March 17: Miller has been signed to a two-year contract, the Rangers announced Thursday. It’s a $10MM guarantee for Miller that’ll pay him $6MM in 2022 and $4MM in 2023, tweets Chris Halicke of Sports Illustrated.
March 15: The Rangers have reached an agreement with free agent infielder Brad Miller tweets MLB Drops. The financial terms of this deal have not yet been reported.
The 32-year-old Miller is coming off a decent season with the Phillies, as he batted .227/.321/.453 (107 OPS+) with 20 home runs in 337 plate appearances in 2021. Additionally, Miller lined up at both outfield corners and every infield position besides shortstop last season. Defensive metrics have been bearish on his performance at most of those positions, though there’s little denying the utility of a bat-first player who can play five positions in a pinch.
While Miller is coming off his third straight above average offensive campaign, his limitations are reflected in that modest plate appearances total. After seeing fuller playing time earlier in his career, the left-handed Miller has been platooned with greater frequency in recent years. The results bear that decision out, as the former-Phillie has a lifetime .610 OPS against left-handed pitchers but a solid .780 OPS when holding the platoon advantage. Last year’s splits were even more drastic, as those OPS numbers dipped and climbed to .538 and .842, respectively.
The signing makes ample sense for a Texas squad that has playing time up for grabs at third base and in the outfield. After losing top third base prospect Josh Jung for most of the season to shoulder surgery and parting with Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the deal that netted them Mitch Garver, the Rangers very quickly found themselves without a slam dunk starter at third base. That may well continue to be the case after this signing, as Miller has just 49 big league games at the position to his name.
Texas now seems primed to platoon Miller with some combination of its incumbent third base options, Andy Ibanez and Nick Solak, who have each shown demonstrably better against left-handed pitchers in their brief careers. Because of all three players’ ability to bounce around the field, manager Chris Woodward should have no trouble finding at-bats for the trio, barring future additions.
The addition of Brad Miller to a Rangers team coming off a 60-win season is the continuation of a busy winter for the front office braintrust of Jon Daniels and Chris Young. After a season in which the Rangers did very little competing, the young talent from last season’s team will now have to vie against their new veteran teammates for maximum reps. Given the pace of their offseason so far and the amount of players jockeying for a large role on an improved 2022 team, the Rangers’ truncated spring training camp figures to be one of the league’s most hotly contested sites in the coming weeks.
The Rangers are trying and that’s good for baseball.
And to sign a guy who doesn’t wear batting gloves. Bring some manliness back to this wussy sport.
Pete Rose wore batting gloves.
So did Frank Thomas. Fight him.
Yeah I’m sure the rugged men of yesteryear would define “manliness” as typing your opinion of a backup baseball player into a baseball website comment section. So manly, so tough.
Thx for visiting fake masculine guy ⚾️
@despicable so you never swung hard enough to need extra grip? I’m sorry
Ya know what for some reason this is just true. I’ve watched the game for 30 years and I never noticed, but as soon as you I read it, it’s true! the game is better when the rangers are competitive….. and this is coming from a jays fan!
The game is better when most teams are competitive, especially bigger markets that draw well. Nothing like watching baseball with an enthusiastic full house. That said, until the Rangers show they have pitching, the team will burn itself out by August. Not just the Rangers but many teams. 162 games requires it.
The game is better when fans shut up and don’t have stupid ignorant opinions. For every team that isn’t trying (usually because they have no shot at winning) there’s 5 teams that are operating within a budget and get better despite the fans saying they aren’t trying to win but they forgot their idiotic takes from March in sept when they team makes the playoffs.
Rangers season will be a complete flop and that’s bad for the franchise long term because the old Semien and Seager get the worst the contracts get.
Yeah whatever I got news for you the rangers will be better and the mariners sure as hell won’t win 94 games as predicted by the so called experts.
Iverbure: agreed and thanks for your input since so many on here seem to view only your opinions as incredibly astute….
Couldn’t agree more dale123.
The fact that this man keeps signing MLB contracts is the biggest argument against future expansion.
