Brewers Rumors

NL Notes: Miley, Reds, Mets, Marte, Brewers, Junk

By Mark Polishuk | January 1, 2024 at 5:18pm CDT

The Reds’ search for starting pitching help has resulted in deals with Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez, while the team has been linked to several other pitchers who either remain available (in trades or in free agency) or have since landed elsewhere. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports that one of those now-signed pitching targets included Wade Miley, as Cincinnati had some talks with the veteran left-hander before Miley re-signed with the Brewers.

There’s plenty of familiarity between the two sides, as Miley pitched for the Reds in 2020-21 and posted a 3.55 ERA over 177 1/3 innings. The Reds held a $10MM club option on his services for 2022, yet as part of a payroll cutback, Cincinnati put Miley on waivers (where he was quickly claimed by the Cubs) in order to part ways without even paying the $1MM buyout on that option. Miley has since posted a 3.15 ERA in 157 1/3 innings with Chicago and Milwaukee since the start of the 2022 campaign, though injuries again limited his availability.

Miley received $8.5MM in guaranteed money in his one-year deal with the Brewers, and the Reds went beyond that price range in their one-year, $16MM deal with Montas. With $106.2MM spent so far this winter, Cincinnati has been one of the offseason’s busier teams in free agency, and it seems possible the Reds might not be done with their efforts to bolster the pitching staff.

Mets Acquire Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor From Brewers

By Darragh McDonald | December 20, 2023 at 11:58pm CDT

The Mets have acquired right-hander Adrian Houser and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers for right-handed minor leaguer Coleman Crow, per announcements from both clubs. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that Houser and Taylor were going to the Mets for a minor leaguer. Robert Murray of FanSided reported that Crow would be that minor leaguer.

David Stearns is plenty familiar with Houser and Taylor, having spent many years calling the shots in Milwaukee before becoming president of baseball operations for the Mets a couple of months ago. In both cases, the player has had some major league success but had reached arbitration and was in competition for playing time in Milwaukee. Instead, they will head to a Mets club that has been primarily focused on depth moves this offseason, while allowing the Brewers to clear a bit of payroll.

Houser, 31 in February, has been a solid contributor for the Brewers in the past five seasons, mostly as a starter. From 2019 to the present, he’s appeared in 120 games, 97 of those being starts. In his 523 2/3 innings pitched, he has an earned run average of 4.04. His 19.2% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate aren’t especially strong but he’s kept 52.5% of balls in play on the ground.

He has just over five years of service time, meaning he’s slated for free agency after 2024. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a salary of $5.6MM next year. Houser might project as merely a back end starter with just one year of control, but that’s still a relative bargain compared to free agents. The Mets paid $13MM to get Luis Severino for one year, while other clubs have given out comparable deals. Jack Flaherty got $14MM, Kyle Gibson $13MM, Lance Lynn $11MM, Wade Miley $8.5MM and Martín Pérez $8MM.

In Milwaukee, Houser was slated to be behind Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Miley, battling pitchers like Colin Rea, Joe Ross, Janson Junk, Aaron Ashby and Robert Gasser for starts. But instead, he’ll jump to a somewhat similar spot with the Mets. His new club has Kodai Senga, José Quintana and Severino in three spots, with pitchers like Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi and José Butto options for the back end. The club has been heavily linked to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and everyone would move down one spot if they successfully land him, but Houser should be in line for a role at the back of the rotation either way. He will have a leg up on Megill, Lucchesi and Butto in the sense that they can still be optioned to the minors but Houser cannot, as a player with more than five years of service time.

Taylor, 30 in January, seemed to establish himself as a viable big leaguer in 2021 and 2022. He got into 213 games for the Brewers over that stretch, hitting 29 home runs and slashing .239/.300/.448 for a wRC+ of 104. He also got strong grades for his outfield defense in all three spots and produced 3.4 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.

But he dealt with an elbow sprain in Spring Training this year, which caused him to miss the first month of the season and then another month-plus in the middle of the year. He only got into 81 games and had diminished production when in the lineup, hitting .234/.267/.446 on the year.

