Trade Deadline Review (In Other Words, a Short Post)

     "There's not other guys available. You tell me what the other guys are and I can answer that question better."                                                        Doug Melvin, after acquiring Felipe Lopez


     The previous statement essentially sums up the trade deadline the Milwaukee Brewers had. After sending two PTBNLs to the Mets for Francisco Rodriguez over the all-star break, Melvin and Co. spent the next several weeks kicking the tires on Carlos Beltran, Wilson Betemit, any of the available glove-first shortstops, and a lefty reliever, only to find each one too expensive for their tastes. This led to them going after what is politely deemed "depth", receiving some cash from Atlanta to make Wil Nieves go away, buying Felipe Lopez from Tampa Bay ("An excellent use of the $5 they got for Nieves", mused countless comment trolls/users of Twitter), and acquiring infielder/outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. from Washington.
     The Brewers were able to scrape up a familiar face with a history of spelling an injured Rickie Weeks and a utilityman capable of platooning with Nyjer Morgan in center and covering for any injuries that might arise, but the end result was rather disappointing. Rather than get an outfield bat, shortstop glove, or third baseman (any of which could potentially push the club over the edge), Milwaukee chose to plug holes and hope that a team with a barely positive run differential will be able to fight off the reinforcements of Pittsburgh and St. Louis. I'm aware that many of the options at the aforementioned positions were somewhat underwhelming and exorbitant prices were being asked for them, but it's hard to imagine how anyone could think, "Yuniesky Betancourt is the shortstop on a playoff team" or "Casey McGehee is definitely the solution at third base." (My personal theory is that Brewers brass have been lulled into a false sense of security by Betancourt's huge face.) Either way, I'm done ranting, and will proceed to take a look at Hairston.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+
1997	21	BAL-min	59	258	13	9	21	29	.330	.409	.452
1998	22	BAL-min	135	586	19	11	48	57	.302	.377	.449
1998	22	BAL	6	7	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	-100
1999	23	BAL-min	107	469	19	10	30	50	.291	.363	.424
1999	23	BAL	50	193	9	4	11	24	.269	.323	.417	91
2000	24	BAL-min	64	264	10	4	33	34	.297	.401	.447
2000	24	BAL	49	212	8	5	21	22	.256	.353	.367	87
2001	25	BAL	159	602	29	11	44	73	.233	.305	.344	75
2002	26	BAL	122	479	21	6	34	55	.268	.329	.376	92
2003	27	BAL-min	8	29	1	0	4	4	.304	.448	.478
2003	27	BAL	58	259	14	5	23	25	.271	.353	.372	93
2004	28	BAL-min	5	16	2	0	3	0	.154	.313	.231
2004	28	BAL	86	334	13	8	29	29	.303	.378	.397	105
2005	29	CHC-min	5	25	3	0	0	3	.318	.360	.409
2005	29	CHC	114	430	8	9	31	46	.261	.336	.368	82
2006	30	TOT	101	192	5	2	13	34	.206	.270	.253	36
2006	30	CHC	38	92	3	0	4	14	.207	.253	.244	27
2006	30	TEX	63	100	2	2	9	20	.205	.286	.261	43
2007	31	TEX-min	7	29	0	0	2	4	.148	.207	.407
2007	31	TEX	73	184	5	1	11	24	.189	.249	.289	41
2008	32	CIN-min	20	85	1	1	3	9	.380	.405	.684
2008	32	CIN	80	297	15	3	23	36	.326	.384	.487	125
2009	33	TOT	131	433	7	4	32	54	.251	.315	.394	85
2009	33	CIN	86	340	7	3	21	46	.254	.305	.397	84
2009	33	NYY	45	93	0	1	11	8	.237	.352	.382	90
2010	34	SDP	119	476	9	6	31	54	.244	.299	.353	82
2011	35	WSN-min	2	8	0	0	2	0	.167	.375	.167
2011	35	TOT	77	239	2	2	22	30	.266	.340	.383	101
2011	35	WSN	75	238	2	2	22	30	.268	.342	.385	102
2011	35	MIL	2	1	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	-100
14 Seasons			1225	4337	145	66	325	507	.257	.326	.371	85
162 Game Avg.			162	574	19	9	43	67	.257	.326	.371	85
			G	PA	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+
BAL (7 yrs)			530	2086	94	39	162	229	.261	.334	.371	88
TEX (2 yrs)			136	284	7	3	20	44	.194	.262	.279	42
CIN (2 yrs)			166	637	22	6	44	82	.287	.342	.438	103
CHC (2 yrs)			152	522	11	9	35	60	.251	.322	.346	72
SDP (1 yr)			119	476	9	6	31	54	.244	.299	.353	82
WSN (1 yr)			75	238	2	2	22	30	.268	.342	.385	102
NYY (1 yr)			45	93	0	1	11	8	.237	.352	.382	90
MIL (1 yr)			2	1	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	-100
AL (10 yrs)			711	2463	101	43	193	281	.253	.326	.361	83
NL (6 yrs)			514	1874	44	23	132	226	.263	.325	.384	89

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/2/2011.

     As far as depth goes, it's hard to do better than Jerry Hairston. An average hitter in his best seasons, Hairston is stretched as an everyday player, but is able to not embarrass himself at seven different positions while being passable at the plate. If those sound like back-handed compliments, it's because they are. The fifth Hairston to reach the majors can certainly provide value in a duct-tape capacity, but isn't the definitive solution to any of the problems on the left side of the infield. Just like Jeff Suppan can't be blamed for taking $42 million to be his declining self, it's not Hairston's fault that he can't simultaneously play plus-plus shortstop defense, persuade management to call up Taylor Green, learn to throw a wicked left-handed slider, and make world peace. Did I say I was done ranting?
     It's not unreasonable to hope that Hairston will log some starts at shortstop once Yuniesky Betancourt resumes being Yuniesky Betancourt, in addition to his platoon duties in center field. Of course, it would have made sense for Josh Wilson to have done this a long time ago, but he continues to rot on the bench while Craig Counsell is sent up to pinch "hit" almost daily. Bottom line, acquiring Hairston was an excellent move that did a nice job of plugging the smaller holes on the roster, but there was so much more that could have been done.