've heard the smaller they are the stronger the venom. They do warn you to bring a club with when you go looking for a ball in the desert. This made me think of Homer Simpson on "Whacking Day."

Now the news is that Cruz used his right to refuse the assignment to AAA and is about to sign with Texas. That was my big worry all along. Now we basically have to hope that "Batter Nine You Sucky" does not suck, or get hurt for that matter. I figured that if Betancourt proves to be below average offensively and defensively, I could stomach bringing in Cruz, who should at least be good defensively. You could put Fielder at SS too but that doesn't make it a good idea. I think Briggs' response stems from the fact that Almonte was brought up as a SS. He most assuredly would be bad there now, but in a game in which Counsell had already been used and McGehee, Weeks or Betancourt was hurt, Almonte could be inserted in for the remainder of the game and would look far better than Prince. We would then figure out the roster moves (if necessary) after the game. Of course, we now just lost our best replacement SS, so maybe Almonte will get the call :-)

A platoon in CF would be ideal but apparently, that's not going to happen. Nor is Morgan starting in RF until Hart's back. McCalvy wrote a recent article stating that Reed and Morgan were the backups, which I take to mean that Kotsay is the starter. I still don't get all the Reed bashing. The guy was a very hot prospect w/ Seattle before injuries totally derailed his (potential) ascent. He was talked about as having far more promise than Dickerson or Boggs ever was. I'm not saying Reed would've been an All-Star or an offensive stud. But there's ability there that hopefully we see I get the Reed signing, as he's on a minor league deal and is a good backup/depth guy to stick in AAA in case Gomez fails (especially since he was signed prior to the Morgan deal). I don't get keeping Reed as a #3 CF instead of holding onto Boggs, even if another decision would have to be made when Hart comes back. You never know what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks that may make us wish we hadn't dumped Boggs. If Almonte fails, we don't have a lot of RH bench options, as it appears we're never going to allow Katin to step foot in a Brewers' dugout. I don't get signing Kotsay to a MLB deal and virtually guaranteeing him a spot. While it would be nice if Kotsay could find his lost youth and continue hitting like he has this spring, it doesn't seem likely. I'd much rather have another RH hitter on the bench.

I'd much rather have Branyan than Kotsay, but we still need a RH bat if Almonte isn't up to the task.