The Brewers have agreed to a minor league pact with free-agent outfielder Tyler Naquin, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Excel Sports client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee. It’s the second non-roster deal with a notable veteran for the Brewers today, as they also signed Luke Voit to a similar pact earlier this morning.
Like Voit, Naquin will give the Brewers some potential power to add to the lineup. He’s clubbed 30 homers and turned in a solid .201 isolated power mark (slugging percentage minus batting average) over the past two seasons between the Reds and the Mets. In that time, Naquin slashed .252/.311/.454, drawing walks at a 6.9% clip against a 25.4% strikeout rate. He’s primarily played in the outfield corners over the past two seasons and is better suited for corner work, according to most defensive metrics, though he certainly has experience in center and can handle the position in a pinch.
Naquin, 31, has spent parts of seven seasons in the Majors, mostly coming with Cleveland, who selected him with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2012 draft. He’s been deployed largely as a platoon player in recent seasons and owns a career .274/.326/.468 batting line against right-handers (as opposed to a .210/.272/.339 output against lefties).
As things stand, the outfield situation in Milwaukee is a bit in flux. Christian Yelich is locked into left field, but the options in center and left have limited track records. Garrett Mitchell turned heads with a .311/.373/.459 batting line through 68 plate appearances in his MLB debut last season, but he needed a sky-high .548 BABIP to get there and also fanned in 41.2% of his plate appearances; without pronounced improvement in his strikeout rate, regression is inevitable. That said, Mitchell was a first-round pick in 2020 and posted quality minor league numbers in 2022, so it’s certainly feasible that he could establish himself.
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Tyrone Taylor could be poised for a career-high workload. He’s coming off a rather pedestrian .233/.286/.442 batting line, but he grades out as an above-average defender who’s capable of playing all three outfield spots. There’s also Jesse Winker, acquired from the Mariners earlier in the winter, though he’ll be in search of a rebound at the plate and could also see ample time at designated hitter.
Further down the depth chart, Milwaukee has top prospects like Joey Wiemer and Sal Frelick in the upper minors. Both reached Triple-A in 2022 and thrived there, albeit in sample sizes of fewer than 250 plate appearances apiece. Milwaukee also inked switch-hitting Blake Perkins to a Major League deal earlier in the winter despite the fact that he’s never played a big league game. He slashed a combined .246/.357/.456 between the Yankees’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2022.
With a big spring showing, Naquin could put himself in the running for at-bats in right field, where the right-handed hitting Taylor would make for a natural platoon partner. He could also win a bench spot on a heavily right-handed-hitting club, where the current favorites for reserve roles include Mike Brosseau, Keston Hiura and perhaps either Luis Urias or Brian Anderson (depending on which lands at third base more regularly — a situation that is dependent itself on how quickly prospect Brice Turang gets a look at second base).
I was hoping he would be back here. Smart pickup. The difference between an active GM and one sitting on their hands. Especially in a division where 86 wins could take it this season with the unbalanced schedule.
The Brewers are trying to win the division unlike the Cardinals. I would not be surprise if the Brewers win the division this season. The best move that the Cardinals made during the off-season was signing Contreras, but they needed to make more to improve the team.
The only move they made was signing Contreras.
I still think the Cards should win the division, and should be favored to win the division, but they really need full seasons out of O’Neil and Flaherty and are going to have to add at the deadline, at least to the rotation.
Although the starting LF, O’Neil has played in a hundred games once in his career, and the de facto ace hasn’t started 20 games since 2019. Contributions of anything from either should be considered a bonus. Make or break year for both. Tyler for his future w/St Louis and Jack for his future period.
The Cardinals have no serious competition for the division unless the Brewers three star SP’s all have brilliant seasons. Luke Voit and Tyler Naquin are irrelevant and likely won’t even make the team. Cards have some serious help coming from the minors, which will be their boost this year. Didn’t need any more signings. They’re still a ways behind the superteams, but they probably will wrap up the Central by early September.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Brewers actually have 5 good starting pitchers, decent pen, and also added some nice bats to the lineup. Will be a tighter race than you are expecting.
