The Brewers’ season is over and while GM Doug Melvin wishes his club were in the World Series, he’s proud of its accomplishments. "There's just too many good things that happened this year for me to be hanging my head,” he said, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Here are more details from today’s press conference via Haudricourt:
- Melvin and Brewers owner Mark Attanasio will meet in early November to discuss what kind of offer they can make free agent first baseman Prince Fielder.
- The Brewers aren’t concerned about Shaun Marcum’s health, though the right-hander struggled in the postseason.
- Melvin said Yuniesky Betancourt was “a better player than what his critics said.” The Brewers have a $6MM option ($2MM buyout) for the shortstop in 2012 and Melvin declined to say whether they'll pick it up.
- Melvin explained that he would like to improve defensively without sacrificing on offense.
- He said the Brewers will seriously consider giving Mat Gamel a chance to make an impact in the Major Leagues if an opportunity emerges (i.e. Fielder signs elsewhere).
- The Brewers haven’t talked about moving Corey Hart to first base.
- Melvin said he’ll check in with free agents LaTroy Hawkins and Takashi Saito. Francisco Rodriguez is likely to sign elsewhere, probably as a closer.
- Melvin said Casey McGehee can still be a good player, despite his disappointing 2011 campaign.
- Craig Counsell hasn’t told the Brewers whether he intends to play again next year, but it sounds as though Melvin would have some interest in re-signing him. Melvin also expects to speak to Jerry Hairston Jr. and his representative.
- Mitch Stetter, Manny Parra and Josh Wilson are non-tender candidates, as MLBTR's Tim Dierkes explained this week.
Betancourt had a .271 OBP. Believe me, he was probably worse than his critics said he was, and Melvin knows that too. Empty rhetoric by a guy who is paid to back the team he built. Watch him decline that option.
If all you expect at shortstop defensively is someone with the mobility of an entertainment center then yeah….he was marginally better than that. Pretty happy Escobar is a Royal right now!
I can’t tell if this is written from the perspective of a Royals fan, jubilant that Escobar is yours, or a Brewers fan, thinking that Betancourt is better than Escobar. If it’s the former, cool, you have Escobar. If it’s the latter, I’m going to laugh. Betancourt is hands down one of the worst, if not the worst, defensive shortstop in baseball, with the range and mobility of a tree trump. And his positioning is god-awful.
Do trees have trumps?
The perspective of a Royals fan happy we have Escobar…sorry for the confusion.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to move Braun to 1b, since he plays worse defense at an easier position? His bat would play well at 1b to where Harts value really takes a hit if he gets moved out of the outfield
He’s had 6 errors since he moved to the OF in ’08 and guns down guys at home (and other bases) like it’s going out of style. How is that bad defense?
It’s funny that people still use errors to judge defense. You can’t make an error on a ball you can’t get too because you’re a bad fielder.
-4.7 UZR/150 and -3.8 UZR say he’s pretty bad, and those numbers are above his career averages. He’s pretty terrible in LF, despite his good arm.
I watch a lot of Brewers games, and I can say with confidence that Braun’s defense isn’t the problem with the team. On any given night, there are at least 3 cases of outright butchery and it’s not happening in leftfield.
Braun’s defense is average at best. Braun has a cannon for an arm, moving him to first base would truly ruin his value.
Hart is a prototypical first baseman.
Hart was god awful at 3B years back. I’m not convince that a 1B transition would be as smooth as you hope.
“Melvin said Yuniesky Betancourt was “a better player than what his critics said.” The Brewers have a $6MM option ($2MM buyout) for the shortstop in 2012 and Melvin declined to say whether they’ll pick it up.”
That sound you just heard was the sound of every Brewers’ fans sphincters clenching tight.
In Yuni’s defense, he hits a lot better than Counsell.
If they lose Fielder which is highly probable, the Brewers will still contend. However, they will not be the offensive powerhouse they are today and they will be set up for an average season next year.
.500 next year, tops. Inconsistent, no defense, dodgy offense.
I think it’s possible changes may be made to improve the defense and offense. Nice crystal ball though.
Where do you think fielder goes I say the Nationals are best fit mike morse traded to Tampa bay for Bj Upton
Yuniesky Betancourt… lol
McGehee to the Phils. Please?
saying you watch brewers games often and that ryan braun’s defense is not hurting the brewers is idiotic. the statistics say that he is rather bad in left field, regardless of what it looks like. he can makes plays that he can get to, but his reads and jumps are poor and his range is limited.
His defense isn’t *that* bad. It’s below average but he isn’t a huge liability. Defensively, the Brewers’ outfield is probably a bit above average because they have amazing CFers. Corey Hart has hovered around 0 UZR his entire career – he would lose even more value moving to 1B than Braun would. It was their infield defense, not outfield defense, that killed the Brewers.
It’s very simple why the Brewers won’t move Ryan Braun to 1B:
1)It’s easier to replace production relatively cheaply at 1B than in the outfield.
2) It doesn’t make sense with the Brewers’ current personnel. If Braun moves to 1B, who is going to play LF? Gamel would be worse than Braun in LF. It makes sense to keep Braun in LF and let the defensively challenged Gamel play 1B – why spend the money on a free agent?
Besides, will there be any decent and affordable corner OF free agents? Josh Willingham? Ryan Ludwick? I’d rather spend the money on a decent SS and pay Matt Gamel the MLB minimum to play 1B.
I think the Crew’s 2012 can be a bright one if Melvin makes the right moves. Replacing Yuni with a league average SS and getting Casey McGhee to climb out of his .249 BABIP crater would at least offset replacing Fielder with a 1B worth a few WAR less.
1 Braun is a top 10 LF hands down…name 10 better….I hope Doug has a Pitching pitching pitching mentality….