He reached arbitration for the first time this winter and is projected to make $1.7MM, with two years of control beyond that. He was also going to be part of a crowded outfield mix in Milwaukee that includes Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins, Joey Wiemer and Chris Roller.

With the Mets, they have Brandon Nimmo in center but the corners are more questionable. Starling Marte was dealing with groin issues in 2023, missing roughly half the season and struggling when on the field. DJ Stewart finished the season on a hot streak at the plate but is a poor defender and better suited to be rotating through the designated hitter spot or pinch-hitting duties. Taylor’s righty bat could also potentially platoon with the lefty Stewart. Taylor has fairly neutral splits in his career but Stewart has been far better with the platoon advantage.

Crow, 23 later this month, was drafted by the Angels. He was traded to the Mets in the Eduardo Escobar deal in June but underwent Tommy John surgery in August, meaning he may miss most or all of the 2024 season. At the time of the Escobar trade, he was ranked the Angels’ #17 prospect at Baseball America and #8 at FanGraphs. He’s currently listed 25th in the Mets’ system at BA and 20th at FG. He tossed 128 Double-A innings in 2022 with a 4.85 ERA.

Aside from their pursuit of Yamamoto, the Mets have mostly been focused on adding depth this winter. They have claimed Penn Murfee, Zack Short, Tyler Heineman and Cooper Hummel off waivers. They have given one-year deals to Severino, Joey Wendle, Michael Tonkin, Jorge López and Austin Adams. They have also given minor league deals to Cole Sulser, Kyle Crick, José Iglesias, Taylor Kohlwey, Rylan Bannon, Trayce Thompson and Cam Robinson. Now they have bolstered their rotation and outfield with a couple of solid regulars.

For the Brewers, they are cutting a projected $7.3MM from their 2024 payroll. They are subtracting a bit of depth in the process but still have plenty of other options for their rotation and outfield even after this deal, while taking a flier on a long-term prospect in Crow.

Roster Resource currently pegs next year’s payroll at $104MM, well below last year’s Opening Day mark of $119MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. There have been plenty of trade rumors this winter surrounding guys like Burns and Willy Adames, but it doesn’t appear as though the club needs to make a move of either of those guys just for payroll purposes, assuming they are willing to have a similar payroll to 2023.

As for the Mets, they are taking on that $7.1MM but could end up paying more. RR currently has their competitive balance tax number at $298MM, just above the fourth and highest threshold of $297MM. As a third time payor, their tax rates in each bracket are 50%, 62%, 95% and 110%. But the tax isn’t calculated until the end of the year. If the club isn’t competitive at the deadline and they trade some players with notable salaries, they could change their final position. Though signing Yamamoto for something in the $250-300MM range would obviously push them even further beyond their current level.

Brewers Sign Eric Haase

By Steve Adams | December 20, 2023 at 12:04pm CDT

The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed free agent catcher/outfielder Eric Haase to a one-year contract. The Warner Sports Management client will serve as the backup to William Contreras, replacing Victor Caratini after he inked a two-year deal with the Astros this winter. Milwaukee had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t needed.

Haase, 31, has spent his entire career to date with Detroit and Cleveland, splitting the 2023 campaign between those two teams. It was a down year for Haase overall, particularly relative to his 2021-22 campaigns, wherein he combined for a .242/.295/.451 slash with 36 homers in 732 plate appearances for the Tigers. Last year, he saw that production dip to .201/.247/.281, prompting the Tigers to make a change behind the plate and acquire Carson Kelly as their new backup to Jake Rogers.

Last year’s downturn at the plate was in part due to a reduction in average on balls in play (.297 from 2021-22 but just .268 in 2023), however it also can’t simply be chalked up to poor fortune. Haase made hard contact at a far lower rate (45.1% in 2021-22, just 35.9% in 2023) and put the ball on the ground more often than in any full big league season prior. He also hit infield flies at the highest rate of his career and saw a career-low 5.6% of his fly-balls become home runs after enjoying an 18.8% mark in that regard in the two preceding seasons.

