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Brewers Hire Andy Haines As Hitting Coach

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The Brewers have hired Andy Haines as the team’s hitting coach, reports Jon Heyman of Fancred on Twitter.  Haines, 41, will replace Darnell Coles, who stepped down from the post late last week.

Formerly of the Cubs organization, where he served as the team’s assistant hitting coach in 2018 after two seasons spent as the club’s coordinator of minor league hitting, Haines has a wide and varied in the background in the game.  He’s previously managed at multiple stops in the Miami system, where from 2010-2012 his posts overlapped with the low-level development of current Brewer Christian Yelich.  In all, Haines skippered at five spots across the Marlins’ farm, culminating with his 2014-15 post at the helm of the AAA New Orleans affiliate.  Baseball America has twice named Haines as a top managerial prospect, per his bio at mlb.com.

Haines will work to stabilize an uneven Brewers offense last season, whose massive breakouts – Yelich, to an MVP-caliber .326/.402/.598 (166 wRC+), and Jesus Aguilar (35 HR, 134 wRC+) – were offset by cataclysmic decline (Orlando Arcia’s NL-worst 54 wRC+, Jonathan Schoop’s .202/.246/.331 crater after joining the team, major regression from Eric Thames and Domingo Santana).  With Steamer forecasting a 27 percent drop in Yelich’s production in the upcoming season and pegging Aguilar to return to near league-average (104 wRC+), the 2019 Brewers will almost certainly need rebounds from ’18 underperformers to stay afloat in a difficult NL Central.

In all, Milwaukee posted a respectable .252/.323/.424 as a team last season, numbers slightly inflated by the generous dimensions of the team’s home park.  Still, in addition to the aforementioned regulars, the Brewers return veteran performers Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain, and Travis Shaw, and figure to benefit from the sizzling bat of top prospect Keston Hiura, should the club sputter in the season’s first half.

Stephen Vogt Elects Free Agency

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According to a team announcement, Brewers catcher Stephen Vogt has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Vogt, along with pitchers Jimmy Nelson and Brent Suter, was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list today. The 34-year-old Vogt did not play in the majors in 2018 after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in May. With the addition of Nelson and Suter, the Brewers’ 40-man roster now consists of 37 players.

Vogt didn’t take the field this season due to that surgery, though he spent the year traveling with the team even after the operation. The veteran backstop joined the Brew Crew via waivers last June after being designated for assignment by the A’s. Vogt showed good pop with Milwaukee last year, hitting .254/.284/.508 with seven big flies in just 129 plate appearances and was rewarded with a $3.065MM deal in the offseason, avoiding arbitration. Unfortunately for both team and player, that proved to be a sunk cost, as shoulder issues in Spring Training lingered into the season before it was determined that Vogt was facing a potentially career-threatening injury.

As it stands, it’s not clear where Vogt is in terms of recovery from an injury which the veteran described as “[feeling] everything go wrong that could go wrong with a shoulder.” If doctors determine his arm can handle another attempt at playing, he could look to re-up with the Brewers on a minor league pact or seek out a non-guaranteed deal with another club on the open market.

Nelson, too, missed the entire 2018 season as he recovered from shoulder surgery that he underwent last September. If he can come back at full strength in 2019, he’ll add a dynamic presence to the top of a Brewers rotation that proved to be a surprising strength in 2018. He’d join Jhoulys Chacin and Chase Anderson in the rotation, with Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Zach Davies and Junior Guerra representing further options (to say nothing of any potential offseason additions).

The 29-year-old Suter surely would’ve been in that group as well, but the left-hander underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this summer and won’t be an option to return to the active roster until late 2019.

Reds Hire Pitching Coach Derek Johnson Away From Brewers

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4:57pm: MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that Milwaukee general manager David Stearns has confirmed that Johnson is leaving the organization. The Brewers had “extensive” negotiations in an effort to retain Johnson, Stearns said, but it seems the two sides ultimately could not reach an agreement.

4:50pm: The Brewers are set for yet another coaching change, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that pitching coach Derek Johnson is leaving the organization to join the Reds in the same capacity. Milwaukee previously saw hitting coach Darnell Coles step down, and he was announced as the new hitting coach for the Diamondbacks earlier today.

