Ryan Braun with 3 homeruns in 4 innings so far

[livestrong4ever]

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Why does that make any sense? Yeah lets keep him on the bench most of time. Way to help the future there.

And with the way Graffy is playing defense we might as well call him up now and at least get a good hitter at 3rd base.

Isn't that what they did with Fielder and Weeks though? Call them up in September and use them as a pinch hitter?

[trwi7]

Isn't that what they did with Fielder and Weeks though? Call them up in September and use them as a pinch hitter?

That was when Weeks wasn't ready to be a full time major leaguer (2004) and when we still had Overbay in Fielder's case.

We traded Spivey for Ohka in June of 2005 so Rickie could be the full time second baseman.

[trwi7]

It should be noted that Braun just hit another homerun. Yeah I'm pretty sure his bat is ready for major league pitching.

[Ruben Douglas]

I think it was already a solid conclusion at the end of spring training that he had an MLB ready bat. That isn't the concern...it was and still is his defense. It's obvious to me that the Brewers aren't too concerned with their defense considering that they still have Hall playing in CF. I say give him a few more months and if his D improves bring him up. I really think it comes down to whether or not the Brewers are in contension for the playoffs.
If they are, I think they will bring him up to be a pinch hitter. If not, you'll see him play every day at 3rd.

[trwi7]

I think it was already a solid conclusion at the end of spring training that he had an MLB ready bat. That isn't the concern...it was and still is his defense. It's obvious to me that the Brewers aren't too concerned with their defense considering that they still have Hall playing in CF. I say give him a few more months and if his D improves bring him up. I really think it comes down to whether or not the Brewers are in contension for the playoffs.
If they are, I think they will bring him up to be a pinch hitter. If not, you'll see him play every day at 3rd.

Dude our 3rd baseman now are Tony Graffanino and Craig friggin' Counsell. When Braun comes up he's up to stay and he'll be starting nearly everyday.

[goirish2107]

ill say it again...yost said that braun would be coming up within a few weeks..i don't know how long he'll be up, or what he'll be doing, but i would think that with the offense sputtering as it is we'll see him up sooner than later. gwynn gave us our first pinch hit today, so i wouldn't be surprised to see him come in off the bench. but since we obviously need a little kick overall, i think he'll be starting at least a couple games (not every day right away).

[crkone]

Braun will be an ELITE hitter. I would gladly move Hardy to 3rd since we would definitely win more games with Braun's bat than Hardy's glove at SS. If Hardy is an ELITE defender, he can easily switch to 3rd.

[goirish2107]

my guess is you'd rather have the guy with the better glove at short...hardy may not have the power of braun, but will hit 25-30 hr's a year imo, as well as hit for average

[livestrong4ever]

ill say it again...yost said that braun would be coming up within a few weeks..i don't know how long he'll be up, or what he'll be doing, but i would think that with the offense sputtering as it is we'll see him up sooner than later. gwynn gave us our first pinch hit today, so i wouldn't be surprised to see him come in off the bench. but since we obviously need a little kick overall, i think he'll be starting at least a couple games (not every day right away).

When did Yost say this?<

[goirish2107]

couple of weeks ago if that he was on wssp and said "we'll get him up here in three, four, five, six weeks"

[Ayt]

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Dude our 3rd baseman now are Tony Graffanino and Craig friggin' Counsell. When Braun comes up he's up to stay and he'll be starting nearly everyday.

Exactly. Bringing up Braun to sit on the pine is not even an option.

[shortstrokes]

Melvin is going to make a center fielder out of Hall. Doesn't matter how much if F's up his offense. Doesn't matter how many runs he costs the team on defense. Doesn't matter how much it hurts the team. If Melvin says that is the way it's going to be - that's the way it's going to be.

Braun will play third base. Doesn't matter how many errors he makes or how long they have to keep his bat in the minors because of it. Doesn't matter that he was a third baseman for a grand total of one year in college. Doesn't matter that the Brewers have a pretty damn good third baseman on the team right now struggling to learn center field on the fly. Doesn't matter how much the team could use Braun's bat in the line up. If Doug Melvin says that is the way it's going to be - that's the way it's going to be.

You don't play to your players strengths, you play to their weaknesses. This is a perfectly logical approach to building a successful team. It is right their on page one of Melvin's book "Baseball General Management for Dummies". Why can't everyone understand this?

[goirish2107]

i really don't get why hall has been designated the center fielder....i know they say that braun is the 3b of the future, and they don't want hall moving around anymore.... but what did braun play in college if not 3b? why do they want him in the infield over the outfield?

