SB Nation - Ryan Braun

Making Your '00 Face: Third Base

KLSnow — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:00:15 -0000

With the '00's almost behind us, it's time to take a look back and work together to make a BCB All Decade team for the '00s. Each day, we'll tackle a new position, and we'll have our 25 man roster complete sometime around the 1st of the year.

The concept here is pretty simple. Each day, I'll give you a list of candidates: For position players, it's the full list of players who appeared in at least 100 games at the position during the '00s. Here are the players we've selected so far:

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks

Voting for shortstops opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Meanwhile, we'll close out the infield. Here are the candidates at third base:

Tyler Houston

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002
Slash line as a Brewer: .279/.326/.475
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -5.4 runs*
WAR as a Brewer: 1.8

*- FanGraphs only has UZR data dating back to 2002, so only Houston's 2002 season is included in this total.

Keith Ginter

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2002-2005
Slash line as a Brewer: .257/.344/.458
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -11 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 3.1

Bill Hall

Seasons as a Brewer: 8, 2002-2009*
Slash line as a Brewer: .253/.312/.446
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +8.7 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 7.3

* - Hall played third base in seven of those eight seasons, all but 2007.

Wes Helms

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2003-2005
Slash line as a Brewer: ..268/.335/.425
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -24.6 runs
WAR as a Brewer: -1.1

Russell Branyan

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2004-2005, 2008
Slash line as a Brewer: ..248/.351/.526
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -9.1 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 1.7

Craig Counsell

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2004, 2007-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .247/.341/.338
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +8.5 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 5

Ryan Braun

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2007-2009*
Slash line as a Brewer: .308/.363/.574
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -23.7 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 9.7**

* - Braun only played third base in 2007.
** - Only 1.5 of those WAR came in 2007, when Braun was at third.

Poll

Who should play third base on the BCB All Decade Team?

The Weekend Mug, now with more Australians! And another Canadian!

NoahJ — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:12:07 -0000

After trading J.J. Hardy, Doug Melvin realized he had to win back the hearts of Wisconsin women everywhere. Enter Oeltjen.

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Some things to read while on a social networking site far, far away.

So far this is my second week doing the weekend post. My first weekend was immediately after the Carlos Gomez trade, and this weekend comes after the Brewers announce signing Gregg Zaun. It's my turn again the weekend following Christmas, so maybe Brewers fans can be expecting a Christmas present from Doug Melvin and the gang.

About the Zaun signing:

Adam McCalvy tells us that Zaun was assured the starting catching spot. Zaun has played more than 110 games only once in his career and more than 100 games four times, and he's not getting any younger. There should be plenty of opportunities for whoever the backup catcher should be.
Right Field Bleachers thinks that backup will be either Mike Rivera or George Kottaras, with the idea being another year of minor league polishing for Angel Salome and Jonathon Lucroy.
In Between Hops likens Zaun to a cheaper Jason Kendall. Neither is very good at hitting (some would claim they are atrocious), but over the last three years, Zaun has been Kendalls slight superior in OBP and has been significantly better slugging. Zaun did this in close to half of the plate appearances of Kendall.
I think that View From Bernie's Chalet is more excited about the end of the Jason Kendall era than for the signing of Zaun.
Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turning Up the Heat! finds the signing to be strange and suggests that Milwaukee had enough readily available options. Personally, I prefer having someone like Zaun around. I don't think that Rivera would be a viable option to start the whole season, and the other options (Kottaras, Lucroy and Salome) are all younger and could really struggle, particularly Lucroy who would be skipping triple-A. I think that I would like Lucroy to either back up Zaun for the first couple months of the season (like I said, there should be plenty of opportunities) or for him to be called up sometime in June provided he isn't massively struggling in Nashville. Gradually working in what appears to be the heir apparent to the Catchers position seems like a much better idea than throwing him straight into the fire.
And the Grand National Championships thinks this is the most logical move in the history of sports.
Oh, and if I ever met Gregg Zaun, he does not look like a guy I would want to piss off.

Also from the Grand National Championships, they believe that re-signing Craig Counsell--who Doug Melvin has made an offer to--would be a bad idea and suggests signing someone like Esteban German instead. If we were to go with someone else, I think that going with someone in house (like Adam Heether) would be just as good as signing someone from outside the organization. I also think that a player like Craig Counsell is a boon to any team, though, and would serve as a very very good mentor to Alcides Escobar.