One would imagine that a move from the cavernous Comerica Park to Milwaukee’s American Family Field could help Haase to rediscover some of the previous pop he’d displayed. The Brewers may also be heartened by Haase’s career-best marks in overall contact percentage and contact rate within the strike zone.

Defensively, Haase is something of a mixed bag. Last year’s 24% caught-stealing rate was actually three percentage points higher than the 21% league average, and he showed improved framing marks after struggling in that regard in previous seasons. He also graded poorly in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt, however, and his broader body of work behind the plate has drawn below-average reviews when taken in sum. The Brewers, however, has a reputation for radically improving catcher defense. Contreras had significant defensive question marks before arriving in Milwaukee but graded as a premium defender last year. Before him, Omar Narvaez also saw pronounced improvements in his defensive ratings upon joining the Brewers.

Haase also brings some versatility to the table. While he’s not exactly a premium defender in the outfield, he’s still logged 355 career innings in left and made a one-off appearance in right field as well. He’s also had one-off appearances at both infield corners in the minors. For a Brewers team that has typically valued players who can move around the diamond, Haase’s outfield experience perhaps held additional appeal that other backup catching candidates couldn’t match.

Also of appeal is the fact that Haase comes to Milwaukee with multiple years of club control remaining. The Guardians outrighted him at season’s end — effectively non-tendering him — rather than paying him a raise in arbitration. Haase has just 3.058 years of big league service time, meaning he’ll remain under club control even beyond the current campaign. The Brewers can retain him via arbitration all the way through the 2026 season if the signing pans out. If not, Haase can at least serve as a bridge to catching prospect Jeferson Quero, who is fast climbing the minor league ladder and could be an option to join Contreras in Milwaukee by 2025 — if not later in the 2024 campaign.

Corbin Burnes Downplays Possibility Of Signing Extension

By Steve Adams | December 20, 2023 at 10:22am CDT

Heading into the offseason, the trade market contained a handful of veteran starters who were a year from free agency and widely expected to be available — Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber and perhaps Corbin Burnes chief among them. Glasnow has already changed hands, going from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles and signing an extension — which the two parties agreed upon as a contingency of the trade becoming official. Bieber is still with the Guardians. But as earlier this month, like Glasnow, he was reportedly open to discussing a long-term deal following a trade.

Fans of rival clubs may be eyeing Burnes and envisioning a similar outcome, but the right-hander himself effectively quashed any such hopes in an appearance with Erik Kratz, A.J. Pierzynski and Hannah Keyser on Foul Territory (video link). Asked by Kratz about the possibility of taking the same path Glasnow did, Burnes replied:

“Being in my shoes, being a year away from [free agency], I think if a trade-and-extension type of deal came up — obviously, every guy that gets this close to free agency wants to test the market to see what your true dollar amount is, see what teams really are in on you. It would have to be something that would just absolutely blow you away to get you away from testing the free agent market and being able to choose where you want to go. I think that’s one thing every player in their career wants to get to. Once you get that six years of service time — which for a lot of guys takes seven, eight, sometimes nine years to get to — you get that chance to test the market and see what your top dollar is.”

Burnes, of course, is speaking in generalities. The majority of players ostensibly share his sentiment, but Glasnow has now twice signed an extension in lieu of reaching free agency, and we’ve seen plenty of players over the years hammer out a long-term deal when they’re less than a calendar year from reaching the market. It’s rarer, although hardly unprecedented, with an expected top-of-the-market free agent. Rafael Devers, Stephen Strasburg and Xander Bogaerts are just a few examples of prominent, All-Star-caliber talents signing an extension after reaching five years of big league service.

Still, Burnes’ comments seemingly align with most star-level players and shouldn’t be taken as a surprise. That’s particularly true given that he’s a client of the Boras Corporation, whose players tend to gravitate toward free agency. (Although, again, that’s a generality and perhaps even an overstated one; Strasburg, Bogaerts, Jose Altuve, Carlos Gonzalez and others have all signed extensions under Boras.)

