Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

The Milwaukee Brewers have done some house cleaning. They have designated utilityman/former 35 home run slugger Bill Hall for assignment, sent down shortstop J.J. Hardy to AAA Nashville and fired pitching coach Bill Castro. Replacing them respectively are Jason Bourgeois, Alcides Escobar and Chris Bosio.

Hall, who I always remember flinging his bat in disgust after striking out against the Jays in their 2006 Intro Video at the Rogers Centre, has seen his career go downhill since his breakout campaign in '06. He slugged .553 that season but his batting line is just a tick above the Mendoza line this season at .201/.265/.341. His achilles heel has been an inability to hit against righthanders as demonstrated by a .174 average this season. The 29 year-old Hall was demoted to Nashville recently but was called back up just days later when Corey Hart surrendered to appendectomy surgery.

Hardy was an All-Star in 2007 and enjoyed a decent 2008 in which he hit 50 homers combined in those two seasons. However, 2009 has been a different story as he's hitting just .229/.300./.367 with only 11 pokes. The demotion Nashville comes a week before his 27th birthday. With Alcides Escobar poised as the team's shortstop of the future, this could be Hardy's swan song in "the Good Land". Maybe they're hoping Hardy can smash some balls against the big ol' guitar at Greer Stadium and heat up in time for September. Could Hardy or Hall or both wind up in Toronto? My biggest nightmare is Hall would replace Aaron Hill and still wear number 2! Management wouldn't be that stupid, would they? WOULD THEY? Well, considering what they did with Alex Rios.........

Anyways, you may recall the Brewers made a radical move by firing manager Ned Yost in the dying days of September last season but they rallied to win the wild card under interim manager, now hitting coach, Dale Sveum. The Brew Crew are hoping this will shake the team out of its lethargy as they sit 55-57 in the National League Central, 6 1/2 games back of St. Louis. Will this wake up the Brewers or will they continue to disappoint down the stretch?

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 02:12 PM EDT.

Brewers Are Pissed! | 6 comments | Create New Account

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Mick Doherty - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 02:46 PM EDT (#204607) #

Will this wake up the Brewers or will they continue to disappoint down the stretch?

None of the above. They won't "wake up" because they are what they are. And they aren't really "disappointing" because they are what they are. Last year was the anomaly.

whiterasta80 - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#204617) #

What' are Hall and Hardy's contract's like? I'd take a flier on either of them, but I have no interest in paying for past performance. Right now our internal options (Encarnacion, Sanchez) are as appealing to me.

Helpmates - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:12 PM EDT (#204621) #

You'd be pissed, too, if you'd been flattened by the Padres the night before.

#2JBrumfield - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 07:16 PM EDT (#204628) #

Hall's deal runs until 2010 and I believe Hardy is still under the Brewers control until 2011. In the Padres beatdown last night, Adrian Gonzalez tied Tony Gwynn and two others for the Padres club record for most hits in a game with six and "Gonzo" was the only one to do it in a nine-inning game.

Denoit - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 07:34 PM EDT (#204630) #

Personally I like JJ Hardy, plays a good SS with solid bat, and still is young enough to improve. If they could get him for miminal cost, ( a couple B level prospects like a Brad Mills or John Tolisano) Then I say see try and see if he can rebound. At the very least you get a solid Major League bench player that can play SS.

greenfrog - Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 10:50 PM EDT (#204640) #

When Gonzalez was a relatively unknown prospect in the minors, I remember touting him on da Box as a potential long-term 1B solution for the Jays. (I don't think there were any takers.) Lyle has been serviceable (when healthy), but having a 27-year-old with a career 279/358/501 line (and a current line of 265/402/542) would be pretty handy at the moment.

Of course, I remember being optimistic about Russ Adams after he was drafted, and I was ready to write off Ricky Romero about a year ago, so what do I know?

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