The Rays have designated infielder Brad Miller for assignment, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. His roster spot will go to Jake Bauers, who has been called up as expected.
Miller, 28, was a non-tender candidate and a trade/release candidate throughout the offseason after struggling through a dismal 2017 campaign, but he agreed to a $4.5MM salary to avoid arbitration and broke camp with the club at the end of Spring Training. To his credit, he’s done a nice job of rebounding from last year’s dreadful .201/.327/.337 slash. Through his first 174 plate appearances in 2018, Miller has hit .256/.322/.429 with five homers, 10 doubles and a triple.
While that slash line is above the league average, it’s also dependent on a .343 BABIP that is way north of Miller’s career mark of .287. That trend is all the more concerning given that Miller is putting fewer balls in play than ever before; he’s striking out at a career-worst 29.3 percent pace in 2018 and carries a fairly characteristic platoon split that has rendered him largely unplayable against left-handed pitching (.639 OPS against lefties in 35 PAs).
The hope for the Rays, clearly, is that Bauers can provide an offensive spark. He’ll give the Rays a left-handed bat to replace the lefty-swinging Miller and a considerably better glove to play at first base. He also comes to the big leagues with more outfield experience than Miller has, so he’ll give manager Kevin Cash an option in that regard as well. Bauers has crushed left-handed pitching in a small sample so far in 2018 and posted a .396 OBP against lefties last year as well, so he also represents a more well-rounded offensive player, in theory.
Tampa Bay will now have a week to either trade, outright or release Miller, who is owed about $2.79MM through season’s end. That salary makes it tough to envision a straight waiver claim taking place, but Miller has a bit of defensive versatility (even if he’s not a plus defender at any position) and has a track record of hitting right-handed pitching well. It’s possible, then, that the Rays could find a taker on the trade market if they agree to pay down a portion of that remaining sum.
Well, Jake won’t have to worry about playing time
This was bound to happen. I guess someone will either claim brad miller or sign him to a milb deal.
Wtf Tampa
Do you mean WTF Tampa, why didn’t you make this move last year? Miller’s awful! This was a long time coming.
He’s a pretty average hitter with an unreliable glove at best. At first I didn’t care to much for the move but now it doesn’t matter to me. Miller won’t be apart of the future team as he is 28 and is owed enough money as it is. We want our younger dudes to get more playing time anyway. Carlos Gomez should be next IMO.
Seemed like he was having a decent season, however he was awful last year.
He’s bad. Can’t field and can’t hit enough for DH.
He’s not having a good season. Slightly above average at the plate, but well below average wherever you put him in the field.
Saving money; saving money.
Or the exact opposite. Bad assumption.
The fans have to pay for the deposit on the new stadium. 3 yrs of revenue sharing should do it!
They would have saved some had they DFAd him during ST. Now not so much. He’s just hasn’t been very good and defensively well.
How are they saving money Assumptions? No one is going to sign Miller and take on his salary, which means the Rays are on the hook for the rest of this year’s salary. Nothing infuriates me more than the uniformed slandering the Rays as a team mailing it in this year. Actually, the Rays have a number of top 100 prospects in AAA and are promoting them to the Majors this year. Arroyo and Bauers are permanent call-ups and Adames will likely be called up before the end of June. Replacement level players like Miller have to go.
Can he still play SS or are those days over for him? Could have a lot more suitors if that is the case.
He can’t play defense anymore he would be lucky to get another mlb deal
He actually looked very good defensively against the Red Six recently.
LOL. He can’t even hold down 1B.
Claiming team would assume the remainder of Miller’s $4.5M contract for 2018 (approx $3M) plus he has one more year of arb eligibility, so the claiming team would have the option to non-tender him after the season. If he goes unclaimed on waivers (I believe) he can either accept assignment to minors or sign with any team for the prorated league minimum while TB eats the remainder of his 2018 salary. His numbers aren’t bad, so given his ability to play any INF position some team may be willing to pick up the rest of his salary. Angels?
I was thinking Mariners if he clears.
Volgebalm for Miller and a Million good trade for Seattle and Tampa
Agreed. Win-win
no way!
We don’t need Miller but you can have Vogelbach.
Horrible waste of money for the m’s to take Miller back. Vogelbach also has a lot upside and hasn’t been used correctly this season. I think he’ll figure out.
