Mench avoids arbitration...

[brewcrew82]

signs a one year, $3.4 million dollar contract.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Brewers and outfielder Kevin Mench agreed to a $3.4 million, one-year contract Tuesday, avoiding salary arbitration.

Mench, obtained in a multiplayer trade that sent Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers last July, hit .230 with one home run and 18 RBIs in 40 games for the Brewers last season, when his salary was $2.8 million.


Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjEdEpM72TTlY1NNChOlheIRvLYF?slug=ap-brewers-mench&prov=ap&type=lgns

[KCGHOST]

This has to make Mrs. Mench very happy.

[BeerBatter]

This has to make Mrs. Mench very happy.

And the majority of Brewer fans unsatisfied.

[brewcrew82]

And the majority of Brewer fans unsatisfied.

It's the closest thing we've had to a dissapointment this offseason...The rest of the moves I understand but this is a head-scratcher.

[The Dude]

Unless they plan on starting him...

[BeerBatter]

Unless they plan on starting him...

You can start a $3.4 million turd. It won't give you anything but a bad smell. I hope for the best but don't expect much.

[KCFAN11]

I dont understand why they would do that but we'll see what happens

[brewcrew82]

Unless they plan on starting him...

Well it looks like Yost is going to platoon Jenkins and Mench in left field throughout the season. How long that plans stays is a big question mark.

As per the article:

<<SNIP>>
With Hart taking over in right, Yost plans to return Geoff Jenkins to left field, his original position before moving in 2005 to accommodate Carlos Lee. Yost said left field is shaping up to be a platoon situation with Jenkins, a left-handed hitter, and Kevin Mench, who bats from the right side.

"My thought right now is not to platoon with Corey," said Yost, who wants to give the 24-year-old outfielder a shot to prove he should play every day.

"But with the team we've got this year, we've never had such depth, up and down our lineup, at every position. Everybody's got to play."

When the Brewers opened last season, Lee was in left field, Brady Clark in center and Jenkins in right. Lee was traded to Texas in late July when the Brewers decided they had no chance to keep him as a free agent after the season.

Clark, who was so productive in 2005 in the leadoff spot (.306 batting average, 13 homers, 53 runs batted in, 94 runs scored), fell off badly last season (.263, 4, 29, 51) and now is considered a backup outfielder on the second year of a two-year contract.

Jenkins was removed from the everyday lineup by Yost in early August while mired in a season-long slump. Injuries allowed him to become a starter again in September and he made the most of it, batting .409 with seven homers and 12 RBI.

Jenkins, who entered the season with a .256 career average against left-handers, suddenly became easy prey for them. Because Jenkins' average plummeted to .133 with only two homers and seven RBI against lefties, Yost is planning to use Mench in a platoon.

Mench fared badly (.230, one homer, 18 RBI) in his two months with the Brewers after coming from Texas in the Lee trade but is a career .303 hitter against left-handed pitchers. Jenkins has not been a platoon player in 8½ seasons with the Brewers and has indicated he doesn't expect that to change.
<<SNIP>>

There is more to the article (but not pertinent to this thread). It can be read in full here (http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=566151).

[The Dude]

I kind of like BP's mention of Braun possibley moving to RF if he is hitting well enough at the start of the season in AAA.

[brewcrew82]

It's possible. Going by what I've heard Braun's glove at third is nothing special, so I wouldn't be against trying such a move (especially if he starts out hot in Nashville...assuming he doesn't win a spot this spring).

[brewcrew82]

Here is another part of the story I posted in the Jenkins thread, but it relates to Mench and his (possible) future (or lack there of in Milwaukee):

Mench, 29, who has a $3.4 million salary, said he expected at least one outfielder to be traded before the end of camp, perhaps him. His name came up in trade talks at the winter meetings in December but general manager Doug Melvin said he never was offered enough to make a deal.

"It's kind of unnerving not knowing where you're going to end up," Mench said. "You know you'll end up somewhere; teams are going to be asking about you. I'm sure my name still comes up."

SOURCE (http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=569488)

I guess if he's going to complain about playing time whilst in spring training we can expect he won't be with us for an extended period of time.