Nine Brewers players will compete for the center field job, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes. Newcomers Keon Broxton, Ramon Flores, Rymer Liriano, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Alex Presley, and Eric Young Jr. will vie for the opportunity alongside holdover such as Shane Peterson and top prospects Michael Reed and Brett Phillips over the course of Spring Training.
“It’s the center field job, and then it’s kind of the roster puzzle that you’re trying to figure out,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They’re related, certainly. There’s a number of players, and to go through all the scenarios now seems like a waste of time. You let it go, and it kind of narrows itself a little bit, and roster decisions become a little more clear, and the make-up of the roster starts to make sense. Other pieces might affect that. So, there’s a lot of moving parts on it. There’s a number of players who have an opportunity there.”
While we wait to see how the competition plays out, here’s more out of the NL Central:
- The Reds are being very cost conscious right now and GM Dick Williams says the motivation is to improve the team in the long run, as Mark Sheldon of MLB.com writes. “We’re not saving to create a profit, we’re saving to invest in the future, for sure,” Williams said. “We’ve got the biggest amateur signing pool this year, when you combine domestic and international. We want to take full advantage of it. Obviously, there’s a lot of operational investments we’ll make as well. I talked about investing in the analytics and sports science. We’ll be investing in personnel, scouting personnel, new player development initiatives. I’ll be talking a lot about that over the course of this year as we roll things out, but we’ll put that money [to] work for sure.”
- Williams says nothing is close on the Reds possibly trading Jay Bruce or signing Cuban shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, as John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Rodriguez had previously been reported to have agreed to a bonus-pool-shattering $6MM agreement with the Reds, but president of baseball ops Walt Jocketty shot down those rumors shortly after they broke, and there’s been little in terms of new developments between the Reds and Rodriguez’s camp over the past month.
- After just one year in MLB, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang is already setting an example for Korean players making the transition to the states, as Adam Berry of MLB.com writes. Kang, a teammate of new Twins DH Byung Ho Park in Korea, has helped to forge a path for Park and countryman Hyun Soo Kim, Berry writes. Kim, a longtime friend of Kang, explained to Berry that Kang’s success has instilled a sense of responsibility in him, stating that he has to carry on the example set by Kang in 2015 to show that elite Korean players can succeed in Major League Baseball.
Niewenhuis and Liriano to start season. I Really like Phillips, he will eventually be the starter. With Broxton somewhere in between. The rest will see time in AAA.
Flores is out of options and is a quality 4th OF. I am sure some of the others are out of options as well.
Nieuwenhuis, Liriano and Flores are all out of options. Unless they are DFA’d I would think two of those will make the team. Liriano has the best all-around tools, but he struggled when the Padres called him up in 2014 after he missed the entire 2013 season because of TJ surgery. The RH hitting Liriano and either one of the two lefties would make a nice platoon.
Wow. When the likes of Kirk Niewenhuis and Eric Young Jr. are actually competing for a roster spot on your team you know you’ve really hit rock bottom
gobraves46, I think Keon Broxton is the opening day CF with Kirk Nieuwenhuis also making the roster. Keon’s development over the last 2 seasons has been remarkable…almost like someone flicked a light switch on inside his head and it all of a sudden started coming together for him. I guess it’s really a dealers choice type of pick. Kirk has more power, but Keon has better OBP, is a better fielder, and is a near elite base runner. He will almost definitely make the 25 man roster, but will the Crew favor Nieuwenhuis’s power to start on opening day? My bet is still with Keon. Rymer is an awkward case, been OK at AAA, but nothing special or as gawdy as his high A and AA numbers. And no real sample size at the big league level to gage his true talent, so maybe he is a dark horse candidate.
Disagree entirely, Broxton was really underwhelming last year – being a 25 year old at AA and then having a sub-.800 OPS at AAA isn’t really setting the world on fire. Broxton’s also a 200+ strikeout guy in the bigs with little power and he gets caught stealing too much to be taken seriously as a baserunner. He might be fast but he’s pretty clueless on the basepaths.
I think Liriano gets the opening day job, but with a short leash and if he stutters out of the gate then whoever out of Phillips and Reed is playing the best at AAA will get the longest look of the year. I would personally just give the job to Phillips and let him learn, but they might be concerned about service time.
Sometimes the raw numbers don’t tell the entire story. I’m referring to his second half primarily. Like I said, it’s like something clicked. He performed really well down the stretch for Indy. Plus, they wouldn’t have dealt something of value for him if they had plans to just stow him away for AAA depth. Unless he has a terrible Spring, he will make the 25 man. Brewers scouts obviously saw him play the way he did to finish the season and saw light at the end of the tunnel.
When you have 9 guys competing for one job, the reality is there is not one worthy of the position.. Liriano and Flores have the best offensive upside of the group outside of Phillips who they’ll not rush,, but both might be better suited for corner OF. Just Another Fan is absolutely right on about Broxton, though defensively he makes some sense. But Stearns gave up something of value for Broxton and he’ll give him every chance to prove he didn’t make a mistake.
I wouldn’t dismiss Liriano’s chances of beating out Santana for RF. Santana is a whiff machine too and he’s got an option. That could mean a Broxton/Nieuwenhuis platoon in center and Flores as the swing guy, getting some PT when they want another LH bat in there.
I actually think Nieuwenhuis will end up the odd man out. I know he’s the veteran of the group and listed as #1 on their depth chart right now, but they really want to give long hard looks at Broxton, Liriano, and Flores. I think those 3 make the roster out of camp with Phillips, Peterson, and Reed heading back to AAA until a later call-ups and Kirk being the odd man out (well and EY JR, and Pressley but I’m not sure anyone is really expecting much from them)