Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said he “shocked” manager Ken Macha Tuesday night when he told Macha of the changes the club was going to make Wednesday morning.

“Shocked” and “surprised” were two of the main words going around in the Brewers clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, hours after the Brewers relieved pitching coach Bill Castro, optioned shortstop J.J. Hardy to Triple-A Nashville and designated Bill Hall.

Here is some reaction from the players:

First, from Hall, the longest tenured Brewer, about leaving the only team he’s ever known: “It’s something that just happens, nothing big. I’m happy about the time I spent here. [First time in] 26 years we made the playoffs here, so I had a lot of good times and I appreciate everything this organization has done for me and I think it’s time for a new chapter in my life. I’m excited about this chapter. Hopefully these guys can pull it together and turn things around. I’m definitely excited about the next chapter in my life.”

Injured second baseman Rickie Weeks on losing Hall and Hardy, his long-time double play partner: “Shocked, basically. I don’t have too many words to say because of disappointment for everyone else. But it was just one of those things where it’s baseball, it’s a business thing and sometimes it sucks, plain and simple.”

Craig Counsell on how shakeups like these affect the clubhouse: “On a personal level you feel for those guys, for sure, we all do. But the nature of our jobs is that we have to go perform tonight and frankly it doesn’t matter who’s here, you still have to go perform, that’s your job. … It doesn’t change the way you go out and prepare or the way you’re going to go out and do your job. I don’t know what effect it has [in the clubhouse]. Obviously, Doug felt he had to do something.”

And finally, center fielder Mike Cameron, who was trying to keep the clubhouse light before batting practice, on whether the moves will light a spark in the clubhouse: “Who knows what could possibly come about. There are certain things that happen during the course of the season. You saw Colorado get a spark in a change of their manager, you see some teams get guys come up and they may provide an extra burst of energy. There are a lot of things that take place, but the one real thing that’s going to happen, regardless of everything’s that going on today and different things and different situations that take place, at 7:05 [p.m.] we still have to play.”