In his latest notes column at The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal reports that Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is still uncertain about how to proceed with Burnes and is wary of creating a similar backlash to the 2022 trade deadline deal that sent Josh Hader to San Diego. That doesn’t preclude a trade from ultimately coming together, but it’s a starkly different tone from the circumstances surrounding Glasnow, where a trade felt like an inevitability as the offseason wore on.

If the Brewers opt to hold onto Burnes, they can head into the 2024 season with him, Freddy Peralta, the recently re-signed Wade Miley and Adrian Houser in the top four spots of the rotation. Colin Rea, free-agent signee Joe Ross and prospect Robert Gasser (acquired in the aforementioned Hader deal) are among the other in-house candidates for rotation spots, and further additions via free agency or trade can’t be squarely ruled out. The lineup would need clear augmentation, but Milwaukee’s pitching would again have the makings of a solid group with Burnes and Peralta leading the rotation and Devin Williams anchoring the bullpen.

Should Milwaukee hold onto Burnes and fail to contend even in a thin National League Central division, Burnes would obviously hold immense appeal at the trade deadline. And, if they ride out the year with Burnes atop a contending rotation, they could at least extend a qualifying offer and recoup a draft pick after the first round in 2025. It’s a relatively small consolation prize for a former Cy Young winner, but that compensation still factors in when listening to any trade offers that come their way.

Holding onto any impending free agent/trade candidate comes with the risk of said player incurring an injury that tanks their value. Burnes, however, is so talented that anything short of a major surgery that would jeopardize his 2025 availability makes a QO a no-brainer. Over the past four seasons, he’s pitched 622 1/3 innings with aa 2.86 ERA, 30.9% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. Burnes has made three consecutive All-Star teams and won the National League Cy Young Award in 2021. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to earn $15.1MM in 2024 before he becomes a free agent next winter.

Royals Trade Taylor Clarke To Brewers

By Steve Adams | December 14, 2023 at 2:00pm CDT

The Brewers and Royals have agreed to a trade sending right-handed reliever Taylor Clarke from Kansas City to Milwaukee in exchange for minor league righty Ryan Brady and minor league infielder Cam Devanney, the teams announced Thursday. The trade of Clarke opens a spot on the Royals’ 40-man roster for newly signed Seth Lugo, whose three-year $45MM contract (the third year of which is a player option) is now official. Neither Brady nor Devanney is on the 40-man roster.

Clarke, 30, has spent the past two seasons in Kansas City after opening his career with a three-year stint in Arizona. He enjoyed a solid 2022 campaign with the Royals, tallying 49 innings of 4.04 ERA ball out of the bullpen with a roughly average 23.6% strikeout rate and a brilliant 3.9% walk rate.

That success didn’t carry over to the 2023 season, however. Clarke pitched 59 innings — his highest total since working as a starter with the D-backs as a rookie in 2019 — but was clobbered for a 5.95 ERA. His 24.4% strikeout rate was a slight improvement over the prior season, but walk rate more than doubled to 9%. Clarke also found himself far more susceptible to unfavorable contact; his opponents’ “barreled” ball rate more than doubled from 6.2% to 12.6%, and his HR/9 mark accordingly exploded, soaring from a manageable 1.10 to 1.83.

Rough season or not, Clarke averages 95 mph on his heater, can miss bats at an average or better rate and has a minor league option remaining. That makes him a decent depth pickup for a Brewers club that tends to rotate quite a few arms through the final couple spots in the bullpen. Clarke and the Royals agreed to a pre-tender deal in November, one that commits $1.25MM to the righty. That avoided a hearing in his second season of arbitration eligibility, and he’ll remain under team control through the 2025 campaign.

Brady, 25 in March, joined the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2022. The former BYU righty has delivered excellent results since turning pro, albeit primarily against younger competition. Brady debuted with Milwaukee’s affiliate in the Arizona Complex League in 2022 and split the 2023 season between High-A (49 innings) and Double-A (28 innings). He’s posted a sub-3.00 ERA at each stop, working to a composite 2.67 earned run average with a 24.2% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 50% ground-ball rate in 81 professional innings. Brady wasn’t ranked among the Brewers’ top prospects on any major publication, but he’ll bring a solid track record to the upper levels of Kansas City’s system.

