Article:Bill Hall: Shut Your Mouth

I know I should be writing a recap about tonight's game, which I attended, but I have a bit of a bone to pick and it holds bearing over a quality walk-off win from the Brewers.

In recent days the Brewers have called up left-handed power hitter, Russell Branyan from AAA-Nashville and have inserted him into a pretty strict platoon role alongside struggling Bill Hall. Hall is hitting a woeful .220/.292/.418 this year with nine dingers and 22 RBIs. Hall is clearly upset about the move, especially because he's been moved around like a little punk for the last three to five years, mostly because he used to be a utility infielder. In 2006 he was able to respond by hitting .270/.315/.425, jacking 35 home runs and knocking in 85 RBIs while replacing JJ Hardy who was on the DL. The Brewers responded by giving him a multi-year contract and told him he would be an every day player, which he has been. That was kind of an odd deal though. Hall was moved to center field last season to make way for Ryan Braun and was then moved back to third this season as they moved Braun to left and signed Mike Cameron. But that apparently hasn't been the problem.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, Bill Hall has apparently taken a mental break from baseball for a little while. Since Branyan has been called up, Hall has not started a game. Tonight, he was able to get in with a double switch. He got a little luck in the bottom of the 9th by breaking his back in a jam job lazy fly ball that found the right field grass. Hall would move to second on a sac bunt by Rickie Weeks, steal third and score the game-winning run on a walk-off sac-fly by Mike Cameron.

After the game Bill Hall said, "It was a lot of emotions. I want to play and I guess I'll go out and do the things I used to do with the emotions I used to have."

Are you kidding me?! Are you trying to tell me that you stopped playing with the emotion that made you a good player? That you changed things because you got moved to the outfield and back to infielder or perhaps because you got a new contract? No offense Billy, but are you a major league ball player? That is the worst thing I have ever heard a professional player say about themselves. Even worse, Billy is too ignorant to realize he doesn't deserve to play against righties.

Later in the interview, he spewed off that he he has six home runs against righties and 16 RBIs and even hinted that he shouldn't have been the one to get ousted. Guess what Billy, you should have two more homeruns and about 20 more RBIs based on your plate appearances against right handers, especially considering the number of runners on base and the money you're getting. The funniest thing is that you're still slugging a whopping .323 against those right handed throwers, even with those six bombs. I'm sorry man but in 145 PAs, you are batting .158/.222/.323 with 42 Ks and 10 BBs. Against lefties? .409/.490/.705 with 7 Ks and 6 BB. WOW! CAN YOU SAY PLATOON!? This is utterly ridiculous. Did I forget to mention you've GIPD'd four times against rights and zero times against lefties?

What good are you when a RHP is on the mound? You can be upset all you want, but in the end, the best you can do is revert to your mean, and hope for your career numbers against righties which are .253/.303/.450. Even those are below the league average. If you want to win a championship as a player, you should at some point concede the fact that you are not that good or do the work to right the train. On WSSP Hall said he had 400 more PAs to work things out. Guess what? You don't deserve those PAs and if you disagree, enjoy being traded to a team that's willing to lose consistently. If any team does that they'll have black hole over at third. Branyan is the left handed version of Bill Hall. Platoon them and you're looking at a .290 hitter with a .350 on-base and about 25-30 HRs. If you don't: In all likely hood, .240/.310 and 11 errors in just a 1/4 of a season equals 44 errors.

Sit down, shut up and appreciate that some one was nice enough to pay you the money you're getting because you've been respectful and important to this team. Don't whine because your ego is hurt by the reality of your numbers which reflect your talent, and the fact that you are being paid far too much to be a below average third baseman in an organization that has a guy that is major league ready now (Insert Mat Gamel. Yes his defense sucks but guess what? He has 11 errors as well this year, but 21 more attempts.).


 * End Rant::