K bye Brad Nelson!
The internet was blowing up tonight with reports trickling out that Mr. Mat Gamel was on his way to Milwaukee. Rumors were rampant if a trade was in the works, blah blah.
Scratch all that garbage. Gamel can hit...and he's up here to stay. Welcome to the show Kid. Oh yeah...I'm 26 now. I can call people kids.
Anyway, the Brewers have been playing so well lately the complete non-productivity of the bench (C3 excluded) has been somewhat overlooked. Yeah we've (I've) had a lot of fun teasing Brad "DFA" Nelson and to a lesser extent Chris Duffy...but how bad has it actually been?
Oh I'll tell you!
Brad Nelson - 0 for 21
Chris Duffy - 3 for 28
Casey McGehee - 3 for 15
Ummm...sure...small sample size...but hey...that's 6 for 64! between the 3 guys! That's .094 combined! Dryhump me!
Good to see some accountability. That's all I got to say.
All those nice stories about Brad Nelson during the spring seem like years ago. I'm not a gambling man (ha!), but I would feel pretty confident he'll never see time again for any team in the show barring injury or a September callup. This isn't personal. I'm sure Nelson's a nice guy and all that. But God, watching him at the plate was just BRUTAL.
K bye Brad. Good luck in all future endeavors.
Showing posts with label Brad Nelson?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brad Nelson?. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A Chuckie Hacks Congratulations!
Chuckie Hacks would like to throw out a congratulations for Carlos Fernando Corporan for his first major league hit.
Brad Nelson...you're up next buddy. I can feel it. You're due.
EDIT: Slight oversight on my part with my comments regarding Mr. Nelson. Apparently he had 2 hits last year (Hey...how bout that!). Perhaps I should have simply stated..."Brad Nelson, still a donkey."
Thanks to noted Hacker Alan for the clarification.
Brad Nelson...you're up next buddy. I can feel it. You're due.
EDIT: Slight oversight on my part with my comments regarding Mr. Nelson. Apparently he had 2 hits last year (Hey...how bout that!). Perhaps I should have simply stated..."Brad Nelson, still a donkey."
Thanks to noted Hacker Alan for the clarification.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Road Trip
Like last year after the Boston series, The Hebrew Hammer went public this past week with some comments about the team's overall performance. Braun didn't mess around.
"The pitching obviously has been pretty bad but the offense has been pretty bad, the defense has been pretty bad. I don't think we've really done anything well the first 13 games of the season. We've got to find a way to turn it around.
"Saying 'it's early, there' s no need to panic" -- none of that means anything now. We just need to come out and play better."
This is the type of commentary I love from professional atheletes. The whole "there are no excuses, we suck and need to play better" type of quotes. It shows their competitive side. Last year the team responded to Braun's comments by going 12-4 over their next 16 games. This go around, they responded with a 4 game winning streak before their loss today. Let's see how they do over the course of the next 2 weeks.
With the exception of the Cubs series, the Houston series was definitely the most exciting series of the young year. Nothing like seeing a good home plate collision or Prince Fielder hitting a ball that Lance Berkman almost caught at 1st base...and then next thing you know it's over the wall in right field. It's also pretty funny seeing Prince "jumping" for joy on his home run trot. I think he's got a 4 inch vertical.
You've got to have good feelings from the results of the road trip. Things are beginning to "come together." Yo looked like an ace on Friday night. Braun is on fire and Prince is heating up. Hopefully this week Trevor Hoffman has another positive effect on the crew plugging a hole in the bullpen. Besides that, somebody needs to walk up to JJ Hardy and inform him Jason Kendall is hitting .184...and oh by the way, that's better then yours.
Pittsburgh is up next. We slapped them around last year to the tune of 14-1 (wow). Don't expect similar results this year, with Pittsburgh improved and off to a good start this year. They have let up the least amount of runs (58) in all of MLB to date. Hey you know what? Good for them. Too bad they are about to run into the buzzsaw that is Ryan Braun.
