It’s Almost Gamel-Time
It’s safe to say that Bill Hall does not have a firm grip on the Brewers’ third base job. In fact, after hitting .225/.293/.396 in 2008, he’s lucky to have a Major League job. But that’s what happens when a club has $15.7 million committed to a player.
Thankfully for the Brewers, Hall has the ability to play a number of other positions, including shortstop, second base and the outfield. It’s fortunate because it allows the club the freedom to promote third base prospect Mat Gamel to the Majors, as soon as he’s ready. Gamel, 23, was originally selected in the fourth round out of junior college in 2005. He has been a hitting machine in the minors and has a career line of .305/.375/.489 in 1,710 at-bats. In 2008, he hit .329/.395/.537 in 508 Double-A at-bats. He also appeared in five Triple-A games and two big league games.
Offensively at the Major League level, Gamel has the potential to hit .300 and hit 20 home runs, although the in-game power is still developing. His defense is another story. He made an astonishing 53 errors at third base in 2007 but “improved” in 2008 and made just 30. The club does not have the luxury of hiding him at designated hitter or first base (thanks to Prince Fielder). Left field is not an option thanks to displaced third baseman Ryan Braun. Corey Hart, another promising young hitter, is in right field.
Thankfully, Gamel’s defensive woes will not hurt Fantasy Baseball owners – aside from possibly limiting his playing time and causing him to be removed late in games for defensive purposes. He’s certainly not someone you’ll want to draft to begin the season, but he could become a force in the second half of the year.
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The third paragraph is the kicker though isn’t it? Teams are getting smarter these days and I can’t foresee the Brewers putting someone that bad defensively at the hot corner. How could they? They left Braun there for a year, but quickly moved him off when it was apparent that he couldn’t handle it. I would argue that Braun was a better defender than Gamel is, therefore they won’t keep him at 3rd and repeat what happened with Braun.
I don’t know if improved is also fair. Without minor league play by play data do we really know if he improved? While JJ Hardy is a great defender who could cover up Gamel’s woes, I’m not sure that he can make him THAT much better (i.e. How bad Braun was with Hardy next to him)
If I was the Brewers GM I would keep Gamel in the minors until May/June, see if Corey Hart regained some of his stock after a poor 2008, and trade Hart to a team who needed an OFer. He is arbitration eligible after this season and should bring back a good number of prospects if he regains 2007 form.
If Hart doesn’t, I would keep Gamel in the minors for the season working on his defense at 3rd. Now that Prince is signed to a 2 year deal there isn’t the same option for trading him and placing Gamel there. Without the Hart option there isn’t a spot for Gamel. Maybe they could trade with the Giants for a young pitcher.
Keep in mind that there would likely be no gains due to Hardy playing SS next to Gamel since in the minors he was playing next Alcides Escobar, a fantastic defender in his own right.
1. Braun was arguably the worst defensive 3B in baseball history to get a full season there, so no Gamel is not worse than Braun.
2.Hart’s not gong to be traded in season. And he is already arby eligible.
3, Fielder’s contract doesn’t change the ability to trade him.
Great insight. First, I have never heard one scouting report saying that Gamel could stick at third, not a single one. So he has to move somewhere. Maybe he isn’t as bad as Braun, but until Gamel gets a season in the MLB as a 3B we won’t know. If Gamel is going to play it wont be at third. So where do you put him? You need to make space somewhere.
Fielder’s contract might not mean he can’t be traded, but it does show that they are willing to make an investment in him (even though it is short) unlike what the Phillies are doing with Howard (which is the right thing to do IMO). I doubt they trade Fielder to make room for Gamel who isn’t nearly proven to be significantly above replacement level at first base.
How does a playing next to a “great SS” cover up for a 3B defensive woes??? Its not like Hardy will be able to field groundballs that Gamel boots.
How was Corey Harts 08 season poor? granted his BA (and OBP) were lower than what you want, but he still had 91 RBIs!!!! how many teams had a #5 hitter with 91 RBIs???? For me, the only numbers Im concerned about for my RBI hitters are RBIs, who cares what his OBP is, thats not what hes supposed to do, who cares what his OPS or wOBA is. #5 hitters are supposed to drive in runs, plain and simple.
Shane,
Your at the wrong site bud.
Eighteen, Steve. Eighteen teams got at least 91 RBIs from their five slot. As in more than half. As in the average team got 94. As in take Josh’s advice and go back to ESPN.com.
Maybe Hart drove in a decent amount of men, but what about the Brewers’ six through nine hitters who amassed 54 fewer RBIs than the NL average because they didn’t have Hart to drive in? If you’re going to give Hart credit for what the guys ahead of him did, then I’m going to hold him responsible for what the guys behind him didn’t do. Fair is fair, right?
Can I just say how much I love this site? Seriously.
Just to piggyback on Josh and Doug’s comments, RBI is probably the last thing you should be looking at in determining the value of a given hitter in a given lineup. Kind of like win/loss for pitchers.
If/when the Brewers trade Fielder this will be a non-issue because Gamel can play 1st. If Fielder is offered a contract and they trade Cory Hart it would allow the slick fielding Escobar to be called up to man short while shifting Hardy to 3rd and putting Gamel in LF.
More likely, in my eyes, is that Cameron is allowed to walk after 09, they hang on to Prince, Hart is shifted to CF (he definitely has the range), Gamel in LF, Hardy at 3b, and Escobar at SS – this would give the Brewers a great defensive left side of the infield and they would be able to keep all of their pieces.
Who is the better prospect, Brett Wallace or Gamel?
Corey Hart has been quoted as saying that he’s “not going to sit there and take a walk.” That is exactly the kind of player that I don’t want on my team. If you look at all of his plate discipline data available here at this very website, you see the very disturbing jump in O-Swing% and F-Strike%, which in this case can be connected to a conscious attitude to “swing away.” That’s just lame. Just like Mike Jacobs being happy with his .320 OBP as a middle of the order hitter.
If Hart gets lucky and hits a dozen or more HR in the first couple of months of the season, and Gamel is off to a hot start at AAA, I think the best thing to do would be trade Hart and move Braun to RF, have Gamel start playing LF. The Brewers probably don’t have the rotation depth or strength to make a playoff run in 2009, so I’d view this as an opportunity to have Braun & Gamel adjust to new positions, thinking in terms of 2010 and 2011, when they could have a better balance of bats in the lineup (Fielder is the only LH regular in the lineup; Gamel would be the second).
I also love the idea of signing Hardy to something like a 5-year deal (if the price is right, maybe something like 5/50) and moving him to 3B with Escobar at SS, probably starting in 2010. Hardy has plus-range and a plus-arm: he would be great at 3B. If nothing else, you have a great left side of the IF.
If they chose to keep Fielder, they could have a two-year window to win, providing they can fill the CF and rotation holes sometime before the start of the 2010 season.
That said, I think there’s very little chance that Hart gets traded in season, and the Brewers are more likely to give Gamel a chance at 3B before they move him.
Why Taylor Green gets no love as the possible future of 3B for the Brewers is beyond me.
If I’m moving Hardy, then I might be more likely to make the shift to 2B. Let Weeks play CF and hope he can regain his bat a la BJ Upton.
not a half bad idea
Weeks in CF isn’t a bad idea at all… Also, shifting Hart to CF and Gamel to RF (or to LF and Braun to RF) would be a possibility…
As far as real life goes, however, all this is meaningless talk until the Brewers get some support for Gallardo in their rotation.
It is (sorta) Gamel-time.