Vogey has 10 HRs in AAA so far, hope he keeps it up so he can build up his trade value- a young team controlled asset has value. Why on earth would the Mariners take Miller back- he’s played 4g against the Mariners this year and looked horrible in each. Remember the error at first base that helped us on another come from behind win? I’d be horrified if we got him
If by playing any INF position means standing in the appropriate spot…yes.. Hes horrific defensively..any ball thrown to him is an adventure including those not in the dirt.
Not the Angels. It prob will be the Rangers
REJOICE
Any chance Baltimore picks this guy up? Lol
Baltimore has an abundance of infielders we need pitching
We need both. There’s no long term answer at 3rd or SS Unless you think Mountcastle sticks at 3rd and Beckham is a viable starting SS. Cause Machado is halfway out the door and Schoop might not be far behind him. Brad Miller doesn’t help any of that but once Machado is gone they’ll be abs available in the infield. Miller is the exact kind of player we dont need though.
Let’s see: he can’t hit lefties, check. he strikes out a ton, check. he “plays” multiple positions (but mainly 1b), check check. Well I think that proves it. Welcome to Baltimore Mr. Miller
Tampa’s front office has really made some bad decisions in the past 2 years. They are going nowhere, fast.
This however is not one of them….
Really? They gave him $4.5MM in the off season instead of just non-tendering him.
In other words, this was a reaction to a bad decision 6 months ago.
I thought you were referring to the DFA.. yes..not releasing him in off season was definitely a mistake
Exactly. Tendering him and dumping Dickerson was beyond stupid.
Exactly. If anyone is thinking that this is about being typical Rays saving money…you haven’t seen him play this year. Tons left on base striking out.
It’s a great decision, get him out, Bauers can just play.
But anyone could see Dickerson was a better player, but they chose to tender Miller and dump Dickerson for nothing. The front office is awful. No vision. No plan.
Perhaps Daved, but this isn’t one of them.
Don’t you dare do it, Jerry. Seattle does not need this man back.
better option than romine
Debatable
I wonder if Seattle could use his services?
I can see Mets sighing him. He can play 2nd SS 3rd
Certainly better than Reyes at this point. Wouldn’t be a bad acquisition for them.
Right up the Mets alley, but only at prorated league minimum.
Absolutely true nonetheless a very terrifying comment.
If Hanley is still available at minimum, Miller won’t be claimed
True, very true
The last couple of seasons their numbers have been similar, 107 OPS+ vs 103 OPS+, but I would expect more out of Brad Miller moving forward. Miller is still only 28 and will have the platoon advantage the majority of PA being LH. However both players are similar in their upside being bat only poor defensive IF with average to slightly above average bats.
Yet Cleveland hasn’t released Kipnis, who’s doing worse. Yeah yeah, I know, owed too much money still. Just saying, is all.
Correct. Kipnis is owed about $30M for 2018 and 2019. Tribe won’t eat that. In fact he’ll start at 2B come hell or high water at that salary (which no other team will even think about taking on). CLE is stuck with him for the duration.
Much like the Cardinals are stuck with Dexter Fowler.
Unless maybe they want to swap contracts…fingers crossed
About time Ray’s flsuh BM
M’s need to jump on this ASAP
That would be worse than the Ichiro acquisition. Still can’t believe we paid actual money for a cheerleader and batting practice pitching coach
I know he was @ 4.092 years of service pre-season, but has he reached 5? If he has then he can elect free agency without losing his $ and that would have a big impact on whether he clears or is traded.
If he’s under 5, I could see somebody trading for him in a minor move that would consist of the Rays eating a bit of cash and getting a meh prospect but if he’s over, he’s clearing and will sign a big league deal with somebody in short order. Plenty of teams could use him.
I think he was at 4.094, which means he is barely short of 5 year service time. I think just about a week away from that mark.
The 4.094 means Brad Miller entered the season with four years and 94 days of MLB service.
An MLB season has roughly 172 days so Miller remains well short of five years of MLB service.
fangraphs.com/library/principles/contract-details/…
Perhaps Brad Miller is getting close to five years of MLB service, now in the third month of the MLB season.
The Mets will sign him. This is right up Sandy’s alley.
Now I get why they made the move now. He would have hit five years within the next week or so.
Probably more likely the move was made to bring up Bauers now that Super 2 has passed.