The Brewers have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Alex Claudio, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The MDR Sports Management client will be invited to Major League Spring Training.
It’s a reunion between the Brewers and Claudio, who spent the 2019-20 seasons pitching out of manager Craig Counsell’s bullpen. The now-30-year-old southpaw (31 later this month) pitched to a 4.11 ERA with a 17% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 54.9% ground-ball rate in 81 innings during that time but stumbled to a 5.51 ERA in 32 2/3 frames with the Angels in 2021. Claudio spent the 2022 season with the Mets, tossing 3 1/3 shutout innings at the MLB level but otherwise pitching the remainder of the season in Triple-A Syracuse. The veteran lefty was effective in that hitter-friendly setting, logging a 3.91 ERA in 48 1/3 innings.
Overall, Claudio has spent parts of nine seasons in the big leagues and tallied more than six years of MLB service time. He sports a lifetime 3.60 ERA in 347 2/3 innings, and while his 17% strikeout rate is well south of the league average, his 6.5% walk rate and, in particular, his 59.8% ground-ball rate are both demonstrably better than that of the average MLB hurler.
The three-batter minimum has hurt pitchers of Claudio’s ilk, as he carries pronounced platoon splits that make him an unpalatable option against right-handed opponents. Lefties have flailed away at just a .210/.255/.335 pace against Claudio over the years, but right-handed opponents have tattooed him to the tune of a .302/.357/.440 batting line.
As things stand, Hoby Milner is the only left-handed bullpen option on the Brewers’ 40-man roster — assuming prospect Ethan Small continues to work as a starting pitcher in the upper minors. Eric Lauer and Aaron Ashby, the only other two lefties on the roster, are both ticketed for rotation work next year. As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Brewers bring in some more veterans in this mold on non-roster deals between now and Spring Training. It’s also possible that Milwaukee could make a late play to add a more established southpaw to pair with Milner. Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore, Zack Britton and Brad Hand all remain unsigned in free agency, and the trade market of course presents further options.
ZERO major league free agents signed
Pathetic.
Blake Perkins signed a major league deal.
Traded for a catcher with 5 (or is it 6?) years of control.
Seems like there were a couple other ml signings, but I kinda get what you’re saying. On the other hand though, with the insane money guys are getting, who was available that the supposedly cash-poor Brewers should have gone after?
And of that group, who would have chosen MKE over the team they did sign with, all other things being equal?
Manny
They could have easily signed Justin Turner to play third. Short deal doesn’t hurt the long term budget. They could have made a run after Conforto or Jose Abreu on a short deal
Unless there is information out there that Turner was even the slightest bit interested in coming here that I’m unaware of, you’re at best assuming a deal could have been made.
But let’s say he was, and MKE simply refused to offer him one. I for one am fine with that. He basically used them as leverage (i.e. a pawn) to get a better deal from the Dodgers last time, so why would the Brewers believe they had a legitimate shot now?
As for the other 2, didn’t Conforto get $18 mil, with an option year for roughly the same? Abreau got $60 mil over 3 years. They traded Renfroe and Wong, who were going to cost about $22 mil combined for this season. And again, there’s no information I’m aware of that either player would have been interested in signing here (nevermind wondering where they’d fit on the field).
conforto is a lefty bat that dorsnt have much versatility outside of corner OF… Adam Duvall would make more sense, probs comes cheaper and is still availa le
Turner is washed up. The other two just average.
OF is set. We need a 3B (Paredes I keep saying, so Urias can blow away what Wong used to provide).
Maybe a more proven bullpen arm.
I’m fine with where the roster stands now (except for this dumb move).
He was not a major league free agent. Difference between major league free agents and minor league free agents signed to major league deals. He’s still most likely to spend the season in AAA.
If the major league leage deal doesn’t matter, then they just signed a major league free agent with Claudio.
The Brewers are going for it!
i was initially taken aback by this, but on the plus side, we also uave retained all of our top prospects (unless of course you put Ruiz in that category) all while adding cost effective bullpen and rotation additions (Junk, Perquero, Payamps, Guerra), an allstar catcher with 5 years of team control, a potential middle of lineup bat in Winker, and another utility type player in Toro… its not ideal, but given the market, the massive amount of arbitration eligible players and the potential to try and extend some of our homegrown players, I would be amiss to say this offseason as a whole is a failure because we havent signed an impactful free agent (yet)
If you are counting the all star catcher, I think you have to acknowledge Ruiz is a top prospect but generally I agree.
a top prospect for another team perhaps, but he was the brewers 5th ranked OF prospect, so by all means expendable
If that 5th ranked OF prospect got you an all star catcher and then some he must have quite a bit more vale you than “expendable”.
i think thats circumstancial… i don’t think it would have gotten us an all star catcher if it wasnt a three team trade (i.e. contreras straight up for ruiz is probably not something the Braves would have done). i get what you’re saying, but i also think its safe to say that the athletics ranked ruiz higher than the padres or brewers ever did
Yeah, I think that was the general acceptance of the deal.
Excellent take except that you meant ‘remiss’ not amiss.
while both would work, for emphasis sake, I will stick with amiss… I feel like it would be flat out wrong to say the offseason was a failure, not just negligent.
Wrong.
how so?
Well, when I was in an English Master’s program, it was taught that a THING is amiss, and a person is REMISS.
It’s just considered bad usage to do it the other way.
interesting… i was an English major and never heard that (albeit, not a good one)… especially surprising since they have slightly different meanings… perhaps my post should have read “it would be amiss” as opposed to “I”…
I was a fine arts major. I prefer the look of “remiss.” Also “albeit” …good one there too. Keep it up fellas.
Untrue. The pathetic part. They made major TRADES.
No need to have dipped into a relatively weak pool of FAs (after the big money, big names that the Crew couldn’t afford, the options were not as productive as the prices paid for them).
They still made a lot of moves. I count 17 players who weren’t on this roster at the deadline last year.
Your take is pathetic. FAs are a waste of money unless you can afford an elite one.
So sign someone just to……. sign someone?
lefty depth
Hitters flail against you at .202 but tattoo you at .310.
Sure, by only taking one part of the stat line your point stands, but if you compare OPS (OBP+SLG) shows the author’s comparison holds true: .590 vs LH and .797 vs RH.
I can live with this. If anything he can mentor these young guys in how to handle there season and approaches to batters. Teach them more how to pitch. He has never blown anyone away.
People who complain when their team signs players to minor league contracts need to ease up a bit. Every team needs depth to make it through a 162 game season and most cannot afford to pay these depth pieces top dollar like the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets.
Apparently it’s because they aren’t signing guys to major league deals. It’s disappointing, but when you know the team is cutting costs, I don’t understand the anger. People should realize that when they trade off 2 guys due to make a combined $20-22 mil, they aren’t going to turn around and spend a similar amount on 1 player.
Yeah, some fans just don’t get that but …
I think fans could get behind cutting costs on guys like Renfroe and Wong if you invested the money in improving the team elsewhere.
I’m not sure your argument applies to this offseason’s moves.
The Brewers actually improved their pitching depth with pre arbitration players in the Renfroe trade and then replaced Renfroe’s middle of the order bat in the Wong trade.
Not to mention, filling their hole at catcher and added more offensive firepower by trading for Contreras while dealing from their surplus of top level outfield prospects.
All that’s left is to add a veteran outfielder for insurance/depth and a proven lefty reliever to round out the bullpen. Otherwise any other needs can be addressed later in the offseason or before the trade deadline.
I WISH WE HAD HIM TWO YEARS AGO
Wish we didn’t
Four years ago then