The Brewers announced Tuesday that righty Josh Fields has been released from their Triple-A affiliate in San Antonio. Per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (on Twitter), Fields exercised the April 30 opt-out clause in the minor league deal he signed with Milwaukee last month.
The former Dodgers righty was off to a miserable start to the season in San Antonio, where he’d yielded eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Fields allowed runs in six of his first seven Triple-A appearances this year, though he did finish out that otherwise forgettable stint with three shutout innings across three appearances (one hit, no walks, three strikeouts), so perhaps he’s begun to turn a corner.
Since being acquired by the Dodgers in 2016, the now-33-year-old Fields has racked up 117 1/3 innings of relief and pitched to a terrific 2.61 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 1.22 HR/9. Beyond that recent track record, Fields generally averages nearly 95 mph on his heater with strong swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, all of which should be alluring to other clubs. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher thanks to a heavy reliance on a four-seam fastball, but Fields has allowed well less than a homer per nine innings pitched dating back to 2014 (even when factoring in an outlier 1.58 HR/9 mark in 2017).
You know you’re hot garbage when the Brewers don’t even call you up for that mess of a bullpen.
Hasn’t been great, but it is still early and the Brewers have played over 76% of their games against winning teams.
That is no excuse for the poor pitching. If you want to win it all you have to beat teams with a winning record. Have you seen their run differential? It is pathetic to say the least. I agree it is a marathon and not a sprint however, they are trending downward. You cannot deny that fact.
It is an observation, not an excuse. They have a 12-11 record against teams over 500.
Like I said, it is still early. I didn’t deny that their pitching hasn’t been great, I even said so much. It happens almost every year that teams have bad starts and end up decent. Look at Tampa Bay last year.
I’m a brewers fan and I couldn’t agree more lmao
Sounds like he would’ve fit right in on the big league staff.
Dodgers will take him back go ahead and drive up to Oklahoma Josh lol
Sounds like a perfect fit for the Red Sox! Their bullpen is also a disaster…
He had 3 good years in a row yet he had to settle for a minor league deal? Was he coming off an injury?
Dang, you’re right. I don’t believe there was a serious injury either. Hope the O’s or Braves scoop him up.
He should have made an effort in San Antonio. Adios.
Now this is just an observation but when the Cubs struggle like this at the beginning of a season it’s just cause they haven’t turned it on yet but when the Brewers start like this they just suck, why can’t we turn it on. I do believe it can be turned around soon too. I think they need to bring up Taylor to platoon with Braun, find room for Huira and Dubon. Then finally have a rotation of Chacin, Nelson, Davies, Woodruff, and Gonzalez with Peralta being swing guy up and down to minors for starts. Last but not least make room in the bullpen for Houser, Williams and Burnes. Brewers need to quit picking guys up like Petricka, Wilson and others. Time to see if Oszlack, Griep, Devin Williams and maybe Derby and a couple other young pitchers have whatever it takes