June 11: Tampa Bay is covering $2.209MM of the remaining $2.709MM remaining on Miller’s contract through season’s end, according to the Associated Press. Choi’s split contract calls for an $850K salary in the Majors and a $250K salary in the minors, and he’d be owed about $513K through season’s end if he were to spend the rest of the year in the Majors. That doesn’t seem likely to be the case, so the Rays will save a bit of money while paying Choi at his minor league rate of pay, though the overall cost-savings in the deal look to be more or less negligible, even for a cost-conscious club like Tampa Bay.
June 10: The Rays have dealt infielder Brad Miller to the Brewers for first baseman Ji-Man Choi, as announced by both teams on Twitter. Tampa will also send some cash to Milwaukee as part of the deal. Miller and Choi have each been optioned to Triple-A with their respective new organizations.
Miller was designated for assignment earlier this week, though he had hit respectably well (.256/.322/.429 with five homers) over 174 plate appearances for the Rays this season. Beyond those decent batting numbers, however, Miller brought little else to the table — he has continued his career-long struggles against left-handed pitching, and has posted below-average defensive numbers wherever he has played around the diamond. Miller is also coming off a rough 2017 campaign, so it could be that the Rays sought to sell as high as they could on him while he was still productive, in order to get at least some of his $2.79MM in remaining salary off the books.
[Updated Brewers and Rays depth charts at Roster Resource]
Though Miller doesn’t bring much defensive value as a shortstop or second baseman, he can at least offer the Brew Crew some extra pop at both middle infield positions. Jonathan Villar hasn’t done much against righty pitching over the last couple of years, while defensively-gifted shortstop Orlando Arcia is suffering through a dreadful year at the plate. Miller and Arcia could form a platoon, with Arcia stepping in as a late-game defensive replacement on days when Miller starts, plus the Brewers also have veteran Eric Sogard in the bench mix.
Middle infield was a weak spot for a Brewers team that is fighting for a postseason berth, and the low-cost addition of Miller could mean that the club won’t seek out more substantial second base or shortstop help at the trade deadline. Miller also adds a bit more depth to the roster at first base and in the corner outfield positions, though Milwaukee is already pretty set at those spots.
Choi signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last offseason that guaranteed him $850K if he reached the majors, so he’ll only add another $510K or so to Tampa’s payroll. The 27-year-old hit .233/.281/.500 over 32 plate appearances for the Crew, getting some time at first base with Eric Thames and Ryan Braun hit the disabled list. (Just yesterday, in fact, Choi hit a pinch-hit grand slam in Milwaukee’s 12-3 rout of the Phillies.) The 27-year-old will essentially replace Miller as a left-handed hitting option in the Rays organization, though the team is currently giving top prospect Jake Bauers (another lefty bat) a chance to stick in the big leagues as a regular first baseman.
Blockbuster trades starting early this year? 😉 excited
How is this blockbuster? If it was two years ago with Miller it would have been a lopsided trade.
Just a hunch, but I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic
It’s a blockbuster for Tampa.
Lol Tampa Bay and Miami need to relocate
They really. Marlins should have never been approved for a new stadium. They’ve never sold out. They’ve never had more than 15k fans show up.
The Rays are the one that needed a new stadium. Move them to Las Vegas and move the Marlins to Montreal.
Love this for the Rays
What!?! Why would Milwaukee do that??
This makes complete sense.
Mark, in the analysis could you include Miller’s defensive stats and his splits vs right and left handed pitching?
Ji man is a he man!
Kudos to the Rays who actually got something for Miller instead of DFAing him and just eating the contract. Choi won’t give them much more production than Miller did, but oh the price is nice.
Can’t really comment on the price until you see how much the rays are sending to Milwaukee.
If it’s $1.37, it works for the Brewers. Miller is better than Sogard.
They could have done this before he hit the slam against the Phils? …oh wait, that wouldn’t changed the result ….
Too bad the Brewers don’t have a guy like Gennett…
Bitter Brewers fans downvotes lol
Why didn’t the Brewers trade for Walker instead? I know he has about 4M left this year but he is at least a capable everyday player at multiple positions.
Miller has been better than walker this year.
That’s exactly what Miller is lol
Neil Walker? He can stand around at second and third but he’s not any good there. I’m interested to see what CHoi might do with a bit of regular playing time.
Miller in Miller park, this sounds like Ueker had a say in this trade.
I hear Scooter is available, too bad they already dumped him once.
