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Brewers Move Jimmy Nelson To Bullpen

By Connor Byrne | June 22, 2019 at 1:02pm CDT

Today, 1:00 pm: Nelson will indeed move to the bullpen, per mlb.com’s Adam McCalvy. The team has not yet announced a replacement.

Friday, 8:00 pm: Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson is back in action for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery in 2017, but it hasn’t been a storybook return to this point. The team’s now discussing whether to keep Nelson in its starting rotation, according to manager Craig Counsell (via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

Nelson came back June 5 and has since endured a difficult three starts, all of which lasted between three and five innings and ended in defeat for the Brewers. The 30-year-old has thus far yielded 13 earned runs on 16 hits and 10 walks (against 13 strikeouts) in 12 frames during his major league comeback. Adding to the bad news, Nelson’s velocity is down across the board since 2017. He has lost around 3 mph on his four-seam fastball, slider and curve.

An emotional Nelson called his early season performance “frustrating, upsetting and disappointing” when speaking with Haudricourt and other reporters, though he’s still confident he’ll return to form. Nelson blossomed into a front-end starter two years ago, when he turned in 175 1/3 innings of 3.49 ERA/3.05 FIP ball with 10.21 K/9, 2.46 BB/9 and a 50.3 percent groundball rate. It’s far too soon to say that version of Nelson won’t reappear eventually. However, given that Milwaukee’s pushing for a playoff spot, it may not be in position to keep running Nelson out there.

The problem for the Brewers is that they might not have an obvious solution to replace Nelson. Brandon Woodruff, Zach Davies, Gio Gonzalez and Chase Anderson have been useful members of their rotation, though Gonzalez has been on the injured list for three weeks and may not return until July. Meanwhile, Jhoulys Chacin, Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes and Adrian Houser have each posted unattractive numbers as starters this year. Chacin’s the lone member of the group who remains in the Brewers’ rotation. The rest are in their bullpen.

With the Brewers not getting enough from their starting staff, the reigning NL Central champions have stumbled of late. Although they’ve lost six of seven, the Brewers are 40-35, in wild-card position and only a game behind the Cubs in their division. Still, barring an in-house fix, Milwaukee may have to address its rotation before the July 31 trade deadline in order to clinch another playoff spot.

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Milwaukee Brewers Jimmy Nelson

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31 Comments

  1. dray16

    6 years ago

    Funny, Brewers fans were saying he’d put them over the top

    1
    Reply
    • Phattey

      6 years ago

      9/10 brewers fans been saying they gotta trade for pitching tf you mean

      1
      Reply
    • brewpackdeerjackets32

      6 years ago

      You’re serious? As a Brewers fan, I was happy to just see Jimmy make his way back. It was a long road for him. I knew there would be problems when he got back. You don’t miss that long of time and come back like you were. It’ll take time. I’m still happy for him and I know he’ll get it going eventually.

      Reply
  2. Kayrall

    6 years ago

    From a Cubs fan, definitely don’t want to see this happen to Nelson. Hope he gets back to form and pitches in some late season I-94 pitchers duels.

    2
    Reply
    • cmking

      6 years ago

      I agree. I thought he was pretty darn good a couple years back. Definitely wanted to see how high his ceiling would go

      Reply
      • ortsacnilrats

        6 years ago

        As a Cubs fan I’m happy to see him struggle. As a baseball fan, not so much.

        Reply
  3. Jacob Sizemore

    6 years ago

    Any room to talk about a hypothetical Matthew Boyd for Keston Hiura trade? I know there would be more involved in the trade, but as a starting point Detroit could use Hiura today, tomorrow, and yesterday…. while Boyd could give Milwaukee stability in the rotation for the next 3.5 years.

    1
    Reply
    • brewcrewbernie

      6 years ago

      No. KH is a very good hitter who’d have 6 years of control. Boyd was mediocre the past few years, granted he’s having a good first half but that’s not enough to give up Keston.

      Reply
    • augold5

      6 years ago

      Pretty sure Hiura has been listed as “untouchable” by Stearns. I think a deal around 1 of Burnes/Peralta and Dubon/Turang would be more likely.

