Light the Hot Stove fires

Or open up an outfield spot for him.

 

I've said it before - I think the JD Drew to Boston rumor was started by Scott Boras. Supposedly (according to the Boston Herald) a deal was supposed to be signed by today and yet there is no announcement. I don't think a deal like that would have been leaked by Theo and the boys. I think this may be similar to when Boras told the Phillies that he had a number of teams wanting to give Millwood a multi-year contract at $15 million per.

 

I don't think it's a matter of the Brewers not being able to 'afford' a big stick at the moment. There is some cash available. I think it has more to do with the lack of ability to sign a big stick free agent for various reasons.... 1. No big stick wants to play in Milwaukee when they can go 90 miles to the south or head to one of the coasts. 2. There aren't many FA big sticks available this year.

From the time Hardy was drafted, he's been touted as the second coming of Robin Yount. True, the potential is there for him to be a solid player, but injuries have basically turned this year into a very important one. If JJ doesn't produce this year, Brewer brass will definitely sour on him. Maybe then Hall could step back into the shortstop position, but not before.

For whatever reason, management has been down on Billy Hall in the past. He spent extra time at AAA to prove that he had better work ethic than what he was showing, and going into last season he was a super-sub with only a promise of 350-400 at bats. Injuries provided the opportunity for Billy to put on a show at the position he's most comfortable with. However, because JJ has been touted as Robin Yount, the position is his by default. I give Hall serious credit for handling things with class... Some players would have thrown fits after being called out the way he has been. I don't imagine him signing a long term deal with Milwaukee when the time comes. He's been taking it year by year, and will probably cash in elsewhere if his production remains high.

With Ryan Braun in the minors, Koskie is the Brewers stopgap at third until he's ready to play. Weeks is the 2nd baseman but, like Hardy, he is facing a very important year due to his goofy injury tendency. The Brewers need solid years out of both Hardy and Weeks to have any chance of being successful... This is the way the team has been built. Counsell, Graffanino (if he isn't traded) and Cirillo (if he resigns) will all be backups.

Bill Hall turned out to be a nice surprise to management. I'm sure they didn't figure him to pan out and reach his potential, but he did. Now they're scrambling to find a position for him without upsetting the infield plans. If the Brewers fail to obtain a better guy to play CF, I think Hall has the best athletic ability to roam out there (he was out there for 8 games last season and didn't mess up terribly)... So it's probable that he will take CF next year. Hart will take either LF or RF depending on who stays and goes between Jenkins and Mench. Gabe Gross may or may not platoon with the guy that sticks. Brady Clark will probably be traded for a huge bucket of seeds if anyone will take him.

And there you have a long, rambley post about the Brewers.

 

One of the things I love about the baseball threads is you get input from people who know teams other than the one you follow.

I remember all the hype about JJ Hardy but as a person who normally doesn't follow the Brewers I am completely non-plussed to how Bill Hall has been and is being treated. What really gets me is why spend the money on Craig Counsell? That move just seemed to say to Hall that the Brewers had no plans for him to play infield at all.

Correct me if I'm wrong but after 2007 - Bill Hall can be a free agent (or is it 2008)? He has 5-years service time after this season. If they plan to stash him in a corner outfield spot where his production will be Geoff Jenkins-like - why not trade him for a #2 pitcher now?

 

What #2 pitcher is available?

 

I bet the Dodgers would make Brad Penny or Derek Lowe available if they thought they could package Hall (with maybe James Loney) to Boston for Manny Ramirez.

Both those guys are ground ball type pitchers too which would work well in Milwaukee's homer palace.

 

I think Billy is actually the Brewers property for another 3 years. They've approached him about signing a multi-year deal, but he's pretty much informed them that he's going to take it year by year. I don't really blame him... The better he performs, the more money he can make via arbitration, should it go that far. The Brewers will ride him as long as they can, because it's good production at a cheaper price than other options. He'll probably be another midseason trade a couple of years from now.

Chris L's questions are basically the same questions all Brewer fans are asking at the moment. Counsell made sense for about 10 minutes... They view him as someone who can play both 2nd and SS as a backup, and Graffinino (who the Brewers don't view as a SS) was supposedly in the running to sign with the Padres (after Counsell started taking to the Brewers), which would give Milwaukee 2 sandwich picks in the upcoming draft. That could still happen somehow, and then everything would work according to Doug Melvin's plan. If not, Graffy accepted arbitration, and the Brewers will have him for another year, or until someone else comes knocking on the door needing a replacement part for their infield.

It makes sense to a lot of people to have Hall play third, but Koskie is more than solid when healthy, so they've pretty much committed the third base job to him this year. If Braun is ready at midseason, Corey could also be shipped to someone else. Heck, Hardy (who has options available) could even go to AAA again and play while Hall plays SS at the pro level, but management doesn't want to entertain that thought.

The main reason for putting Hall in the outfield is to give him a regular position to play every day. Given the exit of Carlos Lee and the prolonged slump of Jenkins last year to go with the lack of production provided by Mench with his short stint as a Brewer, its an area where they could use Bill's production. Of course, the 400 pound gorilla in the room is that a 30 HR SS is more valueable to a team than a 30 HR outfielder due to rarity. The problem with the Brewers is that there isn't another 30 HR guy laying around to plug into the outfield other than Hall, and he's completely willing to do it. So to the outfield he goes.

 

i sure hope terry ryan has big plans for this week to get some starting pitching.

 

I get confused about service time. I know it is six years for a player before he can become a free agent but what constitutes a year of service time? How long must a player be on the 25-man roster per season for it to count as a year of service time?

Bill Hall was called up in 2002 and he played 19 games. He played 52 in 2003 and 126 in 2004 plus 146 in 2005 and 148 in 2006. It would seem to me that he would have at least 4 years of service time. Can someone answer this for me?

 

I would love it if Boston gave up Manny for a package built around Bill Hall.

 

I want to say that 182 days on a major league roster (during the actual season, of course) constitutes one year of service.

EDIT - it's actually 172 days on the Active Roster, which I assume is the 25-man. Check out page 77 of http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/cba_english.pdf

 

I'm with you, leo.

No more Silva.