The Brewers have designated infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones for assignment, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His roster spot will go to right-hander Brandon Woodruff, whose previously-reported signing is now official.
Jones, 26, signed with the Brewers in July of last year. He spent most of the rest of the season on optional assignment, only getting into seven big league games, hitting .200/.273/.300 in those. He exhausted his final option year in the process and is now out of options, which was going to make it challenging for him to hang onto a roster spot going forward.
A second-round pick of the Angels back in 2015, Jones was once a top 100 prospect but has generally struggled to take his strong minor league work up to the majors. He got a brief cup of coffee with the Halos in 2020 before being dealt to the Orioles for Alex Cobb in February of 2021. He got into 26 games as an Oriole in 2021 but then required Tommy John surgery in May of 2022. He was later designated for assignment and released, as injured players can’t be put on outright waivers. That led to a two-year minor league deal with the Dodgers, though he opted out of that pact last summer before signing with the Brewers.
Amid all those jersey swaps, he’s hit .179/.233/.226 in a tiny sample of 90 plate appearances in the big leagues. But he’s been much more impressive on the farm, hitting .254/.378/.441 over the past three years. That includes a line of .268/.413/.466 last year between the systems of the Dodgers and Brewers, drawing walks in 18.7% of his plate appearances while only striking out in 21.8% of them. That production was 22% better than league average by measure of wRC+.
Jones also stole 12 bases in the minors last year and lined up defensively at second base, third base and the outfield corners. His time at third was minimal, just nine innings, but he’s also played center field in previous seasons.
The Brewers will have one week to trade Jones or try to pass him through waivers. He could garner interest based on his past prospect pedigree, strong offense in the minors and defensive versatility. However, since he is now out of options, he’ll have less roster flexibility going forward.
Strange that you have to clear a 40 man roster spot for a player who is headed right to the 60 day IL. On the flip side a spot would have to be made for Sanchez when his contract becomes official so perhaps this takes care of that as well
Need another spot on 40 opened up.
It’s always been that way to my knowledge, because only a guy on your 40 man roster is even eligible to be placed on the 60 day IL. But it is a bit ironic because teams often end up losing/cutting a player they’d prefer to keep just to activate a guy and place him on the 60 day IL.
Right, this paves the way for the Sanchez signing to be official because Woodruff is going right to the IL.
If that rule wasn’t in place then anybody who is injured could all just sign with the same team and go straight to the IL without taking a roster spot. It would effectively create a pathway for one or two teams to have an all star caliber roster just stashed on the IL and the rest of the league would be screwed.
Any team with 39 players could do this, so I suspect that is not the case.
Just remember that going on the 60-day IL opens up a 40-man spot. Not the 10/15 day.
This whole conversation is about the 60-day IL.
Another wasted draft pick from the Angel’s.
Nope, not wasted for the Angels. They got Alex Cobb for him who was helpful.
Do the Astros have an open 40 man roster spot? Seems like a low-risk, high reward pickup that could help them.
Tigers need to sign this guy to a minor league deal.
100%. I’ve always wondered what he could do with an extended run in the big leagues.
Baltimore media hyped him up pretty good. Fan base including me were psyched to have him in 2021. In hindsight, looks like the Os FO wasn’t as impressed. Os did a bit of a pivot move bringing in Rougned Odor off season to cover 2b in 2022 then Frazier in 2023. Gut says he would’ve been a DFA candidate in 2022 regardless of health.
Jo Adell is on a similar trajectory as Jones. Just sayin’