Devanney, 27 in April, was Milwaukee’s 15th-round pick back in 2019. He’s played primarily shortstop in pro ball (1728 innings) but also has considerable experience at third base (730 innings) and second base (515 innings) in addition to brief looks at first base and in left field.

Devanney spent the 2023 season with the Brewers’ Triple-A club in Nashville, where he batted .271/.362/.461 in 390 plate appearances. That was about seven percent better than average, by measure of wRC+, in a hitter-friendly setting. Devanney walked at a healthy 11.8% clip against a lower-than-average 18.2% strikeout rate. He’s improved his bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline in recent seasons while also showing more power. Devanney entered the 2022 season with 12 career home runs, but he popped 23 long balls in 2022 and connected on another 11 this past season. He’s a right-handed hitter who torched lefties at a .318/.400/.534 clip this year and a .307/.384/.526 clip the year prior. Devanney isn’t a threat on the basepaths and has more pedestrian numbers versus righties, but he could be a lefty-mashing utility infielder if things go well.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Brewers were acquiring Clarke. Jon Heyman of the New York Post added that two minor leaguers were going to the Royals in the deal.

Brewers Sign Rob Zastryzny To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | December 12, 2023 at 12:38pm CDT

The Brewers signed left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny to a minor league deal and invited him to big league camp this spring, reports Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Zastryzny, 31, has appeared in parts of five big league seasons but was out of MLB from 2019-21. He returned for a brief look with the Mets and Angels in 2022 before logging a more significant workload of 20 1/3 innings over 21 appearances with the Pirates this past season. Zastryzny posted a 4.79 ERA with a 15.5% strikeout rate, 13.3% walk rate and 38.8% grounder rate in that time. Overall, he carries a 4.70 earned run average, 18.4% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate in 59 1/3 MLB frames.

While the big league track record may not leap out, Zastryzny has been quite sharp in his past three seasons of Triple-A work, pitching to a 3.62 ERA with respective strikeout and walk rates of 28.8% and 8.1%.

Zastryzny is out of minor league options, so if he makes Milwaukee’s big league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the Majors or else be exposed to waivers before he can be sent back down. He’s been previously outrighted as well, so he’d have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers at any point.

The Brewers have several lefty bullpen options, with Hoby Milner, Ethan Small, Clayton Andrews and Aaron Ashby (pending his rehab from this year’s shoulder surgery) among the options currently on the 40-man roster. Zastryzny will add a non-roster entrant to that mix, and he’ll head to Triple-A Nashville to open the season if he doesn’t crack the roster out of spring training.

NL Notes: Alonso, Yamamoto, Dodgers, Brewers

By Nick Deeds | December 9, 2023 at 10:47pm CDT

The Mets and first baseman Pete Alonso have not engaged in extension talks this offseason, according to Tim Healey of Newsday. Healey adds that it’s as of yet unclear if the club intends to broach the subject of a long-term deal with Alonso this winter.

Reports last month indicated that Alonso hopes to surpass recent long-term deals signed by the likes of Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman, and the 29-year-old changed representation to the Boras Corporation earlier this offseason. For his part, Scott Boras told reporters (including Healey) at the Winter Meetings that he’s spoken to president of baseball operations David Stearns and that he and Alonso are “all ears” regarding potential negotiations. Healey goes on to suggest that Alonso could be on track to follow in the footsteps of teammate Brandon Nimmo. Much like Alonso, Nimmo switched representation to Boras in the final offseason before he hit the open market. Any contract discussions with the Mets that offseason didn’t result in an extension, leaving Nimmo to hit free agency that winter. Upon hitting the open market, he re-upped with the Mets on an eight-year, $162MM contract.