Harper and Miller were the Phillies offense last year
I saw a lot of the Phillies game last year.
Yes, at times Miller got hot. Mostly he didn’t; and he can’t play D anywhere nor can he run the bases.
If he in fact was the offense along with Harper (I guess you missed Realmuto, Segura, Hoskins and others), then I can’t understand how Dombrowski let him get away….or how he lasted this long in FA.
And how did that work out in the end?
I mean, the guy can still hit plenty against RHP, he just should never have been given a fielder’s glove. He’s a DH who’s playing the field his whole career pretty much. Surprised he didn’t hook up with another NL team now that they can actually play him at DH.
Ya know what’s really funny? I saw him play a bunch of SS in college and didn’t think he was terrible. I don’t know what happened.
He’s a real nice addition though.
It’s also a pretty big indictment of the game in general when you can keep getting paid when all you have to do is swing as hard as possible, and if you hit it, good for you.
Who needs actual bat to ball skills when you can just run into one 20 times a year, and who cares about the other 500 ABs?
Joey Gallo has entered the chat
At least Gallo plays good defense and walks a ton. It somewhat offsets his .200 BA with 200+ K’s a year. With Miller, he appears to only be able to hit lefties every now and then. No defense or anything else to add.
How will guys like Gallo be affected by the shift-ban in 2023? Will he be a .230 hitter? .250? Still be at .200?
I wonder.
Um if he was up 500 times, he probably would have hit close to 30.
I’m amazed we’re using Brad Miller as an example of the worst of the worst. There are far lessor ball players around….
For the record, I am happy with the signing. I just wish he did have something else to add. I know that he can play multiple positions, but none of them particularly well. He also seems to have some pretty big splits. But, he does have pop, which is great for a Rangers offense that was anemic last year.
The Rangers main offense consisted of Gallo, Garcia, and Lowe. Once Gallo was traded it was just Garcia and Lowe. The additions of Semien, Seager, Calhoun, Garver, and now Miller will definitely take the strain off of the younger hitters. But also the pitchers who can actually go out and pitch and not have to worry about giving up three runs and losing
Were theses lesser players signed to two year deals?
When you’re “a bat first” player and you hit .227, that defense must really suck!
The fact that you evaluate a hitter only on batting average says it all. It’s 2022.
Texas is going to be in alotta 13-10 games at this rate. The lineup will be heavily improved, but the pitching will be atrocious and there’s not much left of it in terms of high quality.
Depends on how the young guys do, there is so much youth around the Rangers its hard for me to really figure out what I think. I largely agree with you though.
It should be entertaining. I’ll plan on a late night when they visit here.
THANK YOU! THEYRE LISTENING TO ME! I CALLED THIS SHET, LSB! CALLED IT!
He clobbers righties but doesn’t have a position
Kinda weird for the Rangers to sign him when they already basically have him already in Willie Calhoun (lefty hitter who mashes righties and has an iron glove). Bit of an awkward fit, but at least it strengthens the bench I suppose.
He’s gonna be the perfect platoon partner for Ibanez at 3B. Ibanez smashes lefties and Miller smashes righties. Nice to see 3B is still gonna be a valuable position for us even with the absence of Jung.
Yep! I still want Davis Wendzel to seize this opportunity to make some noise now that Jung is now overshadowing him. But Miller doesn’t really block anyone, he’s a DH or a LF if you need him to be. This is a perfect signing for us.
Has he ever played OF?
Not well haha! He used to play the corners in seattle I think. He’s really just a decent bat. Lousy defender even at his best position.
Yes. Played some last year. He’s not a particularly grear fielder anywhere.
Never mind. Just saw the full article. Glad he can play OF
Clutch hitter at times. I’ll miss him as a Philly.
Dude hit 20 bombs last year, several rows deep every time – none barely over the wall. He’s more powerful than he looks…
The walkoff grand slam against the Nats was insane and for a brief stretch the Phillies seemed unbeatable.
