Infielder/outfielder Brad Miller has opted out of his minor-league deal with the Dodgers, per a club announcement. He’s heading back onto the open market.
Miller, 29, had joined the organization in hopes of being the latest infielder to resurrect his career in Los Angeles. While he showed well in spring action, he obviously wasn’t ticketed for a roster spot and decided to test his luck in free agency.
At times in the not-so-distant past, Miller has shown big power (30 home runs in 2016) and big patience (15.5% walk rate in 2017). Unfortunately, those two characteristics have yet to show up fully in the same season. In 254 plate appearances last year, Miller slashed .248/.311/.413 — a near match for his career-average line of .239/.313/.409, which itself equates to league-average productivity at the plate.
Teams that like what they saw out of Miller this spring, when he knocked eight base hits (two of them home runs) in 25 plate appearances, will have plenty of ways to make him fit on a major-league roster. Miller has plenty of experience in the middle infield and has spent some time at both corner infield and all three outfield spots. He hasn’t been trusted much recently at shortstop and hasn’t graded as a plus defender at any position, but still rates as a rather versatile player.
I guess the Dodgers decided he didn’t perform well enough in spring training to justify finding him a roster spot.
He performed well and reports say he really fit into clubhouse; Dodgers just have incredible positional player depth.
It was either him or one of Verdugo/Joc didn’t make the roster. Just not enough space. I’m sure Farhan will be along shortly to pick up another of our roster crunch casualties.
Which bodes do well after losing a WS…
ST is most often a mirage. No one knows what guys are working on or attacking to get ready. I hope he follows it up, but he’s not great defensively anywhere and banking on a SSS is a tough sell. It would have been extremely difficult to put him on the roster barring an injury or major come around on trade value. Good luck to Miller.
I guess everybody kind of missed the point. I thought it was obvious enough.
Why even bother signing the guy if there was basically no way for him to make the club? Were they hoping he’d have a bad spring so he wouldn’t opt out?
I actually thought the same thing. He hit the best he possibly could. Why sign him if you dont want him at his best.
If someone else had a terrible Spring, or got hurt, he’s a safety net. This is a lot of hand-wringing over how the 25th man on the roster plays out.
Insurance policy in case of an injury, a PED violation etc…
But I also understand your point. Team may as well use players slated for AAA or on the 40-man to cover potential holes come opening day rather than bringing in a Miller-type only to lead him on.
You sign him, because you need bodies during ST. Whether or not he makes the team is somewhat irrelevant, because he’s auditioning for the whole league. Now would you like to have him as a 26th after his ST, it’d be nice, but even without the out he could have refused an option. To make the roster would have been extremely difficult, because it’s deep, but not sure I’m against creating competition. The point I think some are missing is amount of bodies needed as you see split squads and milb camps start. This isn’t just mlb centric. This is somewhat the nature of the beast, guy just had a great spring he may get a chance to crack a mlb roster after showing he’s healthy.
Typically teams fill out their need for bodies in spring training with minor leaguers, non-roster invites, and minor league contracts. I realize that few of them actually make the active roster, it just seems in Miller’s case his path was so obstructed that it didn’t matter how well he played in spring training. In fact the better he played the more likely it became that he wouldn’t accept a minor league assignment. Insurance, yeah I get that, but if we’re looking for someone who’s had a terrible spring, start with Chris Taylor and Max Muncy.
I don’t know. They let Fields walk. Might just be holding onto a spot for Utley again.
Lots of questionable moves, but this is not one of them. We have many hitters that fit Brad Miller’s archetype.
It appears Utley May serve in some type of special advisor role. I think he already retired. But maybe your comment was more facetious than it read to me.
Utley is definitely retired as a player. He is now a part of the Dodgers TV broadcast team.
While I would have loved to keep him, would have meant Taylor, Muncy or Verdugo going to AAA.
Hernandez has a minor league option left
I kinda thought they’d keep him as a lefty off the bench along with Verdugo. Guess they’re going with an 8-man ‘pen and a bench of Verdugo, Taylor/Kiké, Barnes, and Freese
Guy tore the cover off the ball. Would have liked to see him get a shot but they have a good amount of depth. Understand why he opted out
Good luck Brad!
I’ll give it to Miller that he plays hard, and will willingly play just about anywhere you want him too (tho he’s defensively bereft anywhere). Unfortunately, he’s just about replacement level, with a smidgen more power.
He might catch on somewhere.
Jack Z missed on basically everyone, but if Miller and Ackley are both at least average hitters in 2014(100ops+), Jack Z may have been able to keep his job a little longer as the Mariners make the playoffs in 2014 and are definitely a better team in 15 if they get any sort of production from SS and OF.
Ya let’s keep Taylor he has only struck out 20 times. In 50 abs.
Also worth 4.4 WAR. K’s a lot, but makes up for it. Smh
Open market? I have a feeling that he’s going to find that the market really isn’t that open. Pretty much closed for a swing and miss bat like his.
Taylor is done. Dodgers should have kept him.
Come on. I know Taylor is a very hot/cold hitter, but when he’s hot he can carry the offense. Can’t just waste that.
Taylor is an A+ defender and extremely versatile. He’s kept soley for his defensive abilities. Anything offensively they consider a bonus.
I rarely disagree w anything management does w this team. I’ve backed them and agreed w 99.9% of all decisions they’ve made in recent years…..but this one not at all. Joc is garbage and Miller would have been a huge upgrade. I hope something comes out to better make sense of this. Uggg
Huge upgrade? Please stop it. In no aspect at all has Miller ever been upgrade. Smh.
Joc is solid man, Miller is a platoon bench guy. Def no upgrade lol
Funny. Miller has been worth a fat zero WAR the past two years. Joc was 2.7 last year.
Vtadave. Sorry but I guess you don’t follow baseball too much. Miller has battled significant injuries the past 2 years and his playing time and stats have suffered from that obviously. He’s healthy and back to doing what he does. Also as a Dodgers fan I watch 155 games a year. Joc is garbage and his .167 spring avg compared to Millers 385 kinda proves it all.
Joc is very capable against RHP. Yes he likes to take big hacks we get it. Is he unplayable vs LHP sure. But they are built for that
So who do you think can use Miller?
Orioles/Marlins
What do you think about the Mets as a stopgap to their season starting injuries?
Giants need to sign him