The Brewers have struck a $1.2MM deal with 11th-round draft pick Chad McClanahan, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports on Twitter. That’s quite an unusually high payday for a player selected outside of the draft’s first ten rounds.
It’s rather notable that Milwaukee was able to free up enough cash to draw the third baseman away from a reportedly strong commitment to Arizona State University. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy recently crunched the numbers, explaining that the club could just barely afford to pay McClanahan that amount — which is what he was reportedly asking for heading in.
The Brewers had kicked off their draft with a bit of a surprise, landing Louisville outfielder Corey Ray with the fifth overall pick after he had been in contention for an even higher selection. The club had just enough left to make its latest move, which will require it to go over its pool by 5% — just enough not to sacrifice future draft picks. There’ll be a tax on the overage, but obviously the strategic value of draft bonus space is far more important than the actual costs involved.
For their trouble, Milwaukee will land a player who rated just outside the pre-draft top-100 lists of MLB.com and Baseball America. McClanahan is a big-framed, left-handed hitting corner infielder with a projectable power bat. There seems to be a split of opinion as to whether he can stay at third, but the Brew Crew obviously feel that the upside potential in the bat is worth the risk.
Great sign !!! Worth the tax hit!!! Go brew crew
I’m really liking the direction that Milwaukee is going. No doubt they’ve been better this year than all the “experts” claimed. They just play in a tough division. I would like for MLB to reconsider alignment of divisions, especially if the DH will be in both leagues in the coming years. Example: Red Sox, both NY teams, and Blue Jays. 4 divisions would eliminate the need for wildcards…just my 2 cents.
Of course, you’d have to add two more teams..
On pace for 91 losses? That seems about right. Not sure they’ve been “better than all the experts claimed.” Unlike some NL teams, they haven’t quite finished sending off all their good players. Maybe their record is a game or two better than I would have guessed.
Considering how abysmal their CF and RF production has been, the decimated bullpen and the demotable pitching from 2/5 the starting rotation (Peralta, Jungmann) it’s a miracle they’ve been competitive.
Villar, Guerra, Hill, Carter all looking like great value pickups by Stearns.
Should adopt 2 new teams I say put one in North Jersey or Rockland County. It would put a dent in the NY/Boston markets. Maybe after a few years evening out 2 major markets with the rest of MLB. Also would add a team in San Antonio.
How bout Nashville and Portland.
A team in the Carolinas would allow for a division consisting of Atlanta, Miami, and Tampa Bay. Or Nashville. Another team in the west would create an odd number, as there are 8 teams now. San Antonio or Nashville would allow the two Texas clubs to pair up with them. There are a lot of possibilities. Fun to play with different scenarios. When I first started watching/following baseball, there were 2 10 team divisions.
Brewers should be contracted