TODAY: The deal has been officially announced.
DECEMBER 1: The Brewers have agreed to sign catcher Luke Maile to a major league contract, pending a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Details are unknown. Maile is a client of Meister Sports Management.
The 29-year-old Maile saw major league action with the Rays and Blue Jays from 2015-19. Maile then signed a major league deal with the Pirates last winter, but he didn’t play at all in 2020 after suffering a fractured right index finger that required surgery in July. He’ll bring a .198/.252/.304 line and 10 home runs in 657 plate appearances to Milwaukee.
The Brewers relied on Omar Narvaez, Manny Pina and Jacob Nottingham at catcher in 2020, but they might not bring all three back next year. Narvaez and/or Pina could be non-tendered before Wednesday’s deadline, which makes the timing of the Maile addition especially interesting.
Maile… former Ray and Blue Jay? Wasn’t he on the Pirates last season? I haven’t clicked his link yet, I just want to see if my useless knowledge bank is still sharp.
Close, he was in the organization but didn’t play for Pittsburgh
Did anyone really PLAY for Pittsburgh last year?
Ke’Bryan Hayes.
He was but he broke a finger in Spring Training and never appeared in a regular season game for the Pirates.
A career 51 OPS+????!!!
Yea, almost every single second or third string catcher in baseball is an all defense no hit guy.
Sooooo, useful to the Yankees you say?
There are precious few catchers today who can hit 1st, 2nd or 3rd string.
…???
why would Brewers sign him to an ML contract?
Why indeed. His career OPS in AAA is .594. Can’t believe that he is better than what they have, none of whom would cost much at all. I generally applaud Stearns’ moves, but this one is really mystifying. The last thing they need is another sub-.200 hitter, even as a bench player.
He’s likely taking Freitas’ place as the AAA/3rd string catcher.
I think Freitas days are numbered now that Feliciano has been added to the 40 man roster and Henry isn’t far behind.
Obviously he’s a god awful hitter but I remember with the Jays the pitchers liked pitching to him and he was a well liked teammate. It’s not that hard to believe guys.
He’s a really good defensive catcher. He’s accounted for an impressive 21 defensive runs saved in only 1600 innings of work and has thrown out 33% of base stealers for his career (40% in 2019). My guess is he’ll be replacing Pina who is projected to earn $2MM which saves the Brewers some money since they are looking to reduce payroll this season.
Threat to get other catchers to sign lowball offers. It worked. (Maybe.)
So unless they non-tender or DFA some guys, the Brewers are currently carrying 6 catchers on their 40-man roster.
That has to be mildly insulting to the Rays, even just a little bit.
As if they need another catcher with a Mendoza batting average. And 6 catcher on your 40-man roster that’s insane.
I would call it an atrocious move but he has one minor league option remaining so I’ll assume he’s minor league depth at this point in time and withhold judgement until more moves are made.
how does this guy keep getting MLB deals?
Good defensive reputation, but if he spends any significant amount of time on the major league roster it’ll be because they aren’t trying very hard to win.
Well, its not as if he’d be that much worse than the other catchers currently on the 40 man roster.
So bad that fans were really getting behind Jacob Nottingham to be the regular catcher the last few weeks of the season, and I believe he finished with a sub-.200 batting average.
Nottingham is out of options though, he could potentially be gone soon, though you can say the same about all of their catchers right now.
Right. He is. Plus Narvaez was just so awful, and Pina..who was the better catcher when healthy (with the bat too..) probably have an equal chance of being gone as well. I would give a slight edge to Pina being back (if fully recovered) because he’s been steady behind the plate and i believe most of the pitchers prefer him. But who knows.
Pina is five years older than Narvaez, has one less year of team control, is coming off knee surgery and will likely cost less than $1 M less than Narvaez. If only one comes back, it’s Narvaez.
Also, Woodruff ERA with Narvaez: 2.61. With Pina: 4.72
Burnes ERA with Narvaez: 3.18. With Pina: 4.91.
You gotta give Narvaez a bit of a pass for his struggles last season. Moving to a new team, in a new league, learning an entirely new staff, with an abbreviated off-season is a lot to ask of a catcher. Offensively his career stats are much better than Pina, he’s younger, and he’s about a league average defensive catcher (though they do love the way he calls a game).
I absolutely agree if the Brewers non tender him its going to be a mistake. Teams are giving up on guys too soon.
Word around the locker room is that he gives great massages.
Should’ve been a minor league deal. Who in their right mind would’ve given Maile a minor league deal? No KBO team wouldn’t bother signing him and he doesn’t hit enough for an NPB team.
Probably had lots of minor league offers in hand and the Brewers, for whatever reason, stepped up their offer.
The Brewers are already Maile-ing it in for next season?
I saw what you did there!!
Decent enough defensive backup, but not much of a bat. I would have guessed he’s the type of guy who could easily find work on minor league deals, but a little surprised at a major league contract. Some non-tenders expected in Milwaukee tomorrow?
Has anyone paid much attention to the way the Brewers conduct their business? This is not a surprise. Signing a AAA player to a major league contract after really being off for a year is consistent to the way the Brewers run their franchise. They are just warming up.
Either minor league depth or someone to help catch the Pitchers in spring training
Seems like even the most die hard lifers in the MIL fan base are struggling to put a + spin on this guy. We can talk all day about his defensive skills, but let’s face it – ultra light hitting catchers who can handle a pitching staff and field their position are a dime a dozen. Maile should thank his lucky stars the Brewers helped him stave off a career in insurance sales for at least another year.
Brewers trying to corner the market on backup catchers.
Jays have the market for backup catchers cornered already.