Of course, it’s worth noting that Nimmo went through that process at a time when the Mets were a staunchly win-now team that ultimately won 101 games during his 2022 walk season. While the club has made clear that they plan for Alonso to be part of the Opening Day roster next season and that they hope to compete in 2024, the club’s focus appears to be on building for the future and it would hardly be a shock if Alonso were to find himself traded midseason if the Mets were to fall out of the race once again in 2024. Whether as a trade candidate or an extension candidate, Alonso is an attractive target as one of the game’s premiere power hitters. His 192 home runs lead the majors since he made his debut back in 2019, while only Aaron Judge, Olson, Kyle Schwarber, and Shohei Ohtani have crushed more dingers over the past three seasons than Alonso’s 123.

More from around the National League…

While the Dodgers made waves earlier today by agreeing to a record-setting $700MM deal with Ohtani, Jon Heyman of the New York Post indicates that landing the winter’s biggest fish won’t stop the club from pursuing other marquee free agents. Heyman indicates that even after factoring in Ohtani’s massive deal, the Dodgers still have both the desire and the necessary payroll capacity to sign NPB star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto, 25, is moving stateside on the heels of three consecutive sub-2.00 ERA campaigns in Japan. A report earlier this week suggested that the Dodgers were among seven teams considered to be finalists for the right-hander’s services, and Heyman even suggests that LA could be ahead except the Mets and Yankees in their pursuit of Yamamoto. The young righty is an obvious fit for a Dodgers roster with an otherworldly lineup but little certainty in the rotation. Sophomore right-hander Bobby Miller is joined by Walker Buehler as the only starters locked into the club’s Opening Day rotation as things stand, though even Buehler will be pitching for the first time since early 2022 after undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career.
The Brewers are continuing to finalize their coaching staff under new manager Pat Murphy, who was promoted from his role as bench coach following the departure of longtime manager Craig Counsell earlier this offseason. To that end, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that the club is moving assistant director of player development Charlie Greene from the front office to the big league coaching staff, where he’ll take over as Milwaukee’s bullpen coach. Greene will take over for Jim Henderson, who in turn is becoming the club’s assistant pitching coach.

Latest On Corbin Burnes

By Steve Adams | December 7, 2023 at 12:39pm CDT

Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, one year away from reaching the open market, is among the most compelling names on the trade market for starting pitchers this offseason. The Brewers haven’t actively shopped Burnes, but that hasn’t stopped other clubs from expressing interest. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that executives with other clubs are of the impression that there’s a legitimate chance of Burnes ultimately being moved. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, however, frames things differently, noting that Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said this week that he still expects Burnes to be his Opening Day starter.

If the Brewers are shopping Burnes at all, Arnold isn’t tipping his hand on the matter either in public comments or in comments made to Burnes’ agent, Scott Boras. As McCalvy writes, Boras said at this week’s Winter Meetings that “everything I’ve heard from Milwaukee is that they’re putting together a competitive team to win the division in ’24.” Boras added that the Brewers haven’t approached him about a long-term extension, but it seems they’ve also not given any signal that Burnes could be on the move.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic once again brought up the possibility of a Burnes/Willy Adames package heading to the Dodgers, noting that Wisconsin native Gavin Lux could be of interest to a Brewers club with some infield uncertainty (which would only be exacerbated by a trade of Adames, of course). There’s no clear indication that a trade of that nature is currently being discussed, to be clear. Similarly, Rosenthal’s colleague Brendan Kuty speculated this morning that if the Yankees ultimately miss out on NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they could turn their focus to Burnes. Again, that’s not a firm report that talks have taken place, but Burnes is a logical option both for clubs that miss out on top free agents (e.g. Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery) and for teams that have no intention of spending at the levels necessary to sign those free agents in the first place.

Arnold openly acknowledged this week that demand for Burnes has been high (link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The GM unsurprisingly didn’t tip his hand one way or another, but speaking in more general terms did note that the Winter Meetings are often a place where groundwork on larger trades can be done. Arnold explained to Rosiak and others that much of the framework of last year’s three-team Sean Murphy/William Contreras/Esteury Ruiz trade was put into place at the Winter Meetings, but a trade didn’t come together for several more days while the Brewers, A’s and Braves worked out the complementary pieces in the swap.