[shortstrokes]

Braun played SS through highschool and for all but his last year at Miami.

If the guy can't consistantly make an accurate throw from the left side of the diamond after playing there through high school, college and the minors, what (other than stubborness) makes the Brewers think they can fix it? There are some things you can't coach.

[El Duderino]

Braun played SS through highschool and for all but his last year at Miami.

If the guy can't consistantly make an accurate throw from the left side of the diamond after playing there through high school, college and the minors, what (other than stubborness) makes the Brewers think they can fix it? There are some things you can't coach.

Maybe or Maybe not

Weeks looked so bad at second last year,i really was starting to wonder if there was much hope for him to ever become even halfway decent defensively.Then he looked way better before the injury and he's looked very good so far this year.

Maybe Braun can't be coached improve his defense,but i've never seen an infielder look worse than Weeks did for half of last year and he seems to have improved dramatically.

You act like Melvin decided to keep Braun at third entirely on his own without consulting with Braun's coaches in the minors,team scouts,and others in the organization.I'm sure i'f the many people involved with coaching Braun and those in the organization that closely monitor him said he's a lost cause at third,he'd have been moved by now.

[shortstrokes]

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Maybe or Maybe not

Weeks looked so bad at second last year,i really was starting to wonder if there was much hope for him to ever become even halfway decent defensively.Then he looked way better before the injury and he's looked very good so far this year.

Maybe Braun can't be coached improve his defense,but i've never seen an infielder look worse than Weeks did for half of last year and he seems to have improved dramatically.

You act like Melvin decided to keep Braun at third entirely on his own without consulting with Braun's coaches in the minors,team scouts,and others in the organization.I'm sure i'f the many people involved with coaching Braun and those in the organization that closely monitor him said he's a lost cause at third,he'd have been moved by now.

I agree with what you are saying. I just it seems that this team is at a different level of expectation now vs when Rickie was brought up. If it isn't, then why not bring up Braun now and let him work through his issues like Rickie did? Did the Spivy trade force Rickie up or did it clear the way for him?
Also, I'm sure that there were other people involved in the Hall/center field - Braun/3rd base decision other than Melvin but he is the face of the organization when it comes to personnel. Bill Hall has proven to be an above average third baseman. Right now he is struggling in center and at the plate. Braun has a major league bat that is sitting in the minors waiting on his defense. This just doesn't make sense - unless management is trying to justify the 6 mil spent on Counselino.

[El Duderino]

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I agree with what you are saying. I just it seems that this team is at a different level of expectation now vs when Rickie was brought up. If it isn't, then why not bring up Braun now and let him work through his issues like Rickie did? Did the Spivy trade force Rickie up or did it clear the way for him?
Also, I'm sure that there were other people involved in the Hall/center field - Braun/3rd base decision other than Melvin but he is the face of the organization when it comes to personnel. Bill Hall has proven to be an above average third baseman. Right now he is struggling in center and at the plate. Braun has a major league bat that is sitting in the minors waiting on his defense. This just doesn't make sense - unless management is trying to justify the 6 mil spent on Counselino.

My guess is Braun will be brought up in early June because then it won't count as a year of service time.

The way it seems to me is the organization feels Braun can fix his throwing issues and they will give him time this year to prove if he can.Braun will be with us a long time,the team should be thinking long term with him.A time will obviously come though where if Braun continues to rack up errors that a switch will be made,but i understand not making a rash move with a kid that will be a cornerstone player.

BTW,just switching him to the OF right now won't mean he could be brought up tommorrow anyways.Braun has played infield and would need some chance to learn a new position.The Brewers aren't going to switch him to LF and call him up to the majors the next day.Either way the kid would need time to refine his defense in AAA.

[SugarRay34]

Yeah this guy defintly deserves to be up here soon. I say hes our starting 3B come June 1st. His talents are too good to pass up especially if we keep hitting the way we are right now. I can deal with him committing 1 error a week if hes gonna hit 275 with 15 HR

[JoeJohnson2two]

Well if the Brewers gave Rickie the call up with his god awful defense because there was too much offense to spare then why not bring up Braun when everyone knows Braun has a better bat than Rickie. From what I've been watching, Graffy and Counsell haven't been playing that well at 3B anyways so why not get another bat that may be able to up our batting average with runners on. Then we'd have a legit #5 hitter after Billy.

[trwi7]

Weeks
Hardy
Fielder
Hall
Braun
Estrada
Hart
Jenkins (Gross next year)
Pitcher