Let's hope for a little 4-2 record this week at home to get back to .500. And if Brad Nelson is a reader of this blog...don't fret buddy. I'm sure your first hit is going to come annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny day now (sarcasm alert!).
"The pitching obviously has been pretty bad but the offense has been pretty bad, the defense has been pretty bad. I don't think we've really done anything well the first 13 games of the season. We've got to find a way to turn it around.
"Saying 'it's early, there' s no need to panic" -- none of that means anything now. We just need to come out and play better."
This is the type of commentary I love from professional atheletes. The whole "there are no excuses, we suck and need to play better" type of quotes. It shows their competitive side. Last year the team responded to Braun's comments by going 12-4 over their next 16 games. This go around, they responded with a 4 game winning streak before their loss today. Let's see how they do over the course of the next 2 weeks.
With the exception of the Cubs series, the Houston series was definitely the most exciting series of the young year. Nothing like seeing a good home plate collision or Prince Fielder hitting a ball that Lance Berkman almost caught at 1st base...and then next thing you know it's over the wall in right field. It's also pretty funny seeing Prince "jumping" for joy on his home run trot. I think he's got a 4 inch vertical.
You've got to have good feelings from the results of the road trip. Things are beginning to "come together." Yo looked like an ace on Friday night. Braun is on fire and Prince is heating up. Hopefully this week Trevor Hoffman has another positive effect on the crew plugging a hole in the bullpen. Besides that, somebody needs to walk up to JJ Hardy and inform him Jason Kendall is hitting .184...and oh by the way, that's better then yours.
Pittsburgh is up next. We slapped them around last year to the tune of 14-1 (wow). Don't expect similar results this year, with Pittsburgh improved and off to a good start this year. They have let up the least amount of runs (58) in all of MLB to date. Hey you know what? Good for them. Too bad they are about to run into the buzzsaw that is Ryan Braun.
Let's hope for a little 4-2 record this week at home to get back to .500. And if Brad Nelson is a reader of this blog...don't fret buddy. I'm sure your first hit is going to come annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny day now (sarcasm alert!).
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Quick thoughts about the Brewers bench options
As Spring Training comes down to its final weeks, we can finally begin to have some fun and do some actual analysis of the players and roster spots that are up for grabs. The bullpen is currently a mess in my opinion, so we'll cover that later. There has been good stuff written the past week on the backup bench spots (more so on the available outfield positions). Everybody seems IN LOVE with Brad Nelson now and he's been getting good love from the local media. Tom H. did a cover story on him last week and Adam McCalvy covered him extensively while writing about the bench spots the other day. Right Field Bleachers also wrote a very well-written statistical analysis of the guys available for the 4th outfield spot. Check it out.
McCalvy wrote that there are 3 "open" spots on the Brewer bench right now, with Counsell a lock and with a backup catching spot a lock obviously (Rivera). For the sake of this argument let's just say that Chris Duffy gets 1 of the 3 open spots. It's pretty clear the Crew is keeping him on as the 4th guy. He's getting every possible at-bat in spring (leads the team) and is playing well enough offensively. Plus he can play any outfield spot and is a speedster. Ship him as the 4th outfielder.
The other two spots come down to a "veteran or rookie" question. It's Mike Lamb vs Casey McGehee in the infield and apparently Trot Nixon vs Brad Nelson in the outfield. If you look at just spring stats, you might not even think this to be a question. Lamb and Nixon have been terrible offensively. I literally just dry-heaved in my cubicle looking at Nixon's stats. Those are like Brad's numbers on his high school freshman team. But there's more to it then just spring stats in my opinion. Ask yourself this question: What is more valuable...having Brad Nelson and McGehee get 25 at bats a week in AAA or 3-5 at bats a week in the bigs?