Burnes, 29, pitched to a 3.39 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in 193 2/3 innings atop Milwaukee’s rotation this past season. Over the past four years, he’s compiled a 2.86 earned run average with a 30.9% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 46.4% ground-ball rate in 622 1/3 innings. He’s been highly durable, pitching in 105 games during that time and only hitting the injured list for an oblique strain that sidelined him less than a month. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $15.1MM salary for Burnes in his final season of arbitration.

Dodgers, Marlins, Brewers Have Shown Interest In Isiah Kiner-Falefa

By Steve Adams | December 6, 2023 at 8:23pm CDT

There are plenty of clubs with some level of interest in utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa — the Yankees and Blue Jays have been linked to him this week — and the former Ranger/Yankees Swiss army knife is also of some interest to the Dodgers, Marlins and Brewers, per Fabian Ardaya and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

At 28 years old (29 in March), Kiner-Falefa is among the younger free agents on the market. Acquired by the Yankees prior to the 2022 season as their hopeful starting shortstop and bridge to top prospect Anthony Volpe, the infielder-turned-catcher-turned-infielder didn’t grab that job and run with it. However, he settled into a versatile utility role in the Bronx, ultimately taking 892 plate appearances during his two seasons there and posting a .253/.311/.333 batting line (84 wRC+) with 10 home runs, 32 doubles, a triple and 36 stolen bases (in 45 tries).

Kiner-Falefa won a Gold Glove as the Rangers’ primary third baseman during the shortened 2020 season and notched 10 Defensive Runs Saved as their main shortstop in 2021. DRS and Statcast have strongly disparate views on his work at shortstop, however, and there was at least some question among team evaluators as to whether Kiner-Falefa could handle that position moving forward. Both the Twins, who originally acquired him from the Rangers, and the Yankees, who acquired him from Minnesota just over a day later, clearly felt Kiner-Falefa could handle shortstop on a generally full-time basis in the 2021-22 offseason.

Even if the Yankees’ opinion of that changed, their fondness of the player did not. New York could’ve non-tendered or traded Kiner-Falefa following the 2022 season with both Volpe and Oswald Peraza on the cusp of the Majors. Instead, they held onto him and used him in a utility capacity this past season, giving Kiner-Falefa his first MLB looks in the outfield (in addition to time at shortstop, second base and third base).

Kiner-Falefa didn’t grade especially well at any one position other than third base this past season, but the newfound versatility undoubtedly enhances his appeal to teams. Given his age, above-average sprint-speed, solid arm strength and the athleticism he’s shown by playing multiple positions, there’s likely some belief that he could yet improve on his glovework at various positions with more experience. Kiner-Falefa also boasts strong bat-to-ball skills (career 15.5% strikeout rate), although he couples that with a well below-average walk rate (career 6.1%).

The right-handed-hitting Kiner-Falefa has generally neutral platoon splits, but as a right-handed hitter who can handle multiple positions on the diamond, he may hold some appeal to the Dodgers, who are said to be seeking a righty bat to potentially platoon with Jason Heyward in right field. Kiner-Falefa’s career .259/.325/.348 slash against lefties doesn’t make him much of a short-side platoon option, but he could give the Dodgers some depth in the outfield and at third base, where slugger Max Muncy is also better off being shielded against southpaws.

In Milwaukee, Kiner-Falefa could provide insurance at both second base and third base, where sophomores Brice Turang and Andruw Monasterio are currently slated to start, respectively. (Owen Miller is also in the infield mix at both spots.) Turang, a former first-round pick and top Brewers prospect, hit .218/.285/.300 in 448 plate appearances as a rookie. He struggled regardless of opponent handedness but was particularly overmatched by lefties. Monasterio posted a superior .259/.330/.348 slash and, like Kiner-Falefa, is a right-handed hitter. Kiner-Falefa could take on a larger role in the event that the Brewers chose to option either young infielder.

