The Brewers agreed to a minor league deal with lefty Thomas Pannone, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The BHSC client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee to spring training in 2025.
It’ll be the second Brewers stint of Pannone’s career. He was also with the organization in 2023. While the 30-year-old’s broader track record in Triple-A doesn’t necessarily stand out, he’s been sharp against non-MLB competition in recent seasons. Pannone tossed 53 1/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball with the Brewers’ Triple-A club in 2023, and he also spent parts of the 2022-23 seasons with the KBO’s Kia Tigers, pitching to a combined 3.49 ERA in 165 innings across those two seasons. Most recently, Pannone hurled 152 1/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball between the Triple-A affiliates for the Cubs and Yankees in 2024. He fanned 21.9% of opponents against a 5.9% walk rate this past season.
All of that should allow Pannone to head to camp with the Brewers and compete for a rotation spot or long relief role. He’s stretched out and built up, meaning workload wouldn’t be an issue if the Brewers need to utilize him as a starter between Nashville and Milwaukee. (Notably, he’s out of minor league options, so if he’s added to the 40-man at any point, he’d have to stick or else be placed on waivers.)
For a Brewers club that is currently light on rotation depth, adding a lefty who’s pitched well for the past three seasons in the upper minors and in the KBO makes good sense. At the moment, Milwaukee’s rotation likely includes Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff (likely on an innings limit after missing 2024 due to shoulder surgery), Aaron Civale, Tobias Myers and one of Aaron Ashby or DL Hall. That group could change, of course, depending on how the rest of the offseason plays out. Each of Myers, Ashby and Hall can be optioned. Civale has been a speculative trade candidate (as is the case with most Brewers veterans when they’re down to one final season of club control remaining). Lefty Robert Gasser could join the bunch late in 2025, but he’s recovering from UCL surgery performed in June.
I have a hard time believing the Brewers would trade Civale. They would get nothing in return, would literally just be a salary dump, and they do not have enough depth to make that move. They traded for him last year knowing he had extra club control. He’s projected arb salary is exactly what a SP of his talent would get on the open market.
The only way they trade him is if they have a cheaper replacement in mind. The Brewers can find undervalued pitching, and might be reducing payroll, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all by a Civale trade. I’m not expecting it either though
I agree, I wouldn’t really expect them to trade Civale either unless they signed someone you knew for sure was likely to land in the rotation. If they picked up Quintana, Severino or maybe Buehler, I could see them considering it. But even if they got Buehler to try to see if they could get a rebound year out of him, I’d think Civale would still be kept. If they signed Quintana or Severino, I could see them trading Civale for some prospects. But this signing was definitely merely depth, and currently they’re still too thin to really think about trading Civale.
He pitched well for the Cubs last year and definitely deserved a shot, Especially when you consider what a disaster their bullpen was early. I think he might be a nice find for the Brewers.
Well once this baseball thing is over this dude should totally open an Italian restaurant with baseball themed food options
Meatball sliders
Forkball spaghetti
Pitchers of sangria
Umpyre wood pizzas
Change up the pasta sauce
I can’t argue with that.
Uh-oh….this is the guy that Unclemike told us numerous times in the summer that he had the best arm in the Cubs minor league system.
Once he didn’t lead the Yankees to a World Series title, I kind of brushed it off, but now that he’s back in the division it’s back to the drawing board.
And…..I was just getting comfortable with the kinder, gentler Unclemike now that Smyly, Madrigal, Hendricks, Wisdom and a host of others from Uncle’s agenda are all gone.
Why can’t we just have nice things around the holidays???
I don’t understand why everyone is mad that the Cubs traded for Madrigal years ago? He was the #4 overall pick and hit .340 in 29 games before injuring his shoulder.
I don’t think anyone was upset that they traded for him. I was hopeful he would work out, but he was just one of those guys that got hurt just running—let alone other injuries.
That had all the makings of a solid trade for the Cubs but injuries to both Madrigal and Heuer made it a complete wash for both teams.
I won’t speak for others (Uncle inlcuded) but the sentiment seems to be that the Cubs just kept those guys that were somewhere between number 19 and 23 on the roster (Madrigal, Wisdom, Mastrobuoni) and never improved the bench and stayed status quo for three years with little to no return from those guys.
For some reason I thought he had already been signed on a minor league deal this offseason by someone
Pannone looked sharp with the Yanks’ AAA affiliate. I imagine they didn’t want to use a 40-man spot on him as a depth SP, but I really think he’s a solid, cheap signing here. If he surprises folks in ST by pitching well, then he’s a cheap back-of-rotation arm. Otherwise, he’s a perfectly capable spot-starter/MR option.
“Notably, he’s out of minor league options, so if he’s added to the 40-man at any point, he’d have to stick or else be placed on waivers.”
Unfortunately for a lot of the out-of-options pitchers, they end up with two or three waiver claims per year, so they could end up living in three AAA cities and three MLB cities in the same season (6 cities in 8 months can not be fun, but it is a paycheck….MLB minimum of around $4000 per day while on the MLB team.
We need more MLB players to follow the ways of old and go by “”Tom” and “Bob” again. “Tom Pannone” and “Bob Gasser” would be A-Tier baseball names.