The Milwaukee Brewers are looking for shortstop help, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Haudricourt said the Brewers would like to upgrade at short, a position that has been maintained in 2012 by Alex Gonzalez, Cesar Izturis and Edwin Maysonet. Brewers management has said that any move is expected to be minor, as there are unlikely to be many shortstops available this summer.
The Brewers entered the season with 35-year-old Alex Gonzalez as their everyday man at short. Gonzalez was able to get off to a decent enough start with the Brewers, posting a line of .259/.326/.457 over his first 81 at-bats. Unfortunately for Gonzalez and the Brewers, a knee injury has sidelined the veteran for much of May.
At this point the Brewers are working with a duo at short consisting of Cesar Izturis and Edwin Maysonet.
Izturis has offered teams a slick-fielding, light-hitting option at shortstop for the past decade-plus. While he was initially able to hold his own at the plate, at least enough to make it worth playing his glove in the field, Izturis’s bat has continued to decline, as has his fielding. Over his 85 at-bats for the Brewers this season, Izturis has only mustered an OPS of .463.
Maysonet has spent the past several seasons playing solely in the minors. Over his 21 at-bats for the Brewers this season, the 30-year-old has also posted an OPS south of .500; .468.
While it’s easy for the Brewers to say they’d like to upgrade at shortstop, actually doing so will prove much more difficult. There aren’t any big names to be had this summer, and the pickings will be slim for Milwaukee. Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTR.com speculated that veteran options Marco Scutaro and Jamey Carroll could be available this summer, and this should provide an idea of the lack of viable options expected to hit the market.
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