The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed right-handed reliever Mike Morin to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. Morin is represented by Meister Sports.
The 28-year-old Morin split the 2019 season between the Twins and the Phillies, pitching to a combined 4.62 ERA with 4.6 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9 and a 40.4 percent grounder rate through 50 2/3 innings. That represented his largest MLB workload since 2016, as Morin has bounced up and down with the Angels, Royals and Mariners in recent years in an effort to recreate his terrific rookie campaign in 2014.
That season saw Morin debut just prior to his 23rd birthday and go on to rack up 59 innings of 2.90 ERA/3.08 FIP ball. Along the way, he averaged 8.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. He’s had a rough go of it since that time, though Morin’s 2019 season does provide some reason for optimism. Statcast ranked him in the 96th percentile in terms of average exit velocity allowed and 98th in terms of overall hard-hit rate. If he can continue to limit hard contact at that rate, he could emerge as a low-cost bargain option in the ’pen. Morin also only has four years of big league service, so there’s potential to control him into 2021 if he makes the roster and enjoys a solid season.
Mike Morin’s Magnificent Merkin
On my beach at night, bathe in my moonlight.
There was always be a moon over Morin.
Just another Morin posting here.
Good for him. Was fun watching him pitch when he was coming up.
Another Big Brewers signing.
Followed by another useless comment by you. Since you’re so hell bent on claiming the owner is cheap, the GM can’t negotiate any good deals, and the roster is so awful, I recommend 1 of the following:
1. Buy the team, fire stearns, take over as GM and show them both how things get done.
2. Find a new team to root for (or troll).
3. Just go tf away.
Another big idiotic comment by Karlander. Way to be consistent buddy!
You’re absolutely right. Hope the best for the guy and that he contributes, but Brewers fans are getting screwed. For 2 seasons in the not to distant past, we had the lowest payroll in baseball, but fans filled the stadium. Antanasio made bank. Now, when we’re so close, they get cheap and crossing their fingers with this pathetic offseason. And don’t give me the “small market” bs. The value of the team goes up every day. Stearns is trying to be the A’s or the Rays. Meanwhile get ready to lose Yelich in a year or two and go back to being very average. Get some bonafide pitching and a 3rd baseman.
JRF I’ll ask you the same question I ask everyone. Who exactly was Stearns REALISTICALLY supposed to sign/trade for?
Grandal was 99% not going to stay no matter what, and Moustakas was overpaid considering his age. Thames is the only guy you can argue stearns voluntarily downgraded from.
But again, who was he supposed to get? Cole? Strasburg? Rendon? Donaldson?
Even if ANY of those guys had the remotest interest in Milwaukee, making that kind of monetary commitment to 1 player is the absolute quickest way to cripple the franchise if he doesn’t put up Cy Young/MVP numbers and never miss a single inning to injury.
Are the fans thrilled with the current situation? No. But some of us at least understand we can’t always acquire the guy(s) we want or be serious playoff contenders every year.
As for Yelich, thats an interesting situation by itself. MAYBE hes the reason they didn’t ink any higher salary guys..perhaps scraping together the funds to extend him (I shutter to think what the price tag will be)? If the Braun contract doesn’t say all that needs to be said about 1 large contract causing financial constraints for a small market club I don’t know what will. Maybe the disasters that were Garza, Lohse and Suppan.
You are correct JRF, the Brewers did boast the lowest payroll in both 2016 & 2017 because we were in the midst of a rebuild. But if you recall, the Brewers surprised everyone in ‘17 and came up one game shy of making the playoffs. So what did Stearns and Mark A do the following season? They increased payroll by $40 million and then to a record $136.5 million in 2019. So basically in the two years following their breakout season, they doubled their payroll while spending an additional $45 million on a new spring training facility. Maybe you still aren’t satisfied because Stearns chooses to not overpay aging free agents or allocate 1/3 of his payroll to sign a top tier free agent like Cole or Rendon and appease the armchair GMs but to say they aren’t spending money is simply naive.
Also the teams value has no barring on the amount of money an owner has available to spend since he will not receive a dime of this money until he sells the team and I’m not sure how you operate your finances but most people don’t spend based on their net worth but instead their annual salaries.
Btw I’m curious to know which players you were targeting this offseason that, in your opinion, Stearns dropped the ball on?
As for fans coming out during the rebuilding seasons, attendance was down both years even with the 2017 roster making their late season run at the playoffs and they have not reach 3 million in attendance since 2011. So while the Brewers attendance is typically above league average they need this revenue to make up for their horrid TV contract which pays them the least amount of any team.
I totally agree with you Karlander. And they could have re-signed Thames. Dude contributed, fans loved him, and he ended up with what, a one year $4 million dollar deal or something like that. Knebel won’t be ready until midseason and who knows how effective he will be. No real pitching help and no 3rd baseman. I’m disappointed. The Brewers made tall money each of the last 4 years. This bs that they lost money last year is just that. BS
We got Bud, Liriano and Storen..Whats wrong..the Phils can’t handle all these pen bonuses after the WS win next October?
You’re absolutely right. Hope the best for the guy and that he contributes, but Brewers fans are getting screwed. For 2 seasons in the not to distant past, we had the lowest payroll in baseball, but fans filled the stadium. Antanasio made bank. Now, when we’re so close, they get cheap and crossing their fingers with this pathetic offseason. And don’t give me the “small market” bs. The value of the team goes up every day. Stearns is trying to be the A’s or the Rays. Meanwhile get ready to lose Yelich in a year or two and go back to being very average. Get some bonafide pitching and a 3rd baseman.
Go Cubs Go