Careful Brew fans gonna downvote ya…
Brewers didn’t dump Gennett, he wanted out. Now he’s playing for his hometown team, and has already said he doesn’t want to be traded. Those are facts.
My opinion is, even if he was open to a trade, Milwaukee wouldn’t be high on his list of preferred destinations.
Brewers chose Villar over Gennett, they dumped him. An arbitration platoon 2B doesnt get released because he wants out, thats just silly.
Yes, they chose villar..to be the 2b. They asked gennett to become a utility player, and he then asked for his release, because he didn’t want to do that. Funny thing is, he had no issue with the idea..once he was picked up by the Reds. You say “dumped” I say “granted his request for release because he was a baby who insisted he somehow had proven (then) to be an everyday 2nd baseman and made it very clear he preferred to play for Cincinnati than play at all for Milwaukee.”
funny. If you guys had just believed in in him one More year you’d have an all star on your hands. Now you’ve got a black hole.
A. Hindsight.
B. Villar is doing fine this year.
C. Again, Gennett didn’t want to be in Milwaukee. He grew up in Cincinnati, and wanted to play there.
You’re an absolute idiot. The brewers dumped gennett and offered villar a long term deal. Which he turned down. Because just like you, he’s an idiot. The reds CLAIMED GENNETT. You idiot. He didn’t choose to go there. Other teams had a chance to grab him and had they done so he would have played there.
Still doesn’t change the fact that gennett is the one who wanted out-of Milwaukee, NOT Milwaukee just deciding one day “hey, let’s be idiots and dump a guy who isn’t very good (which, by the way at that time, he wasn’t) in favor of someone else who is worse (which was false at the time, but let’s not let ANY facts get in the way of our revised history) just for laughs.”
I’m curious though, since you clearly have all the answers, how many teams had a chance to CLAIM HIM before the Reds did so? And how many of them wanted a 2b who had already refused to play another position and wasn’t very good at that one?
probably just a safety valve in case Jake Bauers fails.
Are people supposed to get excited about this?
AAAA player for AAAA player? No don’t think so.
A quality player for a nobody in order to save some money. When will the Rays start trading for talent instead of cash savings?
Wilson Ramos is earning his salary, but he’s next simply because he’s making too much money. Valuable trade chip, but something tells me TB will sell low to whoever takes the rest of his 2018 salary. Rays are in the process of a very lowkey fire sale.
As soon as a new home is found.
u flicking brewers couldn’t u do that after Friday’s game , really. and braun are u on peds every fricking time u visit philly u lying piece of crap. you will always be a cheater. all of your stats don’t count.you are a ped bum just like aroid enough venting
Another Colangelo burner account??
The Crew should paint Citizens Bank Park all around Miller Park so Braun can’t tell the difference. I think his average went up 50 points this weekend.
BTW, you sound a little bitter.
That was painfully hard to read. Thanks.
Is Steve Cox busy? Might just give A-Gone a call at this point. Need as much first base help as possible.
It seems like Tampa likes players that have been in the Seattle system at one time or another. We have a AA pitcher and an A ball OFer we will give you for Archer. They have a lot of upside.
I forget the details exactly, but I think Tampa and Seattle know each others farm systems pretty well because of past trades and thus they have a familiarity in those players. It becomes a safer bet to deal for those you have previously done homework on.
Even if Choi was putting up Mike Trout type numbers the Rays would still stash him in the minors for the rest of the year since they’ll save about $300K doing so. Cut that team salary to the bare bones, baby!
What’s really funny is that now the Rays are paying…(a) 6M to Daniel Hudson to pitch for the Dodgers…(b) 4.5M to Alex Colome to pitch for the M’s , and (c) 3M to Brad Miller to play for the Brewers……
And NEXT year they’ll be paying Longo to play for the Giants…….
weird team, them Rays……
Yea seems like a major league type situation lol. Just want to be so incompetent so they can move. I was shocked when it came out that they gave the Giants nearly 20 mil for longos salary.
Rays are succeeding in making the Marlins’ operation seem like a well oiled machine, but they still have a ways to go to eclipse the ineptitude of BAL.
It’s actually painful to watch Duquette and Buck go down in flames because of the owner, who probably isn’t a bad guy, but the brain cells have been dying off……… Ya, they’re at the point where they need a total rebuild….gonna be a few years…..
Move Tampa to Montreal they are a joke. They average about 11,000 a night unless the Yankees or Red Sox are in town. The stadium is a joke along with the team. And I’m sure anyone who makes more than the peanut vendor gets traded.