The Brewers also signed former Diamondback and full-time Australian Trent ~~Durrington~~ Oltjean...whichever. Brew City Sports tried to reach him for comment, but unfortunately, Oltjean was too busy doing Australian type activities. Oltjean is expected to provide protection for Ryan Braun in the cuteness batting order after the departure of J.J. Hardy.

For those hoping that the Brewers decide to pursue Brad Penny, the bad news is that he rejected a one year offer to stay with the GIants. So it looks like any team that wants to sign him would either have to offer multiple years or a pretty significant--and guarenteed--amount of money for one year.

In Between Hops reminds us again of the comparison that can be made between Casey McGehee and Bill Hall.

Around the Majors:
Atlanta Braves: Rafael Soriano is considering accepting their offer of arbitration.
Chicago Cubs: Could announce a signing of Mike Cameron as soon as Monday.
Houston Astros: Signed former Giant Ryan Sadowski
Kansas City Royals: Signed Cuban lefty Noel Arguelles
Minnesota Twins: Signed 16 year old Dominican Shortstop Miguel Sano.
Seattle Mariners and Jack Z: Signed Chone Figgins to a $36MM, 4 year deal.

If you were disappointed when they announced they were shutting down production, good news! A movie adaptation of Moneyball is going to be back underway!

Oh, and potentially the most exciting news of the day, Metsblog cites Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus as saying that there will be two big announcements at the winter meetings that will be way bigger than "any player signing or news made during". I don't have any idea what it could be, so feel free to speculate.

Interview with Derek Carty from The Hardball Times-Part 4

raygu — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:00:19 -0000

Here is the last part of the 4 part interview with Derek Carty from The Hardball Times. Derek provides some insight into his top 5 rankings and some early sleepers for 2010:

Fake Teams: Are there any statistics that you use to evaluate hitters or pitchers that aren't mainstream yet?

Derek Carty: Absolutely. As I've talked about a little bit already, there are some that aren't even super well-known in the sabermetric community because, well, I invented them myself and they aren't really readily available yet. I absolutely love CAPS, David Gassko's LIPS ERA is great, and True Home Runs for hitters is a favorite of mine as well. Chris Dutton and Peter Bendix's xBABIP is great too. And of course, things like BABIP and HR/FB and LOB% aren't really mainstream, but they are pretty well-known in the sabermetric community and are certainly important to look at.

More after the jump:

Fake Teams: Do you prefer auction leagues or straight draft leagues? Mixed or NL/AL-only leagues?

Derek Carty: Auction, without a doubt. It gives everyone a chance at every player and, I feel, allows you to be more creative with how you construct your team and with how you plan your strategy. I used to be a 100% in favor of mixed leagues over AL/NL-only (in theory), although LABR has swayed my opinion a bit (it was the first AL/NL-only league I ever played in). Still, I would have to lean towards something like a 14 or 15-team mixed league, given my druthers. I just feel that one or two big injuries to an AL or NL-only team can derail any hope of a championship, in some instances, and we really are in the infantile stages of trying to predict injuries, so it's not as if some of us can even gain much of a competitive advantage in the area. I was actually quite lucky in LABR this year when it came to the health of my players, which has surely colored my opinion of this league setup a bit. Aside from losing Ramon Hernandez for most of the year and Raul Ibanez, Rich Harden, and Carlos Ruiz for a few weeks, my team stayed pretty healthy. In other leagues, I wasn't as lucky. In the FSIC, for instance, Jose Reyes killed us (although we did manage to finish in second despite a Reyes/Garrett Atkins combo for our first two picks). I think a 15-team mixed league is a pretty good depth and minimizes the amount of luck involved.

Fake Teams: An early look at 2010-who is your top 5 players in NL-only leagues? AL-only leagues? Mixed?

Derek Carty: This'll have to be very early since I haven't completed my projections yet or really tried to make any 2010 predictions, but here's how I'm currently feeling (completely subjectively and without seeing some of the more in-depth numbers I like to look at).
NL: 1) Albert Pujols, 2) Hanley Ramirez, 3) Chase Utley, 4) Ryan Braun, 5) Matt Kemp
AL: 1) A-Rod, 2) Mark Teixeira, 3) Miguel Cabrera, 4)Evan Longoria, 5) Joe Mauer
Mixed: 1) Albert Pujols, 2) Hanley Ramirez, 3) Chase Utley, 4) A-Rod, 5) Ryan Braun

Fake Teams: If you have done this analysis, who are a few sleepers for 2010?

