Dreaming of player moves...

So it appears inevitable that Saito is coming back tomorrow (or Saturday?).  RRR has told us a position player is going down in response.  This has prompted the requisite speculation of who that someone is going to be.

Most knowledgeable folks in the Twitterverse (God, I hate that term!) my group of Brewer follows says it should be Kotsay.  I agree.  There is drunken hope it could be McGehee (maybe many hope it's McGehee and the drunken part is just me), but it's not going to happen, even though I just learned today that he apparently does have an option left.  (I still don't get why the Cubs got rid of him then--if he had the option.  Now we know, I guess).  Regardless, it's not to be him because it would force the Brewers to bring up Taylor Green and basically, play him every day.  Not until there's no hope will that happen.

It can't be Counsell, either, really because although I think at this point Jaime Moyer could blow his "fastball" by Counsell's bat, getting rid of him leaves the Brewers with no versatility in the infield.  It could be Wilson, but when he plays, he has hit a little and strangely has shown some power.

Kotsay is the odd man out.  Forget the stats (which all on their own have shown he can't be relied on for a PH or even bench role)....just WATCHING him can show he doesn't have any power.  His only real benefit is he can play first, but short of complete catastrophe, Prince plays every day anyway.  And if something catastrophic did happen, Gamel would just be called up.  So Kotsay's useless.  (In case you missed this, so far).

Then, after the Minnesota series, they need to option Gamel back to Nashville and bring up Brandon Boggs.  This is not a slight on Gamel--but he is not a veteran that can succeed with infrequent or late-game play.  Plus it wastes time--I'd rather him get 9 innings everyday at first base and be ready to be the guy to beat for the job there with the Brewers in 2012.

Let's hope that since I have to wake up and deal with a 100 degree heat index later today that at least there's good news to read.

Why do managers make stupid decisions?

I know your reaction when reading this post's title was "I KNOW, right?"  But the serious part of this question is are the stupid decisions really stupid and in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?

First, the decisions are probably not "stupid", but more likely "questionable" or "curious".  The one Runnin' Ron Roenicke decision that's been gnawing at me came in the bottom of the 9th of Wednesday's game.  3 consecutive singles and a sac fly from Morgan put the game at 6-3, Tampa Bay.

Here's where the headache begins.  Runners are on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs.  The bench consists of Craig Counsell, Mark Kotsay and George Kottaras.  Roenicke sends up the 0 for his previous 15, .236 BA, .283 SLG Mark Kotsay.  Huh?  The weird thing here is that the entire bench consisted of left-handed batters and RRR puts the coldest of the 3 up to bat?  Well, maybe he has good splits vs Farnsworth?  Not really--he was 4 for 15 lifetime.  Maybe he didn't want to use Counsell because he would've had to have come in at SS in case it went to extra innings.  So he was playing for a tie?  Can't be--that's just dumb.  But Counsell was only 2 for 9 in his career vs Farnsworth, so he's no better than Kotsay and his season stats are atrocious anyway.

But wait, what about Kottaras?  That is where the headache becomes an "IV morphine" migraine.  Then "you can't burn your backup catcher" rule is ridiculous--you're still down by 3 and you can't play for the tie.  Kottaras has never faced Farnsworth, but he's obviously the best hitter of the 3 remaining options. Why doesn't he bat?  RRR tells the press after the game, "George was on deck...it's just which guy you want to hit first".  Uhh, what?  First of all, why is Lucroy being pinch-hit for AT ALL?  So RRR's plan was PH for the catcher with an OF and then if that guy got on base, then you're going to use your back-up catcher to PH for the pitcher's spot?  Good Lord, that's simply asinine.  I mean, I get that clearly RRR wasn't playing for the tie, so you might as well empty the bench...but there are 2 outs, you need to continue the game and you bat the worst hitting of 3 options FIRST?

Put the loss on the offense going 7 innings without a run after a 2-run 1st...but Roenicke sure didn't do much to help win the game in the 9th, either.

Please, please, please don't trade for a RELIEF PITCHER!

If you're reading THIS, I'm sure most of you have already read the rumor that George Kottaras is being "made available".  The most likely trade partner is logically San Francisco, which is turning over every rock (no, sorry, no "The Rock" joke here) looking for catching help.

Jim with Bernie's Crew tweeted earlier a suggestion that the Brewers should try to get LHP Dan Runzler.  Jim definitely has his finger on the pulse of more players than I do...but after a review of his stats, I'm not totally convinced.  

This is NOT a criticism of Jim or the suggestion.  It's just a suggestion and we're getting to the time of the year where it's fun just to talk out trade possibilities and throw stuff around.  The concern I have:  Relief pitchers are, for the most part, a dime a dozen.  Sure, we might argue the Brewers bullpen is terrible or has hit the wall or whatever.  But I say Roenicke is flat-out mismanaging the pen.  (Forget Monday night, thanks to Bob Davidson stealing the show).

Hawkins might have a implosion waiting to happen, but until he's used in more high-leverage situations and DOES implode, then his very solid performance this year so far is going to waste.  And once the 10 days has passed, the Brewers need to get Braddock out of time out and bring him back to Milwaukee.  Tell Axford he needs to tell Zach when it's time to wakey, wakey if you have to, but leaving him in Nashville is just stupid.  

From my view, the Brewers biggest weaknesses are shortstop and the bench.  Counsell is DONE (but serves an acceptable role on the team for now as a backup IF).  Kotsay can make contact, but he'd be lucky to hit the ball out of TD Ameritrade Park, much less any MLB park.  Brandon Boggs, meanwhile, is toiling away in Nashville.  

Trade for a SS when the right deal comes along, while getting Wilson a couple starts a week.  Cut Kotsay, bring up Boggs and USE HIM.  I don't pretend this will suddenly solve all the Brewers woes, but I think the Brewers really only have the pieces to make one trade.  History tells us trading for relief pitchers doesn't work most of the time.  The best return is one that improves the biggest holes...and that's what Melvin should be looking at.