The Brewers have announced the previously reported signing of utilityman Brock Holt to a one-year deal. It includes a club option.
To create roster space, righty Taylor Williams was designated for assignment. He has been with the Milwaukee organization since he was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
Williams received a long look in 2018, throwing 53 innings of 4.25 ERA ball with 9.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. He didn’t get many chances last year. In 14 2/3 innings, he allowed a ghastly 16 earned runs — though half of those came in one forgettable appearance and Williams carried much the same peripherals as the season prior.
There’s actually some reason to think that Williams is a more interesting pitcher now than he was this time in 2019. He worked to a 2.83 ERA in 54 frames in the hitter-friendly PCL. And he produced a sudden surge in worm burners, drawing grounders on over half of the balls put in play against him at both the Triple-A and MLB levels without sacrificing strikeouts. Williams sports a ~96 mph heater and 12.8% swinging-strike rate in the majors, so the groundball capabilities add to an already interesting skillset.
How much?
A one-year deal? I guess there was not much out there for Brock Holt? Most Red Sox fans worship the ground he walks on. I wonder what the dollar amount was? Maybe 5-7 million?
Wonder if its even that much. Seems like the kinda player that’s getting the most negatively affected by current spending patterns.
I figured he would get a minor league deal. Holt is a dime a dozen in today’s game and you can get a younger, more athletic, cheaper version from your own organization in most cases.
I guess if you can pull a guy from your system who can put up .360 OBP’s and play seven positions, you have a pretty good system.
Not to mention spends much of the offseason around the city where he was playing supporting charities with his wife and child, same with off days during the season making personal appearances.
Game could use 100 more Holt type personalities, same with Wakefield types (when he played) who gave back to the local areas instead of the “give me all u can” and give back nothing types we see mostly spread across other sports.
He doesn’t have a .360 OBP
In 2018 his obp was .362, in 2019 it was .369. Lifetime obp is .340.
The Lifetime Network is way better than that.
Can’t think of many players that are both underrated and overrated in the same breath to the extent Brock Holt is.
It really is fascinating
Probably less than $1m
Oh no. At least 3M & probably more. 4-5M likely.
That’s what I was thinking. 1/4.5M with a $500k buyout on a 5.5M club option for 2021
One of my favorite Red Sox player of all time. This guy gets it. The game is much bigger than just what happens on the field. He and his family are incredible people.
Brewer fans are lucky to have the one and only “Brockstar”. Enjoy him and what he brings to the Brewers.
Unfortunately for him it does matter what happens on the field. He was an average utility infielder and players with his limited experience never get signed because of their personality over their playing ability..
I think people forget that Counsel was pretty much the same type of player, so he knows what he’s looking for. Fill the team with a bunch of athletic guys with the right personality and work ethic, and good things will happen. You need guys that can get on base as well as guys who can hit them around. At least that seems to be the tactic here…
One MLB player has hit for the cycle in a postseason game, Brock Holt of the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS.
Good luck in Milwaukee. Hope he does well there.
Insightful!
I actually completely forgot about that. Its pretty impressive when you can do something no one else has done in the history of MLB
Oh ya? How about Freddie Lynn “entertaining” twin sisters during games of a double header?????
No wonder the guys body broke down
Davis seems like the kind of guy that the Rays would snag and turn into a very effective bullpen piece with significant team control.
I’d rather have kept Williams around than Gyorko
Except that Gyorko has a chance to actually make the 26 man roster while Williams was likely to be on the bullpen carousel between AAA and the bigs. Personally I’d have waived Rodriguez since he’s now redundant with Urias, Sogard and Holt all on the roster.
whoever claims Williams should try him in the rotation again. clearly there’s injury risk, but there’s also significant upside.
Is he playing for free?
Sources say he signed a 1 year 0 million dollar contract.
Haha!
Williams has the tools to be an excellent waiver pickup this time of year. I hope the Dbacks get him. Teams find gold in waivers—Christian Walker and Max Muncy come to mind. GMs have to also scout from the fringes of other organizations because sometimes another club’s overcrowded depth becomes your opportunity.
3.75M
That’s just a guess on your part.
Mariners should get Taylor Williams
Ted*
Rangers should get Taylor or Strippling.
Brock Holt is who every human being should strive to be. Brewers got a good one on and off the field. I cannot believe the Red Sox couldn’t find a way to make a deal.
You have to give the Brewers credit, they’ve definitely cornered the market on mediocrity this offseason. Not a knock on this guy personally, by all accounts he seems like a wonderful human being, just an observation on the offseason losses and acquisitions as a whole.
Mediocrity. So mediocre they’ve gone to the playoffs two years in a row and play in the NL Central which is expected to be wide open this year.
Wow, how does making the playoff the last 2 years have ANYTHING to do with his claim that they have been signing mediocre players this off season…..
Wow because the naysayers have been saying the SAME THING the last two years about how mediocre the Brewers have been….
Release of Taylor Williams instead of Ronny Rodriguez? Is Melvin back running this team? Williams will be the major leagues with someone, Rodriguez won’t make AAA.
We’ll miss you Brock
Taylor Williams is garage. good riddance
Pole shed!