The Bill Hall move and left field

So I keep hearing a lot gripe about the Mike Cameron signing and the hiding of Ryan Braun in left-field.  A lot of people are happy and a lot of people aren't.  I'm going to break down the move briefly and discuss Bill Hall a bit.

But first some house cleaning:  I've been quite busy the last week and a half or so and missed a pretty useless move; that being the signing of serviceable, but still well below average veteran Abraham Nunez.  Nunez has been around for a while now and never ever lived up to his hype.  The key to the deal is really that it's a minor league contract and therefore offers nothing but a little bit of veteran depth in the minor league system.  Drew Anderson was waived and claimed by the Reds.  That really doesn't mean anything either, but if Nunez ends up on the 25 man roster, there's going to be a  lot of questions from this end. 

Now as for Bill Hall.  South Side Rob of the Brewer Nation blog, linked in the side bar, has a gripe with the claims that Hall's drop off last year was directly related to the position change as well as the contract year.  And he has every right to be upset, for the sole reason that Bill Hall is a dead average player, no better, no worse.  But I suggest that part of the drop off was in fact represented in last year's numbers.  To make things easy, throw out Hall's 2006 season.  Let's look solely at his 2007 and 2005 numbers.  2006 is what I would consider an anomaly amongst numbers based on his previous seasons because Hall was given a different kind of opportunity and was play for his future.  But if you really look at them, the only thing that improved was his power numbers.

2005     .291/.342/.495     17 HR  62 RBIs    501 ABs    103 SOs

2007     .254/.315/.342     14 HRs 63 RBIs   452 ABs    128 SOs

Okay, so a 37 point drop in Avg, a 27 point drop in OBP and a 153 point drop in SLG.  Most players gradually increase in all of these categories until the magic age of 30.  Bill Hall is only 28 years old and therefore should continue improvement with this bat.  His 30 HRs in 2006 were well above what he was supposed to be at and I believe that he spent much of the year trying achieve this total yet again, but it's just not what he is.  He's a .270/.350 guy who can hit 20 HRs a year if he's just more selective at the plate.

Bill Hall's mental game was clearly out of whack from the start last year.  With the new contract, a position change and the introduction of high expectations, Hall pressed... a lot.  It showed at every AB, so much so that by the end of the year he had opened his stance some more to try and make a reasonable adjustment and see the ball a little quicker.  Remember how this trick worked with Geoff Jenkins two years ago?  Yeah, adjustments don't work so well, but fresh eyes and a new season do.  I'm guessing that Hall will have the year we need from him in the field and at the plate:  My prediction:  .274/.349/.440 with 19 HRs and 70 RBIs.  And if you're not happy with that, you just found out why you're not a GM for a Major League baseball team.

Now the Ryan Braun move to left field is what baseball people call, 'hiding'.  I'll be the first to admit, I don't like the move, but I understand it.  Mike Cameron is not the answer this team needed, but it appears it was the only one available.  I agree that his talent did not upgrade the team in the least, but the team itself HAS improved everywhere on the field.  Let's disregard pitching and realize that all of the Brewers every day players are coming back with the exception of Johnny Estrada (No Jenkins was not an every day player).  Even better, these guys have the experience of a playoff race and a year of seeing NL pitchers.  But wait!  There's more, all of these guys are under contract for 3-4 more years, so finding the Ultimate answer to putting this team over the top was not all that necessary.  These guys might be able to do it themselves.

Ryan Braun could definitely turn into a quality major league 3rd baseman because he's athletic, has a canon and has good quickness.  The problem is, he's fidgety.  As a result is footwork is always off and his arm slot is different with every throw.  So why left-field?  Does it make him a better defender?  

No, but it gives him a lot more room for error and a lot more time to get the ball in and out, while not making physical errors.  I'm not a baseball expert, but I have played the game, and I have played 3rd base and the outfield.  The key difference is SPEED.  The hot corner is the longest throw in the infield and it needs to be made with little hesitation.  One bobble or mishandle while taking the ball from the glove turns a routine play into a potential infield hit.  Smooth is fast, fast is smooth.  Braun was fast, but he was bumpy and that takes thousands of groundballs to get over.  In left field, you have plenty of time to approach the ball, set your feet, square up your cutoff man and throw the ball in.  Even better, Braun will not have to rocket the ball every time.  He can take a little off it because bang bang plays at 2nd base are usually the result of hustle from the outfielder or the baserunner and if you have a good team, back-up is always available, protecting possible extra bases.

Not much else can be said.  I liked Braun at 3rd just as I liked Weeks at 2nd, but i have no gripes.  There was no way this team was going to give up a Corey Hart or Yovani Gallardo for a guy like Blalock who would be out in 2-3 years anyways, though I would consider a move with JJ Hardy next year if Escobar proves to be of any worth and we can get a above average 3rd baseman long term.  Mat Gamel will not be the man for at least 3 years in my eyes.  He just needs that many more ground balls to make me that comfortable with him.

Well that's it Brewers fans.  I may not always be right about these things, but I think I have a pretty good idea.  If you have a gripe, you better back it up, don't just say I'm retarded like half of nobodies on the JSOnline Blog.