The Marlins might have the most straightforward fit of this trio: a clear opening at shortstop. Miami plans to keep Jazz Chisholm Jr. in center field and is on the lookout for help at the shortstop position. In-house names like Jon Berti and former top prospect Vidal Brujan (recently acquired from the Rays) could step up in that role, but Kiner-Falefa would offer a more experienced option — one who could seamlessly slide into a utility option if someone like Brujan, 24-year-old Xavier Edwards or 25-year-old Jacob Amaya stepped up and ran with the shortstop job.

Central Notes: Tigers, Marmol, Ashby, Brewers

By Nick Deeds | December 6, 2023 at 6:19am CDT

The hot corner was a clear problem area for the Tigers in 2023. The club’s third basemen slashed a collective .211/.294/.323 last season, good for a 72 wRC+ that was better than only that tied with the A’s for the second-worst offensive production from the position in the majors, beating out only the Mets. In terms of fWAR, Detroit’s third basemen combined for -1.0 fWAR, tied with the Angels for bottom three in the majors ahead of the aforementioned clubs. Despite that dire situation, however, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic suggests that the Tigers may be content to enter 2024 relying on their internal options at the position.

That strategy could be more sensible than it may seem. Top prospects Jace Jung and Colt Keith could both find themselves in the majors in 2024 after strong offensive seasons in 2023 that saw them each slug over .500 while reaching the Double- and Triple-A level, respectively, for the first time in their career. Until the club’s young infielders are ready for the show, Stavenhagen suggests that the Tigers figure to rely on Matt Vierling as their primary third baseman. Vierling slashed a respectable .261/.329/.388 across 134 games in 2023 while primarily playing the outfield, but Detroit’s acquisition of Mark Canha figures to allow Vierling more time on the infield dirt in 2024 after making 27 starts at the hot corner this past season.

One area the Tigers do hope to make an addition this offseason is the bullpen, where Stavenhagen notes the club hopes to add a left-handed reliever. The club already has southpaws Tyler Holton and Joey Wentz among their relief options for 2024, but Wentz struggled badly in 2023 with a 6.90 ERA in 105 2/3 innings of work across 25 appearances, 19 of which were starts. While Wentz posted a more respectable 4.26 ERA in 25 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen last year, it’s easy to see why the club may want additional support from the left side headed into 2024. That’s particularly true after the club released Chasen Shreve back in August and lost Tyler Alexander on waivers to the Rays last month.

More from around MLB’s Central divisions…

On the heels of a 91-loss season that saw his club finish dead last in the NL Central, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is entering the final year of his contract in St. Louis. According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the sides have not discussed an extension at this point, leaving Marmol poised to enter the 2024 campaign as a lame duck. For his part, Marmol told Goold that he wasn’t concerned about the lack of security, “This industry is pretty simple,” Marmol said, “If you’re good, they keep you. If you’re not good, they don’t.” President of baseball operations John Mozeliak, meanwhile, expressed confidence in his manager entering the final year of his deal with the club, suggesting that he’s “very optimistic” that Marmol will be with the club “for a long time.”
In conversation with reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Brewers GM Matt Arnold suggested that the club views left-hander Aaron Ashby as a starting pitching option for the club in 2024. That said, Arnold was noncommittal about Ashby’s timeline for return to action following shoulder surgery, which he underwent back in April. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Ashby’s readiness for Opening Day next season, Arnold made clear that the young lefty will be “part of [the club’s] mix” when he is ready to return to action. Ashby signed a five-year extension with the Brewers partway through the 2022 season but has thrown just 31 1/3 innings for the club since then amid shoulder issues. When and if he’s healthy enough to return to the mound, Ashby figures to compete with the likes of Colin Rea and Adrian Houser for a spot in the club’s rotation alongside Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Wade Miley.
Sticking with the Brewers, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed yesterday that while Arnold did not rule out the possibility of top catching prospect Jeferson Quero making his big league debut at some point during 2024, the club nonetheless hopes to make an addition behind the plate to serve as the primary backup to William Contreras. Quero, 21, is the only other catcher on the club’s 40-man roster following the departure for Victor Caratini, who landed with the Astros on a two-year deal yesterday. Tom Murphy, Austin Hedges and Martin Maldonado are among the catchers still available on the open market this winter.

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