I think one can say that Nelson is "back on the radar" in the Brewers front office as a potential big leaguer. But again, the guy has only had 1 above average year in AAA and only has what...7 big league at bats? I'm not saying he isn't "deserving" of a spot in the show, but I would think Brewer fans would rather see Nelson get full reps in AAA ball to prepare him for maybe taking over as a full time player next year or the year after (perhaps when Prince leaves??). I just don't see the point of keeping Nelson on the bench when he's still unseasoned in the bigs.
So as far as what they should do for the outfield spot, he's my take: Put Nelson down at AAA ball as the 1st baseman. He plays everyday. Break camp with Nixon as the 5th outfielder and trade TGJ for anything. He's the MOST EXPENDABLE player in the entire Brewers organization. He's an absolute waste of a 40-man roster spot and still should have SOME sort of trade value. Nixon will provide another veteran presence on the bench and in the clubhouse (you know...that "intangible" stuff) and will give Sveum a buddy to chew and swear with. Depending on how Nelson does the first 2-3 months and how well Nixon performs on the field, halfway through the year if Nelson is owning souls in AAA we could call him up, release Nixon and let Nelson take over the spot the rest of the year. Or leave him down there in AAA ball until September. Either way, the value of what the last bench spot gives you on the field is a marginal difference between Nelson & Nixon. However, there is more value with Nelson getting his reps in AAA, which is why I say send him down there.
The battle between McGehee and Lamb is a LITTLE more tricky I guess. But I am leaning towards Lamb for basically the same reasons that I wrote in my Nelson paragraph. Having McGehee get the occasional pinch hit appearance isn't worth keeping him on the team. Here would be our AAA ball infield if both Nelson & McGehee go down: Gamel at 3rd, Escobar at SS, McGehee at 2b (presumably), and Nelson at 1B. Sounds pretty good to me. Each guy will get their reps and if any of them turn into soul owners and prove there is nothing more they have to do at AAA, there's probably a roster spot available to them with a quick release of Lamb or Nixon.
UPDATE: Due to a glaring error on the part of yours truly, I have come to realize through Joe Mama's comment that Brad Nelson is out of minor-league options. That being said, everything I wrote above is basically moot, considering there is no way in hell he makes it through waivers back down to AAA. Barring some tank job the rest of spring, let's welcome Mr. Nelson to the bench of the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers, and hope he can contribute something. K bye Trot Nixon.
Update to the Update: Anonymous has stated that Casey McGehee has no minor league options left. It is my understanding that he had all 3 options left still. So let's put it this way, if he has options left, ship him to AAA. If he doesn't, then let's welcome Mr. McGehee to the bench of the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers and say K bye to Mike Lamb.
McCalvy wrote that there are 3 "open" spots on the Brewer bench right now, with Counsell a lock and with a backup catching spot a lock obviously (Rivera). For the sake of this argument let's just say that Chris Duffy gets 1 of the 3 open spots. It's pretty clear the Crew is keeping him on as the 4th guy. He's getting every possible at-bat in spring (leads the team) and is playing well enough offensively. Plus he can play any outfield spot and is a speedster. Ship him as the 4th outfielder.
The other two spots come down to a "veteran or rookie" question. It's Mike Lamb vs Casey McGehee in the infield and apparently Trot Nixon vs Brad Nelson in the outfield. If you look at just spring stats, you might not even think this to be a question. Lamb and Nixon have been terrible offensively. I literally just dry-heaved in my cubicle looking at Nixon's stats. Those are like Brad's numbers on his high school freshman team. But there's more to it then just spring stats in my opinion. Ask yourself this question: What is more valuable...having Brad Nelson and McGehee get 25 at bats a week in AAA or 3-5 at bats a week in the bigs?
I think one can say that Nelson is "back on the radar" in the Brewers front office as a potential big leaguer. But again, the guy has only had 1 above average year in AAA and only has what...7 big league at bats? I'm not saying he isn't "deserving" of a spot in the show, but I would think Brewer fans would rather see Nelson get full reps in AAA ball to prepare him for maybe taking over as a full time player next year or the year after (perhaps when Prince leaves??). I just don't see the point of keeping Nelson on the bench when he's still unseasoned in the bigs.