Yes! Bamboo Brad has some big games from time to time! Was hoping he’d stay in Philly, but good luck to him Texas…
Almost certainly this means that Andy starts the year as the starter at 3B and it will be a platoon situation. I love this signing. Get well soon JJ!
Have bat, will travel.
Valuable against righties.
He had an. 842 OPS against RHP in 2021.
Andy Ibáñez, who could complement in a 3B platoon, had an .892 OPS against LHP.
Smart move
Gonna give a fair amount back with the glove though.
In a year where the Rangers are mainly hoping to tread water in the division and hold down the 3B spot until Jung is healthy, that’s totally okay I think
About as good a clutch power bat off the bench as you can get. will miss the clutch blasts in Philly.
What do you all think of the Kiner-Falefa for Mitch Garver trade at this point? I can’t quite decide how I feel about it. It made way less sense to me after they lost Jung, and especially because they have Sam Huff ready to take over as their catcher of the future (I thought, at least). Huff seems like an offense-first, slugging catcher, which is basically what Garver is. Are the Rangers worried about Huff’s defense, or what? Otherwise I don’t know if that was a wise trade for them. They have a lot of good infield prospects, but few if any that can play a legitimate 3B. A Miller/Ibanez platoon could be sneaky decent, but I’d rather have Kiner-Falefa.
Huff is moving to firstbase I think. He is just too big and he hits too much.
Then Lowe DH?
Thats for future GMs to figure out, it won’t matter until at least July. Huff hasen’t had much time in AAA yet.
I’m guessing Miller/Ibanez offer more on base and power then what Falefa did. Rangers may see more production with that platoon? Bringing in Semien and Seager in the infield made Falefa expendable I guess. And may hurt his value putting him on the bench, though it would’ve made sense considering the injury history of a Seager. Wouldn’t have hurt at all to have a Falefa come off the bench, fill in for injuries or spill a day or two for the regulars.
Guess they found more value in trading him when taking in all the considerations of the different scenarios for Falefa with the additions of Semien and Seager.
As far as bringing in Garver, don’t know too much about Sam Huff, and how ready he is to take over that position like you said. But It seems the Rangers definitely want to compete with the moves they’ve made, and it probably won’t hurt for Huff to learn from Garver behind the plate, even though that’s not Garver’s strong point of his game. You need 2 catchers anyway.
And they can always put a Garver imo at DH, and let Huff take over at C, or even the other way around if Huffs bat is as good as you may imply that it is.. Whichever way is best for the team. Garver’s proven bat allows some flexibility there imo.
I don’t know if Huff’s bat is that great or not. He has considerable raw power but he strikes out too much. The reason he probably moving is that he is having health problems staying at catcher, we even list him as a 1B/C currently.
As for IKF, he was either going to be the odd man out this year or next. Remember that the Rangers real plan is to compete in 2023, not necessarily this year. I can see the value in trading IKF now for a valuable veteran. Honestly 2021 may very easily have been IKF’s ceiling in terms of offense, he has never hit for a ton of power.
Other than that we actually have a fair list of guys in the minors you could hand 3B in the future, just not for the first half of this year, Wendzel, Apostel, and Smith could all be late callups this year.
His pitch framing was actually near the top last year.
Garver is just like when we traded for Napoli. The rangers made a good move here .
When he used properly he is a very valuable bench bat and starter hitting against righties.
Liked the guy when he was in STL. They likely don’t make the playoffs without him. Just got overused at the end.
Whitey Herzog once said with the Cardinals…if you can’t win with the existing players, then get new players. With Herzog as both the GM and manager (had both titles), he had acquired both Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers at the same time….as relievers on the same team…til Rolllie was traded.
Another player who can’t play anywhere so they play everywhere.
I mean it’s not a bad strategy if you can hit some and don’t want to stay in AAA
2 year deal for a part time DH? Don’t they have in house options for that?
How much is he making?
About time someone gave him a multi year commitment, he’s been undervalued for several years
Huge mistake by the Sillies
The Rangers are having a great off season.