Derek Carty: I haven't really done this analysis yet, so I'll probably have some very different names when asked in a month or two. For now, let's go with Ian Stewart, Julio Borbon, Eric Young Jr., Dallas McPherson (consider him the next Russell Branyan if he finds playing time), Koji Uehara (potential Baltimore closer, though he could succeed as a SP as well), Brett Andersen, and Jorge de la Rosa. And, of course, whether someone is truly a sleeper or a value pick is entirely dependent on context. He'll only derive value if you take him in a round later than where you believe he truly belongs.

Fake Teams thanks Derek for taking the time to answer these questions for our readers.

Raygu's MDC Mock Draft Results

raygu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:30:11 -0000

I participated in a mock draft over at Mock Draft Central today and here is how the first two rounds went:

Round 1

5. Matt Kemp

6. Ryan Braun

7. Chase Utley

8. Miguel Cabrera

9. Prince Fielder

10. Ryan Howard

11. Evan Longoria

12. David Wright

Round 2 after the jump:

Round 2

1. Joe Mauer

5. Ian Kinsler

10, Jason Bay

11. Victor Martinez

12. Zack Greinke

This draft definitely didn't go as I expected, and I don't think there were alot of "autopicks", but I could be wrong.

Poll

Which pick was more surprising?

Fantasy Baseball: Early Mock Draft- Round 2, Pick 5.

Ian, yo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:41:23 -0000

More photos » by MIKE CARLSON - AP

4 months ago: Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria, right, is congratulated by Ben Zobrist after Longoria hit a home run in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees Tuesday, July 28, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

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Evan Longoria. 3B, Tampa Bay

At only 24 years old, Longoria has two years of major league time and already has hit a combined 60 home runs and 167 runs, 198 RBI.

Longoria made steps to better himself in 2009 by posting a BB% of 11% which is an increase from 9.3% in 2008 and a drop in K% from 27.2% in 2008 to 24% in 2009. If Longoria were to improve even more in 2010, you could see a bump in runs, RBI, home runs and average as well as OPS. Longoria's a bigger guy and doesn't have the speed to become a five category producer, but he does have one thing others his age don't....Consistency.

Bill James has Longoria projected to put up a slash line of .287/.370/.548 and an OPS over .900. He's also penciling Longoria in for 37 home runs, 106 runs, 120 RBI and 9 home runs. While James tends to project younger players (2009 projected Ryan Braun to hit 44 home runs: actually hit 32.) a bit optimistically, I think 37 home runs are definitely within reach for Longoria and think you should draft him and be happy with 30-40 home runs and over 100 runs and RBIs. If you are in keeper or dynasty leagues, Longoria is arguably the top 3B in the league and could easily be bumped into the first round next year. Now if only fantasy baseball incorporated UZR and other defensive metrics.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:40:38 -0000

by Ted S. Warren - AP

Kevin Millwood: 2010 Brewer?

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Some things to read while opening your disco ball.

It's a bad news-good news kind of morning. The bad news: I've been up sick since 4:15. The good news: I couldn't sleep anyway, so this morning's Mug is early. Enjoy.

Kevin Millwood was the newest name to surface in Rumorville over the weekend, based on a Boston Globe report saying the Brewers had inquired about him. With that said, Rangers GM Jon Daniels said he hasn't spoken to Doug Melvin in weeks. Two things to take away from this:

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is still a hack and any time spent propagating one of his rumors is time wasted.
"Working the phones" is apparently still not a big part of Doug Melvin's offseason plan.

Edwin Jackson is also still wandering about in Rumorville, as Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports lists the Brewers as one of eight teams that could be interested in acquiring him from the Tigers. D.J. Short of Circling the Bases says Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski will be one of the most popular GMs at next week's Winter Meetings.

Where does Prince Fielder's 2009 season rate among the best in Brewer history? In-Between Hops has it at #4, behind Robin Yount's 1982, Paul Molitor's 1987 and Rollie Fingers' 2001. Notably absent from the top ten: Ryan Braun's 2009.

In the minors:

The Timber Rattlers are looking for your help selecting a third baseman for their 15th anniversary team. Follow the link to learn about the candidates, then jump over to their front page for the poll.
Speaking of the Rattlers, Rattler Radio has a nice note on the offseason of 2009 Rattler Jim Henderson, who's spending the winter in Okotoks, Alberta, helping train the next generation of Canadian baseball players.

