The Brewers announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating infielder/outfielder Brian Anderson from the paternity list, recalling right-hander Tyson Miller and selecting the contract of righty J.C. Mejía. In corresponding moves, they optioned relievers Clayton Andrews and J.B. Bukauskas in addition to placing first baseman Rowdy Tellez on the 10-day injured list due to right forearm inflammation. To get Mejia onto the 40-man, infielder Mike Brosseau was designated for assignment. Additionally, left-hander Thomas Pannone, who was designated for assignment on the weekend, was released.
Brosseau, 29, has alternated hot and cold in his career, serving as a utility player for the Rays and Brewers. He hit .284/.343/.500 for the Rays over 2019 and 2020 but then slumped to a line of .187/.266/.347 in 2021. He was then traded to the Brewers and bounced back with a .255/.344/.418 showing last year for a 118 wRC+.
He and the club avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1.4MM salary for this year. He had shown an ability to provide above-average offense while playing every infield position, the outfield corners and even some mop-up duty on the mound, making that a relative bargain price. Unfortunately, he’s having another down season at the plate here in 2023. He hit .205/.256/.397 for a wRC+ of 74 and got optioned to the minors about a month ago. He’s been even worse in Triple-A since then, hitting .188/.232/.375 in 69 plate appearances.
The Brewers will now have a week to trade Brosseau or pass him through waivers. He’s obviously having a rough year but has plenty of past success that could interest other clubs. He also has a couple of option years, including this one, meaning he wouldn’t even require an active roster spot. That could hold some appeal for a club looking for a bit of extra versatile depth.
Mejía, now 26, was acquired from Cleveland prior to the 2022 season but received an 80-game suspension for a positive PED test in May of that year. He was outrighted off the 40-man in August. This year, he’s been in Triple-A, tossing 30 1/3 innings over 23 appearances. He has a 3.86 ERA in that time, striking out 25.2% of opponents against a 10.2% walk rate. He’s also kept the ball on the ground at an incredible 64.5% clip.
The Brewers have used their bullpen quite a bit in recent days, including last night’s contest which went to 11 innings and saw the club use six different pitchers. They’ve brought up Mejía and Miller to provide the bullpen with some fresh arms, with five games left before the All-Star break.
Pannone has previously been outrighted in his career and therefore would have had the right to reject another such assignment. The club has skipped that formality and just sent him back to the open market to look for his next opportunity. He made one appearance for the Brewers in his brief time on the roster, tossing 2 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed. In 53 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, he posted a 2.70 ERA.
Rays bring Brosseau back. We might need him when we face Texas this fall for Chapman
I have called MB the pet player of Counsel, so it must have hurt him to dump him. Should get another job. not a bad player. Is Rowdy hurt or just getting a time out due to bad play? I think you should have tried to keep Pennine, as he did well in AAA!
Yeah, he had a hot spring, good first month, but tailed off pretty hard the last month or so. Too bad. I think they’re giving Rowdy an extended break to relax and try to get his timing back. He’s not dangerous at the moment, and without that part of his game, he’s pretty useless – defense isn’t good enough on its own to justify a roster spot, and pretty much any ground ball he hits is an out as he has no speed.
How was he a “pet” player counsell? Because he could play every position on the Diamond except catcher? It’s a managers dream to get a versatile player not necessarily a pet for a manager
This team has a number of Mike Brosseau types. Versatile on defense, and inconsistent or just bad with the bat.
He used to bat him cleanup, last season, against left handers,with no power. He would play him numerous games in a row despite no hitting success. The same as Nerd power in previous years!
To AL: YES! Just like him!
Pannone might have a job offer waiting from a KBO/NPB team in need of a foreign starting pitcher.
Should’ve just “dfa’d” Tellez, he’s a base clogging, strikeout machine that has a decent “pick” at first but doesn’t have enough range to make playing him “viable” and he can’t DH because he’s had the HR/strikeout “outcome” “realized” but seems to have forgotten that “walking” is also an “option” as his career OBP is ludicrously low for a “three outcome” guy.. I “love” the Crew but their “obsession” with Tellez is more than a little confusing to me…..
Wow. That’s the most “quotation marks” I’ve ever “seen” in a post on this “site”. Congrats “dude”!
But honestly, they’d be happy with 30 HR production and a .250/.325/.470 out of their first baseman but they just can’t find a guy (or guys that can even platoon) that can do that. It’s been that way since Thames had a year, and Fielder before that. Pretty sad.
Adam Lind was awesome for us. I remember really wishing we’d sign him in 2018. Still amazed he hit .303/.362/.513 in 116 games as a 33 year old and never played in the Majors again.
Landed us Freddy Peralta in a trade with the mariners I believe, correct? But I agree completely with your statement and question if he just wanted to retire or perhaps he had injuries/physical issues that made fielding/running bases difficult because yes it certainly seems he had much more to offer the game from within the batters box
DFA Rowdy and give Huira one last chance
Maybe accept Huira has not hit since his minor league injury!
Hitting .298 SINCE his return from IL (.323 overall) 14 HR and K rate is down. Over due for a Hiura call up. He will absolutely outhit what Brewers currently roll out for DH/1B!
So Keston does is hit, he had one really poor offensive season in ‘21 when he was receiving erratic playing time and shuttling between majors/minors and I believe that was around the time he found out his mother was very ill and he comes from a very “closely knit” family and that all apparently culminated in his worst season but other than that even in 2020 he still crushed enough baseballs to lead the Crew in HR’s
As a CLE fan I’m stunned Mejia is still only 26. I remember when he burned his way through the minors destroying it at every level. But the FO never really considered him a viable prospect for them because his defensive skills were worlds away from what they expected. Kudos to the Rays for finding a way to get the best of him. Hopefully he’ll become the hitter we envisioned.
it is surprising, we got David Fry for him who is a year older!
A shame Winker isn’t out the door too. A $8+ million contract is probably the reason for that.