The Brewers released Jeremy Jeffress today, but before parting ways with the former All-Star, Milwaukee tried shopping the reliever within the NL Central. The Athletic’s Robert Murray reported back in July that the Brewers and Pirates were discussing a trade that involved Keone Kela, and Murray reports today that a Jeffress-for-Kela swap was floated between the division rivals, though “talks never gained traction.”
While the Bucs were (and possibly still are) open to moving Kela in trade negotiations, the controversial right-hander isn’t necessarily a totally expendable piece for the Pirates, whereas Jeffress was clearly no longer in Milwaukee’s plans, as GM David Stearns indicated today to Murray and other reporters. While Stearns left the door open for a potential reunion with Jeffress down the road, the reliever was hampered by a lack of trust in his splitter and a loss of velocity, possibly due to a heavy workload in 2018 or a shoulder injury that sidelined him for most of Spring Training. “I think his arsenal changed this year. That’s something that’s been well documented, not only with the fastball velocity but with the loss of a pitch that had become extremely important in his repertoire,” Stearns said. “When you lose a pitch, you have to become a different pitcher and it’s certainly possible that Jeremy can become a different pitcher and be effective. We just didn’t see it consistently enough to count on him at any point this year.”
Here’s more from around the NL Central…
- The Cubs received a twin dose of injury scares on Sunday when Yu Darvish was scratched from his start due to right forearm tightness. In that same game, Javier Baez suffered a sore neck and a jammed left thumb after sliding into Orlando Arcia’s knee during a third-inning steal of second base. Baez stayed in the game before being removed in the seventh, and while he may miss a game or two, x-rays were negative on his hand and the shortstop expects to be fine. Darvish’s injury is more ominous, particularly since the righty has been dealing with the issue for his last five outings, as pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including MLB.com’s Russell Dorsey). Despite the late scratch, Maddon thinks Darvish will be ready to make his next turn in the rotation. Needless to say, the Cubs can’t afford to lose any key contributors given the tight status of both the NL Central and NL wild card races.
- Eugenio Suarez left the Reds’ 5-3 win over the Cardinals tonight after being hit on the left hand during a fifth inning plate appearance. Suarez will be evaluated tomorrow after the swelling subsides. The third baseman has continued to be an offensive force for the Reds (.261/.342/.546 with 40 home runs in 568 plate appearances) despite a worrying spike in swing-and-miss, as Suarez has a league-high 161 strikeouts.
- The Reds’ pitching has gone from a major weakness in 2018 to a strength in 2019, and while some new acquisitions like Sonny Gray and (the since-traded) Tanner Roark played a part in that improvement, Cincinnati’s biggest addition might have been pitching coach Derek Johnson. C. Trent Rosecrans and Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required) break down how several of the Reds’ arms have changed their tactics from last season now that they’re under Johnson’s tutelage.
The brew crew is dropping like its hot on pitchers….but they trade for Drew Pom
..wtf
It seems like every time I hear “forearm tightness” said about a pitcher….the next thing you hear is the need for Tommy John surgery!!! Darvish has already been through it once….second TJ surgeries are really hard to come back from!!!! Not looking good for Cubs or Darvish!!! BTW….you cannot trust whatever the Cubs management says about the situation…this is the first time in these last “5 outings” by Darvish that they have publicly announced that Darvish was having any kind of a problem!!! Before now all Cubs management talked about was how Darvish had finally recovered from last years injuries and he’s now the pitcher they thought they signed to the big contract!!!! They routinely downplay ever situation unless it’s so apparent that they can’t do anything else but to admit something is wrong!!! Darvish missing a start forced them to provide some sort of explanation!!!
Wow!!! Darvish!!! Injured!!! Maybe!!! TJ!!! DONT!!! trust!!! CUBS!!!
It’s late in the year and guys are wearing out, let’s see what happens before we go making to much out of it.
So what you are saying is “forearm tightness” is merely a symptom of “it’s late in the year and guys are wearing out”…I suggest you go to whatever search engine you use and type in “forearm tightness” and “pitching” so you can educate yourself on this issue and in the future make less statements that show how uninitiated you are on the subject!!!
Testy much??? Geez!!
Ikker, he had forearm tightness already earlier in the year. No TJ. Stop freaking out!! He pitched great his last 5 starts with it!!! They called enough guys up to make it a bullpen day!!! You kind of don’t know what you’re talking about!!!
Cool it Francis. And by the way, clown, his point has merit.
And of course you know his exact medical diagnosis because you personally consulted with his doctor. If you didn’t, please keep your comments to yourself Bane.
I suppose the same could be said of assuming this means TJ
Dr. Ikker does not agree with your diagnosis Dr. Woodguy.
As a licensed MLBTR Doctor, I can attest to a direct link between Darvish’s ‘forearm tightness’, and his blatant overuse of exclamation points.
Beware folks, this exclamation epidemic is no laughing matter.
“Cincinnati’s biggest addition might have been pitching coach Derek Johnson.”
Really?
Can’t possibly be that.
Managers / Coaches don’t matter. It’s all about front offices using analytics. The magic beans if you will.
The fact that the Reds went from a bottom 3 pitching staff in 2018 to a top 3 pitching staff in 2019; while Johnson’s former Brewers team went from a top 3 pitching staff in 2018 to a bottom 3 pitching staff in 2019 has nothing to do with the coach. It’s an outlier – maybe injuries. After all, the Reds pitching staff didn’t have any injuries,
They also completely revamped their pitching staff, so there is that….
Correct. I do believe adding Gray, Roark and maturation of Castillo weight the overall performance. The biggest development may be with Desclafani and Garrett. Lorenzen and Iglesias basically remained static.
Just glad the cubs are struggling. They without a doubt have the most obnoxious fan base in MLB history.
Better to be obnoxious than racist huh themed? Too bad that Strop keeps wearing that hat like a ghetto hood rat! Remember that comment you made?
And you are, without a doubt the dumbest commenter on here, by far. And by projecting that, probably a loser in life.
Funny how you ONLY show up when Cards are on a win streak. Funny. Now go back to your $5 Helicopter Rides in Branson.
Lol.
You’ve obviously have never been to St. Louis, or New York, or Boston. Any large market team with a huge fan base will always come out as obnoxious to another team’s fans.
Chicago fans are passionate about their teams, including the Sox, just like any other teams’ fans. The differences are usually in the amount of fans.
Themed has never been out of his moms basement
Seen my favorite team in 10 World Series. Seen them win half of those. Always had been modest of that fact until cub fans started mouthing off. That 1 little World Series in a 110 years seems irrelevant compared to that.
Who is your favorite team? It seems like you just like to attack players and commenters for no real reason
you are straight fact pure loser in life. never comment again.
Me or themed?
A Yankees fan calling Cubs fans obnoxious… classic! Lol
Baez injures himself sliding head first into 2nd base. Darvish has pitching arm tightness and the offense is looking to be broken again. Not good for the Cubs especially since the Cardinals just keep winning.Reminds me of 2018 only the Cardinals are this seasons Brewers.
Except that the cardinals are very different from the Brewers…Flaherty, Hudson, mikolas…Goldy, Dejong, Wong, Bader…they have pitching and offense for a substantial future
Descalso up, Kemp stays up and Bote goes down? Today Maddon pulls Hendricks after 81 pitches, 3 hits and one walk? Maddon MUST go and Epstein SHOULD go. It honestly looks like they are trying to lose. Anybody that would play (even keep Russell) should go. Losers bring losing. Time for major changes … at the top.
Worked out pretty well, they pulled him because they need hitting not pitching. If you watched the game you would have seen that