Brewers

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Packer programming to bring a Brewers update.

Two big items in the past few days:

Claudio Vargas signed a 1-year $3.6 million deal that helped us avoid arbitration.
(That leaves Dave Bush, J.J. Hardy and Chris Capuano left in arbitration - and by the way, holy crap that J.J. only made $400,000 last year. )

and

The Brewers signed veteran outfielder Mike Cameron to a one-year deal with an option for 2009 that guarantees him $7 million. Of course, Cameron will have to sit out the first 25 games of the season for twice testing positive for a banned substance while he was in San Diego. This article says the Brewers are working on the mentality that Cameron is a good guy who made a dumb mistake. I suppose only time will tell, but this isn't a young guy.

The signing of Cameron means Bill Hall will move to 3rd base and Ryan Braun will move to left field. Everyone knew this was a possibility with Braun after last year's defensive problems, but I'm still not so sure...

This article from jsonline.com included this information :

The news was hardly a shock to Braun, who had agreed to move to left field if the Brewers acquired an established third baseman. There was no way to forecast the position switch would occur as the result of signing a centerfielder, but Braun said he was completely on-board with the decision.

"I'm excited about it," Braun said Saturday before boarding a flight from Los Angeles to Milwaukee, where he will make a personal appearance today and later participate in the Brewers' "Winter Warm-Up."

"It's in my best interests and in the best interests of the team. Whatever makes us better, I'm all for it. There's no question it's the right move," said Braun.

Braun, 24, who never has played left field, insisted he wasn't merely keeping a stiff upper lip in wake of the news. Never mind that few players who win rookie-of-the-year honors are asked to learn a new position the next season.

"I honestly feel that way," he said. "When I played shortstop (in high school and college), I loved that position. But I never really loved playing third.

"I'm upbeat about it. Trust me."

I'm actually less worried about Braun than I am about moving Bill Hall AGAIN. He took a bit of time adjusting to center and I'm worried about that again this season.

Hall contributed to the Brewers' defensive woes by committing nine errors in 130 games while making the difficult transition to center. Most of those miscues came in the early going when he was still finding his bearings.

"After the first couple of months, I felt like I made myself into a pretty good centerfielder," said Hall. "It might have cost me some offensively, but I don't think that will be a problem again."

Whether switching positions was a major factor or not, Hall did experience a significant fall-off at the plate from the previous year, when he earned team MVP honors by slugging 35 homers and knocking in 85 runs. Last season, he batted .254 with 14 homers and 63 RBI.

...

"Right now, I don't even have an infielder's glove," he said. "I didn't think I'd need one again."

The club committed to Hall with a four-year, $24 million contract last year. Now, he'd like them to commit to putting him at one position and staying there.

"I think every player likes to look out for himself at some point," said Hall. "You want to protect your dignity a little bit."

In addition, I feel like Rickie Weeks was the guy who was prime for a move due to defensive issues after his first year at second. Instead, they left him out there and gave him a chance. He cut his # of errors in half.

I have to admit that I was a little concerned about all the moving when the reasons I've heard seem to center on the "win now" attitude and fans' complaints. Not really the solid foundation we want for major personnel changes, you know? But in the same article there was this:

Nevertheless, the right side of the Brewers' infield - Weeks and first baseman Prince Fielder - are known more for their offensive prowess than glove work. Melvin and Yost decided they couldn't have three-fourths of the infield fit that profile and make it to the playoffs this year.

"We have to get better on defense," said Yost. "That's all there is to it."

And I have to say I like this reasoning better than anything else I've heard.

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Finally, this guy compares the Cubs to the Brewers mano a mano and says the Cubs have the edge and will take the NL Central next year...