      Reply
      • hockeyjohn

        6 years ago

        Other teams will have an easier chance to acquire the better pitchers than the Brewers. Without using Huira, and I don’t blame them for holding on to him, the Brewers just don’t have the higher profile pieces to get a Boyd or Bauer.

        Reply
    • tigersfan1320

      6 years ago

      It definitely sounds like the brewers are going after Boyd, but I’m not sure if the brewers have the kind of prospects to give up that Detroit wants. If Keston is untouchable for the most part they really don’t have a ton of talented bats which is what the tigers are going to be going after. I think a Clint Frazier for Boyd to the Yankees trade would be more beneficial for both sides.

      Reply
    • DarkSide830

      6 years ago

      Hiura is untouchable. there a few players who are truely untouchable, but he is certianly one of them. same thing with Bohm. neither is getting traded, for boyd or anyone.

      1
      Reply
      • Jacob Sizemore

        6 years ago

        Fair points. I previously and currently thing the Boyd for Frazier deal makes too much sense.

        Reply
        • Jacob Sizemore

          6 years ago

          Think*

          Reply
        • hockeyjohn

          6 years ago

          It will take more than Frazier. Frazier’s poor defense, poor attitude, and concussion issues hurt his value a bit.

          Reply
      • cpdpoet

        6 years ago

        Bohm “may” see time this year if the Phillies are still in it come August. I agree he’s not going anywhere, makes a great bookend w/ Hoskins…

        Reply
    • afsooner02

      6 years ago

      Brewers would be beyond stupid to move Hiura for just about anyone. It would have to match what the pelicans got from the lakers to get him.

      Reply
  4. User 163535993

    6 years ago

    I’m 62. One thing I’ve learned about baseball is NOBODY is untouchable.

    3
    Reply
    • Randy Johnson’s Mullet

      6 years ago

      You ever heard of mike trout?

      Reply
      • nosoupforyou

        6 years ago

        ^ You ever hear of Wilt Chamberlain? He won an MVP and then got traded the next year.

        4
        Reply
        • DarkSide830

          6 years ago

          yes, but have you ever heard of Mike Trout?

          Reply
  5. smytds

    6 years ago

    Did we expect him to be vintage Nelson right out of the gate or work his way back to form?

    Reply
    • cheesemanforever

      6 years ago

      He’s going through his spring training. Rushed back to the majors because of the other starters’ injuries, to his detriment and the team’s.

      1
      Reply
      • spudchukar

        6 years ago

        Perhaps, you and others are correct about Nelson’s progress. But comparisons keep bringing up his one outstanding season. I think it would be wise to remember that Nelson’s body of work isn’t all that impressive. Maybe he can recapture that one season form, but maybe Brewer fans should lower their expectations a little

        1
        Reply
        • spudchukar

          6 years ago

          This seems like a pretty quick hook. And hard to see viable Brewer options. Expecting Nelson to come out of gates as a dominant #1 is silly. Plus due to his early innings issues, hard to see how he helps immediately out of the pen.

          Reply
        • twentyforty

          6 years ago

          Expecting him to be anything but league average at his best has been foolish since he tore his labrum among other things. Brutal injury for a throwing athlete. While he’s young, very few arms older than teenage years return to normal from that surgery.

          Reply
  6. Matthew Heywood

    6 years ago

    I hate to see players struggle due to injury but as a cub fan it helps my team

    Reply
  7. Rob66

    6 years ago

    Just my opinion–all pitchers coming off of major injuries should start off in the bullpen for at least a month before being put into the rotation. Let ’em work on their command in long relief when the stakes are lower.

    Reply
  8. Oxford Karma

    6 years ago

    He has thrown 12 innings this year. A rotation spot isn’t exactly “his”.
    Also, he should be on a 1950’s sitcom, not a big league mound
    “And Introducing Little Jimmy Nelson”

    Reply
  9. DarkSide830

    6 years ago

    bit early, eh?

    Reply
  10. ElMagoN9ne

    6 years ago

    But why he’s been so great.

    Reply

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