8:06pm: Reports of Knebel being non-tendered proved premature, as he’s been traded to the Dodgers, per announcements from both teams. (More on that transaction here.)
8:05pm: The Brewers have also non-tendered outfielder Ben Gamel, lefty Alex Claudio and utilityman Jace Peterson, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports.
The 28-year-old Gamel hit .237/.315/.404 while playing outfield spots in 2020, but the Brewers opted not to give him a raise on last year’s $1.4MM salary. It was a rough day for corner outfielders across the board, with several notable names hitting the market.
Claudio, 29 in January, posted serviceable results in 19 innings but saw his elite ground-ball rate trend more toward league-average levels this past season. Peterson’s non-tender isn’t particularly surprising given his status as a journeyman utility piece who has been on four teams in the past four seasons.
7:16pm: The Brewers have non-tendered right-handed reliever Corey Knebel, Robert Murray of FanSided tweets. He had been projected to earn more than $5MM in arbitration.
Now 29 years old, Knebel was one of the majors’ most dominant relievers for a short time. At his best, Knebel threw 76 innings of 1.78 ERA/2.53 FIP ball with 14.92 K/9 and 4.74 BB/9 en route to his lone All-Star nod in 2017. Knebel was again highly effective the next season, but he underwent Tommy John surgery before 2019 and wasn’t able to return to form this past season.
During his comeback with the Brewers, Knebel could only muster a 6.08 ERA/6.64 FIP with 10.13 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9 across 13 1/3 frames. Knebel also saw his average fastball drop from around 97 mph in his peak to 94.4 in 2020. That said, he should still draw a fair amount of interest as a buy-low, bounce-back candidate in free agency.
Still young enough to have an impactful MLB career. He will get signed.
Marlins need to pick him up
What’s left in their pen for quality ? One guy?
Hmm only the 2019 NL Reliever of the year and 2020 rookie if the year… smh
Hader won B2B. Its 3 years running a Brewer RP of the year. And Kneble”s 2017 was worthy enough to be a 4th.
Um, Devin Williams? Supposedly he’s pretty good.
In all seriousness, The Brewers have the best one-two reliever punch in MLB but now have very little in their bullpen beyond that.
I think people are forgetting about how well guys like Yardley, Topa and Peralta all pitched out of the pen last season. I’d also wager that Suter has a bounce back year and is another reliever who provides a large number of holds in 2021
Sorry to see him go but that might mean the offers for Hader have been quiet. Closer experience is hard to find.
Bounce back candidate.
I don’t think he bounced the first time yet.
Seems like a pickup for the Dodgers.
Dodgers
He’s got Dodgers written all over him.
Phillies.
They should be all over every healthy, experienced bullpen arm. Tough division, getting tougher and lots of big payroll guys. I don’t think they can afford to finish last and a massive shakeup.
Please Zaidi! Should be low cost, which is the San Francisco way right now, and he has been one of the scariest relievers/closers for the last few years. Who in the Giants organization or Knebel’s camp says no?
Andrew Friedman says no.
Apparently
st louis bound. know his uncle
Will be interesting to see how his market shakes out. Enjoyed watching him suit up for the Crew. Depending how things shake out, I could see him coming back to Milwaukee on a one year deal but with the team trying to save money, that’s likely not happening.
Considering what Trevor May just signed, a team is going claim Kneble and pay him.
Looks like he was just dealt to the Dodgers. He’s coming off a bad year following surgery, so I doubt he commands the deal May got.
I saw that on twitter and I’m wondering how thats logistically possible given the non-tender news
Someone reported plans as if it had already happened, and LA slid in before the deadline with a lowball offer that is better than losing him for nothing
Ducking Fodgers got him
He’ll be lights out for the Dodgers this year, just wait and see. Friedman playing chess again…
Hard to believe this one with Gamel