Shuffling the cards?
As per Tom H.’s Baseball America chat:
Ian (Pittsburgh): Is it wise for the Brewers to continue stockpiling their system with poor fielders and then moving them around to find a place where the bat can play? Braun, Weeks, Fielder are good hitters, but when you add Gamel, Laporta, and Lawrie it makes you wonder if they will give up too many runs. When is this going to start catching up to them?
Tom Haudricourt: The Brewers figure you can always trade bats for pitching at some point, if that proves to be the best thing. But it has been a trend in the organization, for sure. That’s why Escobar stands out so much. He can really play defense.
This is something certainly I and every other Brewer fan have noticed over the years… one of the reasons I’d rather keep Gamel at 3rd base or trade him. After Braun, poor fielding at Prince, and the talks of moving Weeks, Hardy, and Gamel, seeing Escobar come in as a pure, natural SS is a fresh sight.
I suspect the Brewers are keeping McGehee at 3rd right now to see if he’s the real deal or a one-year mirage. If he doesn’t work out, or falls back to a sub-.750 OPS, Gamel will be ready by then, as I think they want him to work with 3B coach Don Money in Nashville. If McGehee is the real shebang, I doubt Gamel will be held back. He’ll instead be traded for pitching either in the 2011 offseason or at the trading deadline.
What’s funny to me is this organizational philosophy. Jack Z. in Seattle has since turned an inept defensive team into a stellar one, all after utilizing draft picks on big boppers. Now Melvin seems to be running the same accord with the new young influx of Escobar and Gomez in the two more prime defensive positions.
Until Doug makes the defense totally revamped, the pitching staff will continue to remain mediocre.. if he keeps bringing in a bunch of Gomez type players to fill the holes, we’ll see guys like Manny Parra put up an ERA around 4.0. Why do you think Jarrod Washburn was so good in Seattle (2.74 ERA) and terrible in Detroit (7.33)?