Free agent righty Neftali Feliz is close to agreeing to a deal with the Brewers, Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman writes (Twitter links). BrewerFan.net’s Jim Goulart was first to tweet a connection between Feliz and the Brew Crew.
The 28-year-old Feliz is coming off a strong comeback season in the Pirates’ bullpen in which he posted a 3.52 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 53 2/3 innings. (He missed the last month of the season due to arm discomfort, but his injury was not structural in nature, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Feliz also began the year throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and added velocity as the season went on, a promising sign for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and spent several seasons thereafter trying to get back on track.
The Brewers could represent a good match for Feliz. He has 99 saves’ worth of career closing experience, and in the wake of a variety of Brewers trades of established relievers (including Jeremy Jeffress and Tyler Thornburg), he could receive the opportunity to close in Milwaukee. If he does, he could potentially receive a very lucrative contract the next time he’s a free agent. The rebuilding Brewers, meanwhile, would get the chance to dangle Feliz as a trade piece at the deadline, assuming they do fall out of the playoff race. The Brewers have reportedly been looking for relief pitching lately — GM David Stearns has said he’s exploring the possibility of adding relief help not only through big-league additions, but through minor-league signings and trades. The Dodgers had also been connected to Feliz of late.
Hopefully with the Braves
That is not how you spell Brewers
Totally off topic, but why is the Chris Iannetta signing not a top story? I haven’t been on here for like a day and I would have totally missed it if I hadn’t sorted through every single post. Seems significant enough to be a top story I gotta say.
There was a post about it yesterday, you need to do your research before you complain about something.
haha the Ianetta signing is one of the top like…10. what do you mean?
You all must be on mobile, cxcx is referring to the website, you can see a list of top stories or a list of all posts on MLBTR. With all the arbitration posts it’s easier to just check the top stories if you’re short on time and want quick news.
Thank you, yeah I was referring to the “top stories” section…perhaps I should have put it in quotes or something.
Relatedly, in checking if Iannetta made honorable mention on the Top 50 free agents lists, I noticed not only that he didn’t (which is fine, not an Iannetta fan or anything) but that Daniel Descalso did. I have to ask, what is up with that?
Download the app. They’ll give you notifications on when these signings happen. Really handy
Because its Chris Iannetta
He sucks lol
Chris Ianetta hasn’t been a top story… ever..
Because its not 2012 and he sucks.
Come back to pitt pleaseee
That moves the needle!
The Brewers are also nearing a deal where they’ll trade Feliz and his 15 saves to a contender in late June/July for some quality prospects.
That’s what the pirates usually do with guys like that.