So as far as what they should do for the outfield spot, he's my take: Put Nelson down at AAA ball as the 1st baseman. He plays everyday. Break camp with Nixon as the 5th outfielder and trade TGJ for anything. He's the MOST EXPENDABLE player in the entire Brewers organization. He's an absolute waste of a 40-man roster spot and still should have SOME sort of trade value. Nixon will provide another veteran presence on the bench and in the clubhouse (you know...that "intangible" stuff) and will give Sveum a buddy to chew and swear with. Depending on how Nelson does the first 2-3 months and how well Nixon performs on the field, halfway through the year if Nelson is owning souls in AAA we could call him up, release Nixon and let Nelson take over the spot the rest of the year. Or leave him down there in AAA ball until September. Either way, the value of what the last bench spot gives you on the field is a marginal difference between Nelson & Nixon. However, there is more value with Nelson getting his reps in AAA, which is why I say send him down there.
The battle between McGehee and Lamb is a LITTLE more tricky I guess. But I am leaning towards Lamb for basically the same reasons that I wrote in my Nelson paragraph. Having McGehee get the occasional pinch hit appearance isn't worth keeping him on the team. Here would be our AAA ball infield if both Nelson & McGehee go down: Gamel at 3rd, Escobar at SS, McGehee at 2b (presumably), and Nelson at 1B. Sounds pretty good to me. Each guy will get their reps and if any of them turn into soul owners and prove there is nothing more they have to do at AAA, there's probably a roster spot available to them with a quick release of Lamb or Nixon.
UPDATE: Due to a glaring error on the part of yours truly, I have come to realize through Joe Mama's comment that Brad Nelson is out of minor-league options. That being said, everything I wrote above is basically moot, considering there is no way in hell he makes it through waivers back down to AAA. Barring some tank job the rest of spring, let's welcome Mr. Nelson to the bench of the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers, and hope he can contribute something. K bye Trot Nixon.
Update to the Update: Anonymous has stated that Casey McGehee has no minor league options left. It is my understanding that he had all 3 options left still. So let's put it this way, if he has options left, ship him to AAA. If he doesn't, then let's welcome Mr. McGehee to the bench of the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers and say K bye to Mike Lamb.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Return of Bob Hamelin...
Unbeknownst to me...the Milwaukee Brewers penned 1994 AL Rookie of the Year & 1998 pinch hit home run phenom Bob Hamelin to a contract for the rest of the year to help with left-handed power off the bench. Great story about Hamelin, who just happens to be...like...my 17th favorite Brewer of all time.
I don't know about you guys, but it brought a tear to my eye to see "The Hammer" in a uniform again. When he retired in the minor leagues a while back IN THE MOST BADASS WAY POSSIBLE...I always held out hope one day he would be a Brewer again.
And true to his form, in only his second at-bat with the Brewers (pinch hitting of course), The Hammer destroys a pitch down the right field line for a double in a close game. Way to show the crowd you still got it buddy. I look forward to more pinch hitting from you the rest of the way.
I guess I should mention that Goldy & Matt insist that the man that I am referring to is actually some minor league lifer named Brad Nelson, a notion that I scoffed at. I know better. It's The Hammer.
I don't know about you guys, but it brought a tear to my eye to see "The Hammer" in a uniform again. When he retired in the minor leagues a while back IN THE MOST BADASS WAY POSSIBLE...I always held out hope one day he would be a Brewer again.
And true to his form, in only his second at-bat with the Brewers (pinch hitting of course), The Hammer destroys a pitch down the right field line for a double in a close game. Way to show the crowd you still got it buddy. I look forward to more pinch hitting from you the rest of the way.
I guess I should mention that Goldy & Matt insist that the man that I am referring to is actually some minor league lifer named Brad Nelson, a notion that I scoffed at. I know better. It's The Hammer.
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