Comments on Cubs f/x: Ray Durham a Brewer

Put it this way, the Brewers just added veteran de...

2008-07-21T13:36:00.000-05:00

Put it this way, the Brewers just added veteran depth at a position where they are shaky, and it likely won't make or break their season, but it helps, and it was, essentically, a freebie. I think the pitcher is already 26, and Ford doesn't look like much of prospect, either.

I didn't mean to shrug it off as nothing, anon, an...

2008-07-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

I didn't mean to shrug it off as nothing, anon, and it is likely an improvement of some sort. And as you said, the Brewers didn't really give much up so who cares.

Brewer fan here, not to flame just explain. The p...

2008-07-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

Brewer fan here, not to flame just explain. The point you're missing is that Durham is a SH, more importantly a solid LH bat. Something the Brewers have been lacking.

Although they're not saying it, I would expect a platoon between Weeks/Durham.

In any case, I don't know how you can say it's a meaningless trade. A LH bat with a career .352 OBP (385 this year.)

And we give up a journeyman AAA pitcher with no upside and a low minor leaguer who's not part of any future plans.

I understand Durham doesn't have the impact of a Sabathia or Hardin trade, but I wouldn't shrug it off as nothing.

Apparently the point of the trade, Harry, was to m...

2008-07-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Apparently the point of the trade, Harry, was to make a trade. Durham is an OK back-up, probably better than Counsell, but that's 3 horrible options at 2nd base. This may or may not improve them. The fact it's hard to even figure out how it improves them is enough to say it does not improve them much if it does.

Silly trade. Then again, this is Melvin doing the trading and he's not the brightest man around.

pontif - I'm interested in your research, got a li...

2008-07-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

pontif - I'm interested in your research, got a link?

I don't think Weeks is better than Durham on defen...

2008-07-20T20:48:00.000-05:00

I don't think Weeks is better than Durham on defense. Okay, lemme rephrase that - I don't think that we can assume that Weeks is better then Durham on defense. They're both past peak age for 2B defense, and Durham has been better than Weeks over the past several seasons.

This year's RZR and ZR data both favor Weeks, sure, but that very well could be a sampling issue. I have RZR mapped to IDs going back to 2004 now, and so I hope to do projections for RZR like I did for ZR.

so, the point of this trade was what, again?

2008-07-20T20:27:00.000-05:00

so, the point of this trade was what, again?

But Durham is one of the few 2nd basemen actually ...

2008-07-20T17:17:00.000-05:00

But Durham is one of the few 2nd basemen actually worse than Weeks on defense.

You have to also realize that Rickie Weeks is prob...

2008-07-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

You have to also realize that Rickie Weeks is probably the worst defensive player on the Brewers, which is no small feat. (Okay, so he's not the worst defensive player - shockingly enough that's a guy named Fielder. But Fielder at least is a hitter. Weeks is not a hitter or a fielder.)

Durham won't make much of a difference. I'm not a...

2008-07-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

Durham won't make much of a difference. I'm not a big fan of Weeks as I think he's been wildly overrated for years now, but he still has more potential than Durham. Durham is just more of a sure thing. Weeks was outstanding for a month or 2 down the stretch last year and is capable of having a stretch of 4-6 weeks of outstanding hitting. Durham probably isn't.

Overall it's a small upgrade, but not much at all. It makes sense from the Brewers standpoint if he becomes the everyday 2nd basemen and they flip Weeks for something else. I read last night that Durham would be the back-up and that the Brewers had no intention of trading Weeks. If that's the case it's barely an improvement at all and you lose the potential of dealing Weeks for perhaps something else you need.