I've got to put out my copper Lincoln's on the free agent aquistion of center fielder Mike Cameron. As a precurser to my opinion, I must first state that I am perhaps the biggest Bill Hall fan (besides his mother). I have loved Bill Hall since he first appeared with the big league club in 2002. I immediatly appreciated his versatility and charasmatic attitude. He always looked like a genuinly nice guy in the clubhouse and took everything in stride. After all, (aside from 2007 and may-september of 2006) when he showed up at the ballpark, he didn't know what position he was playing that day (2B, 3B, SS). I don't claim to know everything that's going on in the Brewers universe and clubhouse, but it looks to me like Bill Hall has done everything the Brewers have asked of him. After all, until late, Bill Hall wins games.
My man-crush on Bill Hall puts me on the fence of the aqusition of Mike Cameron, who is a damn fine center fielder. The man has won 3 gold gloves, and a Brewer hasn't even won 1 since Robin Yount did in 1982!! We absolutley need a player of that defensive calibur! I love Ryan Braun, but his errors in 2007 hurt the team in so many ways. We only have 1 dominating strikeout pitcher (Ben Sheets) and the rest (especially Suppan and Capuano) put the ball in play and depend on the defense to back them up. That's why Suppan was so good in St. Louis and why everyone was up in arms that we paid so much money for him and we basically got an average year from him. Given a better defense, we can expect his ERA to drop from its 2007 mark of 4.62 to something more around the 4.00 mark. I can't stress enough that pitching and defense go hand in hand and pitching and defense also win ball games.
Some argue that we gave Rickie Weeks time to develop defensivly, why can't we let Ryan Braun improve at 3rd? It's cause we don't have time to wait anymore. The NL Central is at it's weakest point and we need to take advantage of that before the kids (Prince, Rickie, JJ, Corey, Ryan) all become elegible for free agency and we can't afford them anymore. We have a 3 year window in which to win a World Series, so there's no time to goof around anymore. We have to put the best team out on the field every year and every day, which means that we needed to upgrade our defense, hence the Cameron signing. Cameron in CF > Bill Hall in CF, Bill Hall at 3B > Ryan Braun 3B, and Ryan Braun = to or less than Kapler / Gross / Gywnn / Dillon so that solves our defensive deficiencies right there. I like whatever Melvin/Yost does to improve the team.
I can see Bill Hall getting traded for an established 3rd baseman who bats lefty and has a high on base percentage (something Melvin and Yost have been stressing for the entire off season), and I'll be extremely disappointed if it does. Bill Hall is awesome, and last year he struggled just a bit, but that's no reason to trade him. But at the same time, i was just 1 year old the last time the Brewers made the postseason, and I would like to see that before I die. That is why I have no reason but to back Melvin 100% and agree with his decisions. I need to see a championship team.
Is the Cameron signing a precursor to a Bill Hall trade? It might be, although it also might not be. Time will tell on that one, but it may happen just because we have too many pitchers and not enough roster space to keep them all. If some team offered a good player for a combination of Vargas/Bush/Capuano/Hall/Gwynn/Gross , I'd pull the trigger on the trade if I were Melvin and it put the finishing touches on a championship caliber team.
Bottom line - I like the Cameron signing because it makes our team better. There's no way in hell I can stomach another year of placing 2nd behind the Cubs and hear those FIBs boast about their accomplishments again. I will not stand for that kind of shit. We have to win now, and more importantly, we have to beat the Cubs because my hatred for them is more than I can bear to love with. Plus, it would be a dream come true for me to see my Brewers hoisting a World Series trophy up in the air. It's coming soon, and it's only a matter of when...
- pookon -
http://www.pookon.com/
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