The Brewers have claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Giants, the team announced. He’ll take the roster spot of righty Rob Scahill, who was designated for assignment.
[RELATED: Updated Brewers Depth Chart]
Adrianza, a 27-year-old switch hitter, could compete for a bench spot in camp with players such as Hernan Perez and Scooter Gennett, along with minor-league signees Eric Sogard and Ivan De Jesus Jr. He has spent time in the bigs over each of the past four seasons, posting a cumulative .220/.292/.313 batting line over 331 plate appearances. He already agreed to a split arb deal with the Giants that would pay him $600K in the majors and $300K in the minors.
As for Scahill, who’ll soon turn 30, the move could bring an end to his brief tenure with the organization. He allowed just five earned runs over 18 1/3 innings in Milwaukee last year after coming over from the Pirates in a mid-season waiver claim. Scahill owns a useful 3.68 ERA in 122 1/3 total MLB frames over the past five years.
Though he carries just 6.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 for his career, Scahill has generated grounders at better than a sixty percent clip in each of the past two seasons and averages over 93 mph with his average fastball. He’ll surely end up at least competing for a big league job in camp somewhere, whether or not it’s with the Brewers.
This is a foolish move. Why claim him when you can save $600k and a 40-man roster spot after he becomes a free agent and still get him.
Because every team has a shot at him after he clears, and he has to agree to the contract, and he has to declare free agency. The only foolish thing is you believe it’s foolish.
Thank. God. Finally rid of him.
Strange move. Scahill looks to be the more valuable player by far.
Yes I agree. They already have hernan Perez, scooter gennet and maybe middlebrooks or sogard on the bench and they need bullpen arms.
Middlebrooks was let go at the end of last season. Last I heard he’s in the Rangers organization.
Feel a trade coming with some of the Brewers infield depth…
Will Middlebrooks plays for the Rangers now…..Guessing Gennett gets moved soon
They might be thinking they can’t find taker for Gennett so the only way to get value for him later on is to start Arcia back at AAA, and go with rotation in the middle infield of Villar, Gennett and Perez. That’s a better overall offensive group right now. Adrianza could serve as defensive replacement late in games.
The last thing the Brewers will do is send Arcia back to the minors. He’s up for good. A waiver claim at the end of January isn’t going to change that
Arcia impacts the game greatly on the defensive side and that is worth a lot in itself. He’s young and his bat will come along but there’s no way he’s in AAA, especially since Broxton/Santana are back healthy and both corner IF spots have been upgraded on both sides of the ball (plus Susac is huge upgrade over Maldy). They need excellent defense from a premium position
I’m surprised Scahill was the odd man out and not Blazek who was awful last year, though they’ve blamed that on injuries.
They have to feel Chamberlain is going to take a spot.
Blazek was good before he was hurt–2.31 ERA through his first 24 appearances in 2016.
I don’t get why they tossed Scahill the purpose of having a below average hitter.
I think there could be a trade coming too. The Brewers have a lot of young arms that they need to start looking at. They can’t all come up at once and start their clocks. Not hurting anything in bringing this kid in to see what he has. Remember last year people thought that of Villar. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Personally wouldn’t mind seeing the other young ss traded so he could have a chance to see what he does for someone else full time. If EA works out as a reserve then we can use the others in trades
Rivera that is
There gotta be some kind of follow up move, but I doubt it will be Rivera. They’re still fairly high on him and he’s still only 24 and under control til 2022. Having him, Sogard, De Jesus, and now Adrianza seems pretty redundant though. Scooter at least supplies a little pop off the bench and Herman will be the primary utility guy. No need for 4 other middle infielders.
He wasn’t going to clear waivers; he’s too good a fielder for that. Not knowing the Brewers too well, I’m assuming that they need a good glove in the mix which Ehire will provide.
Well you’d be assuming wrong. They already have a glut of glove first middle infielders that they don’t know what to do with.