No transactions to pass along today, so we'll move straight into the other notes:

If Derek Lowe doesn't become a Brewer this offseason, he might be a Dodger again. There's a new rumor floating around that has Atlanta and Los Angeles potentially swapping bad contracts, with Lowe going to the Dodgers and Juan Pierre to the Braves. Meanwhile, Lowe sounds like he'd prefer to stay in Atlanta.

Every now and then someone asks me for a glossary of statistical terms we frequently use (and misuse) here on BCB. It's a project we'll probably get around to eventually, but in the meantime Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? has a pretty good starting point.

Are you ready to start projecting for 2010? If so, FanGraphs has an opportunity for you to weigh in on players for next season. It could be interesting.

I just heard about it for the first time yesterday, but apparently Cyber Monday is "a tradition worth keeping," so you should head over to the Brewers online store and give them 20% less than all your money. And if you're looking for a gift for a ~~favorite Brewer blogger~~ a guy that writes about the Crew and occasionally doesn't suck, I've got my eye on this and this.

On this date in 1972, Larry Hisle was traded from the Cardinals to the Twins, marking the third time he'd been traded in 13 months. Five years later, Hisle would become a free agent for the first time, sign with the Brewers and finish third in the voting for 1978 AL MVP.

On this date in 1994, the Brewers sent reliever Doug Henry to the Mets for two players to be named later. Nearly a month later, the final PTBNL was announced: Fernando Vina. Vina hit .286/.349/.389 over five seasons as a Brewer.

Happy birthday today to Ray Durham, who turns 38.

Drink up.

Brewers Facing Tough Times Ahead

Charlie — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:54:11 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

3 months ago: Milwaukee Brewers' Prince Fielder, right, and Ryan Braun celebrate Fielder's home run against the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

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Here's an interesting (and fun-to-read) article about the problems the Brewers are facing this offseason. As much as I and others have presented the Brewers as a good example for the Pirates franchise, a dose of reality is in order. Their core of young stars burst onto the scene about as brightly as anyone could have hoped a couple years ago, but now they're getting expensive quickly. When they were trying to contend, they signed a number of players (Jeff Suppan in particular) to contracts that now would be mildly annoying to a team like the Mets or the Cubs, but are a big problem for the Brewers. Several of their core players (J.J. Hardy, Bill Hall, Corey Hart) stalled after putting in a couple of good seasons, and now Milwaukee is pondering life without them. Ben Sheets is now a free agent. The back of the Brewers' rotation is uninspiring at best. They don't really have a catcher. Without major changes, they're probably hoping just to play .500 ball next year.

They haven't been run perfectly. The Suppan contract was a terrible idea from the start, for example. But for a team to get as much right as the Brewers have the past five years and still be struggling seems unfair. They've added significant value to Major League Baseball as a whole by developing stars like Sheets, Yovani Gallardo, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Braun. They've also spent relatively lavishly for a team in their situation. And they're still floundering.

It's not right. The Pirates have no one but themselves to blame for most of their current problems, but that could change in a few years. And even if Neal Huntington's plans work well, the Pirates will still probably looking at the Brewers' last few seasons--a couple of winning seasons, maybe a playoff appearance. For those things to happen would obviously be great, in a way, but that hardly seems like enough.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:27:44 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Kevin Correia: 2010 Brewer?

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Some things to read while having Twilight explained to you.

And I'm back. I hope everyone had a great holiday. If you weren't around the web yesterday (and the site stats would suggest you weren't), here's some of the Thanksgiving stuff you missed from around the web:

Wisconsin Sports Tap has a list of Wisconsin sports people and things they're thankful for, including Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Miller Park and Doug Melvin.
The Ghost of Moonlight Graham says Brewer fans should be thankful for Mark Attanasio, and he's absolutely right. Mark A. probably deserves more credit than anyone for creating a winning culture in Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, I had three posts here, with two things I'm thankful for and a Thursday Thinker.

And, once again, thanks to all of you for reading and continuing to check back here as well. Traffic is up over 50% from last November, when the Brewers were coming off a playoff appearance. Actually, we've also seen more visitors in November than we did in all of September, when the Crew was still playing most days. Thanks for helping make this one of the best places on the web to read about and discuss the Brewers.