I do feel that the Cubs will challenge the Brewers for 2nd place in the division. Granted, Brewers pitching is better, but I like the Cubs’ chances of winning 85 games. Cards will win around 89, IMHO, with Milwaukee and Chicago vying for 2nd place.
The biggest move for both teams was bringing in a catcher named Contreras. I think the Cards will be ok, they already have a very good team and have many players similar to and better than Naquin who’s a fourth OF.
A lot of predictions have the Brewers taking the division. A lot went wrong for them last year. I could see them taking it provided they don’t trade away pieces at the deadline.
It’s a smart, typical, l0w-cost move by the Brewers.
That said, what would you have the Cardinals do? Their OF is stacked with young players with upside: O’Neill, Carlson, Nootbaar, Walker, Burleson, Yepez, Moises Gomez…..
What other position should they have bolstered? Aside from 2B, where there are options like Donovan and Gorman, the rest are covered, with Masin Wynn on the cusp (bumping Edman to 2B).
Which starting pitcher would you “drop”: Wainwright, Mikolas, Montgomery, Flaherty, Matz, with guys like Pallante, Liberatore, Graceffo, Hudson, etc. there in case of injury. While I’d love a true ace, I didn’t see one this offseason that made sense or that was available..
Given the contracts that were dished out this offseason, I don’t see any of them aside from Chafin and Moore that the Cards should have waded in and outbid the team that ultimately landed them. The Cardinals problem is not 2023, but 2024 when the rotation will need to be rebuilt, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Seeing what the Brew Crew are doing and it’s making a lot of sense with these minor league contracts. It’s seems like a lot of these players will make the team.
Almost zero production in NYC. One memorable hit and disappeared.
Hopefully this means Taylor can go back to being the fourth outfielder.
Tyrone Taylor has no business being a starting outfielder or blocking any prospects.
He’s not blocking prospects this season.
I knew Stearns stepped down, but I must’ve missed the news about Dumpster Divin’ Theo taking over the Crew.
They’ve been doing this kind of thing for years. Particularly with bullpen arms. It’s not a Matt Arnold or Stearns thing, it’s a Milwaukee Brewers thing.
Low Risk for both of these minor league signings. Now they have platoon bats for first base and the OF. Not bad.
It’s the Brewers’ time of year! I am a little surprised Naquin couldn’t do better, since he can fake it a bit at a prime position and hits lefty. Voit I’m not surprised.
Nice move.
Naquin is very streaky and gets hot sometimes but when he’s off, which is the majority of the time, he looks like he’s never played the game before and is entirely overmatched.
Brewers are trying to corner the market on .229 hitters. Is Maikel Franco still available?
.229 doesn’t really hurt in the current age. At the current rate .229 will be roughly league average in 5 years.
No idea why the Yankees wouldn’t have taken a flier on him for LF. Maybe they liked Ortega better?
Still sounds like a 24 hour cold medicine
Any news on who will pick up Rougned Odor?
I’m surprised he only got a ST invite, but he does have a reputation for being inconsistent. Still he’s a pretty solid platoon option/4th OF. Would have liked to seen CLE bring him back.
More like a 6th outfielder
” Christian Yelich is locked into left field, but the options in center and left have limited track records.”
While Voit made sense as a RH hitting DH/1B option Naquin doesn’t really make sense as 4 of the 5 Outfielders expected to make the roster hit left handed
Before the Naquin signing, there were only 4 outfielders expected to make the roster. And that includes Winker.
Naquin is a great platoon player. Thought he was bound for the South side of Chicago
High flying Milwaukee Brewers going full throttle for a 3rd place finish in 2023!
Quality player but health has been an issue. Other than rookie and 2021 seasons, he has not been able to show his full potential.