Kotsay to Critics: "You Done Hatin'?"
posted by bubsbrother @ 5:02 PM
4 comments
Monday, July 11, 2011
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4 Comments:
You beat me to this post. There's a few points I'd like to make.
1) Kotsay had a really nice series against the Reds, and he has raised his OPS considerably in the last two weeks.
2) Kotsay's OPS is still staggeringly low, when coupled with his horrible defense (he has made extremely costly errors in every game he has a home run this season), he remains a far below replacement level player.
3) Kotsay's hot hitting has been attributed to everyday at bats. Sorry Mark, you aren't going to get those. So if Kotsay can only contribute when he starts every game, he contributes nothing. He's an immeasurable liability trying to play CF, so don't get that idea.
4) It's clear to me that the Brewers cannot carry Mat Gamel on the roster. Gamel has not hit at any point during his stints in the majors. He looks overly aggressive at the plate and someone who will be slow to transition to MLB success. Some hitters (like Ryan Braun) step into the Majors and bash right away. Others have adjustments to make. Gamel has adjustments. I don't think Gamel is a magical hitting solution for this team. But why I say he cannot be carried on the roster is that Ron Roenicke insists on trying Gamel at third base. That's simply ridiculous. Gamel was horrific at 3B in the minors every year. He never developed at all. In his brief stint in the majors, his third base play was appalling. So the Brewers stopped playing him at third in the minors. Yet, he now is good enough to start there on occasion? The time off . . . helped?! He's a butcher, an absolute butcher, at third base. I'd be shocked if he could field 90% of balls there. He'd have to OPS at least 1.000 to make up for the defensive struggles. He won't do that. He's a liability at third. The Brewers manager is too dense to realize that, so the only solution is don't give him the opportunity to make mistakes with Gamel. Given this, Kotsay is a better roster alternative to Gamel at this point.
5) Kotsay really has done a nice job the past week or so. Meanwhile, Yuni Betancourt has not. My rage will now be directed at Betancourt and, of course, Ron Roenicke. Roenicke has been making some absolute head-scratching decisions, and it is really wearing me down. Betancourt is making the Brewers a laughing stock across the internet.
6) Brandon Boggs should be called up to get a somewhat legitimate bat off the bench, and God help us all if Josh fucking Wilson starts one more game in the outfield for this team. Boggs solves a lot of platoon and pinch hitting problems.
Side issues:
Can we please stop having Kottaras be the personal catcher for Randy Wolf? Wolf hasn't pitched well lately, and it's hard to imagine him being worse with Lucroy. Meanwhile, Kottaras has started three straight times against lefties. He's not a huge platoon liability, but it'd be nice to get some AB's against lefties for Lucroy. Plus, Kottaras should be playing more than once every five games. This situation is not being managed well.
Roenicke managed the Cinci series pretty well, save a few headscratching decisions.
The first noticeable one was pitching Hawkins to start an inning against Votto with a lefty (Braddock) warming. Clearly the set-up arms have been an issue all year, why not play it safe and blame good hitting WHEN these guys blow games (he lucked out here).
Also, he pinch hit Counsell TWICE in key situations over the series. The first time was like a seventh inning appearance on Friday replacing a pitcher. No double switch, no badly needed defensive replacement at 3rd, just a pinch hit attempt for slap hitter who's in an 0-28 slump.
Then, obviously in Sunday's game, Counsell got the call to pinch hit for Gomez with two outs and the bases loaded. Yes, he has great career numbers with three runners on base, but Braun was relatively healthy in the dugout. The game is tied, there are two outs. Braun walks, puts one in the outfield, off or over the wall, and he wheelchair his way to first. I'm still stunned he wasn't used in a situation where he wouldn't need to do much beyond swing a bat.
But, Roenicke's pinch-running of Gomez for Fielder on Friday, the called pick-off of Stubbs in the bottom of the ninth and a few strange defensive shifts that resulted in hard line drives being hit right at infielders made him look very smart at times, too.
Basically what I'm trying to say is I don't what to think about this fucking guy.
Craig Counsell is Jesus with the bases loaded.
I'll give Roenicke credit for his handling of Hawkins, too.
$lash was on the bandwagon early, noting both his improved velocity and control, saying that Hawkins was rightfully deserving of 7th or 8th inning work as he's clearly recovered well from his injuries.
Hawkins was, and still is for the most part, a laughing stock around baseball, this was clearly a tough call for Roenicke. If Hawkins had performed like Loe in Loe's spots thus far, Roenicke would have been absolutely crucified for putting him in those situations as a first year manager.
Instead, he's slowly weaned Hawkins into higher pressure situations and the results have been decent. I don't blame him for being timid and a bit slow in doing so.
He is, however, going to need to start playing Saito in a hot hurry. He's had plenty of time to rest and they need evaluate whether or not to trade/buy relievers before the trade deadline at the end of the month. If he's going to break down again, they might as well have it happen while they can still actively replace him.
And seriously, can they just buy the remainder of Furcal's contract already?
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