It's a slow day for Brewer news coming off the holiday, but there are a couple of things I missed this week. First of all, Adam McCalvy had a conversation with John Halama about his attempted return to the major leagues, which Roguejim also noted in this FanPost. Halama is spending the offseason pitching for Licey in the Dominican Winter League, so hopefully we'll be able to monitor his progress in future Winter League Updates.

Earlier in the week, McCalvy also had notes on two pitchers the Brewers might pursue: Justin Duchscherer and Kevin Correia. The Grand National Championships has weighed in in favor of those moves, and says they would go a long way towards restoring his trust in Doug Melvin.

Apparently I'm going to mention McCalvy in every paragraph today: He also has a great look at Brewer Charities under the leadership of new executive director Cecilia Gore.

Speaking of Brewer charities, a while back I mentioned the Brewer Wives' 2010 Pet Calendar, but we weren't sure if it would be available online. It is, as it turns out, so you can help support the Wisconsin Humane Society, even if you can't make it to Milwaukee.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed shortstops Alex Gonzalez and John Mcdonald to deals for 2010.
Mariners: Infielder Josh Wilson has refused an outright assignment to the minor leagues and is now a free agent.
Red Sox: Acquired infielder Tug Hulett from the Royals for a PTBNL or cash.

His name doesn't come up as often as the likes of Doug Davis or Jarrod Washburn, but Erik Bedard is another pitcher the Brewers might be pursuing this offseason. If they do decide to make an offer, though, they might be competing with the Orioles for his service. Baseball Musings has a look at what could be a great move for the Orioles: trading two years of Bedard for five players, then getting him back before they were ready to contend anyway.

If you're ready to start filling out a wish list for the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings, BuccoFans.com has scouting reports of available players from 23 teams. (h/t Crawfish Boxes)

I couldn't find a Brewer birthday today (it's a surprisingly slow day for baseball birthdays overall), so instead I'll wish an early happy birthday to Carlos Villanueva, who turns 26 tomorrow.

Oh, and I do my best to stay as baseball-relevant as possible here, but one fact remains: If you serve mac and cheese at Thanksgiving, and you post a picture, you make the Mug.

Drink up.

Fantasy Baseball: BP's Eric Seidman's Top 10 Fantasy Players

raygu — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:00:13 -0000

by Nick Wass - AP

2 months ago: Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman, right, rounds the bases as he is greeted by third base coach Pat Listach (4) after Zimmerman hit a three-run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Washington. The Nationals won 5-4. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

View full size photo »

In his chat yesterday over at Baseball Prospectus, Eric Seidman was asked the following:

Tex Premium Lager (Jersey): Even More Blatant Fantasy Keeper Question (tm): In no order, who are the 10 most valuable position players for the next few years? Most seem obvious (Pujols, Hanley, Utley, etc.) but I'd like your take on the matter. Maybe someone (you?) can take over Nate Silver's top 50 list, which was one of my favorite articles each year.
Eric Seidman: I'll list the guys that instantly came to mind as that likely says a lot about their attributes: Pujols, Mauer, Hanley, Utley, Tulowitzki, J Upton, Longoria, Zimmerman, Wright, Braun. Those aren't in order and there are definitely others to think about.

So, he answered this question off the top of his head, but he included David Wright in his top 10 fantasy players for "the next few years". Am I the only one who thinks Wright shouldn't be in the top 10? He leaves himself an out with the last sentence in his response, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

What surprised me was including Troy Tulowitzki and Ryan Zimmerman in his top 10. Granted both players are very good all around players-offensively and defensively-but are they top 10? I like Zimmerman alot as well, and could consider him should he duplicate his 2009 season in 2010. As for Tulo, I don't see him going 30-20 again in 2010.

Which player would you take out of his top 10?

Poll

Which player should NOT be in the top 10 fantasy player list for the next few years?

Ryan Zimmerman

33 votes

David Wright

29 votes

Troy Tulowitzki

40 votes

102 votes | Poll has closed

Fantasy Baseball: Early Mock Draft-Round One Completed

raygu — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:00:21 -0000

Here's a look at the Fake Teams mixed league early mock draft results for Round 1. This early mock draft is a two round mock, and Ian posted the first pick in Round 2 last evening-Tim Lincecum.

1. Hanley Ramirez

2, Matt Kemp

3. Albert Pujols

4. Alex Rodriguez

5. Chase Utley

6. Ryan Braun

7. David Wright

8. Ryan Howard

9. Joe Mauer

10. Prince Fielder