The Brewers announced today that right-hander Wily Peralta and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis have both cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
The 28-year-old Peralta was designated for assignment on Saturday, and Milwaukee was apparently unable to find a taker for him in any trade talks that may have occurred. No team felt comfortable claiming the remaining $1.4MM on his $4.275MM salary, either, so Peralta will return to the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate.
While the fact that Peralta has more than three years of Major League service time allows him to refuse the outright assignment, the fact that he has fewer than five years of service also means that he would forfeit that remaining $1.4MM in order to hit the free-agent market. Peralta will earn that $1.4MM through season’s end whether he’s on the 40-man roster or not, but if he isn’t on the 40-man at the end of the year, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.
It’s been a tough year for Milwaukee’s former Opening Day starter. Peralta posted a 6.08 ERA with a 32-to-17 K/BB ratio through eight starts this season before losing his spot in the rotation and heading to the bullpen. While his strikeout rate and velocity ticked up working in relief, his walk rate also ballooned. Ultimately, Peralta surrendered 23 earned runs on 28 hits and 15 walks in just 17 1/3 frames out of the Brewer bullpen.
As for Nieuwenhuis, the veteran outfielder spent most of the 2016 campaign on the Brewers’ big league roster but has just 16 games and 31 plate appearances to his credit thus far in 2017. He’s hit just .115/.268/.269 in that time, though he’s a career .221/.311/.384 hitter in parts of six big league seasons. He’s in a similar situation to Peralta in that he agreed to a split deal this past winter that reportedly pays him $900K in the Majors and $257K in the minors (each pro-rated). He’d have forfeited the remainder of that contract had he gone the free-agent route.
Brewers feel hard up for a starter they can gladly have Doug Fister. I’d much rather have Hector Valazquez back as the emergency starter unti brian Johnson gets off the DL, then Price eventually start.. Fister is almost as worthless as is Peralta, JC Ramirez whom the Angels are trying best to avoid a huge 2018 contract to kick in..
yep. Getting that time of the season when to crappers get canned.
I want to see which Fister shows up next, the first few starts Fister where he was god awful or the last start Fister where he pitched shutout ball.
Fister always seems to dominate against the Indians, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that last start was the exception instead of the rule
Quit complaining, Fister has major league success and HV is an AAAA player. You probably hated Drew Pom a few months ago and now he’s a top 10 ERA starter. Get over your resentment and support your team.
“No team felt comfortable claiming the remaining $1.4MM”…. or maybe no team wanted a horrible pitcher??
Kinda fun how the Brewers article has only Red Sox comments on it. Anyhow, wily stinks so does Doug.