To this point, the entirety of Johnson’s coaching career in pro ball has come in the National League Central. He spent the 2013-15 seasons as the Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator and has served as Milwaukee’s pitching coach from 2016-18 before jumping ship to the division-rival Reds. Prior to that, he spent 11 seasons as the pitching coach at Vanderbilt, working with numerous future big leaguers, including first-rounders David Price, Mike Minor and Sonny Gray.

Johnson will be the first staff hire under newly minted skipper David Bell on a Reds staff that figures to see its own fair share of turnover following the early-season dismissal of Bryan Price and the recent departure of interim manager Jim Riggleman.

Diamondbacks Name Darnell Coles Hitting Coach

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The D-backs have announced that Darnell Coles, who recently stepped down as the Brewers’ hitting coach, has been hired as the new hitting coach in Arizona. He’ll replace the recently dismissed Dave Magadan. The Athletic’s Robert Murray had previously reported that Coles was the “leading candidate” to take over for Magadan in Phoenix (Twitter link). Tim Laker is sticking around as the Diamondbacks’ assistant hitting coach, per the press release announcing Coles’ hiring.

“We’re excited to add a person of Darnell Coles’ caliber to our Major League coaching staff,” said manager Torey Lovullo in a statement accompanying the announcement. “He is an exceptional communicator that values building relationships. As a teacher, his dynamic approach has proven to help players develop.”

Coles, 56, enjoyed a 14-year career as an infielder and outfielder before beginning his coaching career as the Mariners’ minor league hitting coordinator in 2000. Since then he’s served as a minor league hitting coordinator, hitting coach and manager in the Nationals and Brewers farm systems, served as the Tigers’ assistant hitting coach and spent the past four seasons as the Brewers’ Major League hitting coach.

Brewers Exercise Club Option Over Jeremy Jeffress, Buy Out Jordan Lyles

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The Brewers made the easy call today to pick up their club option over righty Jeremy Jeffress, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets. He stands to earn $3.175MM for the 2019 season.

Meanwhile, the team declined a $3.5MM option over fellow right-hander Jordan Lyles, per Robert Murray of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll receive a $250K buyout.

Jeffress, 31, would have been eligible for arbitration for a final time, but agreed to a contract last winter that gave the team a pair of options. It was quite an unusual deal, evidently occasioned by the fact that Jeffress has struggled with substance abuse in the past and had thrived in the environment provided by the Milwaukee organization.

As it turns out, Jeffress reached $550K in incentive pay by virtue of throwing over seventy innings and finishing over twenty games. Added to his $1.75MM base salary, he earned $2.3MM — just a bit less than the $2.6MM he was projected for in arbitration.

Jeffress can reach up to $2.2MM in incentives for each of the following two seasons, though achieving all would mean reaching not only 55 games finished but also throwing over ninety frames. In addition to the $3.175MM he’ll earn for 2019, the final club option comes with a $4.3MM price tag.

To this point, the deal has worked out on the field — tremendously so, in fact. Jeffress worked to a minuscule 1.29 ERA in 76 2/3 innings in 2018, surrendering only 49 hits while compiling 10.4 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 along with a typically excellent 56.4% groundball rate. The strikeouts came as a pleasant surprise; Jeffress ended the season with a 13.5% swinging-strike rate that easily topped his prior high.

As for Lyles, the 28-year-old gave the Brewers 16 1/3 effective innings after coming over from the Padres via trade. He allowed only six earned on a dozen hits in that span, racking up 22 strikeouts against nine walks.

Obviously, the Brewers did not seen enough to think that was a sign of things to come. Lyles has thrown 768 2/3 major-league frames, after all, with only a 5.28 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 on his overall ledger.

Mike Moustakas, Joakim Soria Decline Mutual Options

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The Brewers announced Tuesday that third baseman Mike Moustakas and right-hander Joakim Soria have both declined their half of their 2019 mutual options. Moustakas’ option came with a $15MM value, while Soria’s was worth $10MM. Both players received a $1MM buyout and are now free agents.

[Related: Updated Milwaukee Brewers depth chart and payroll outlook]

Moustakas, who turned 30 last month, was traded from Kansas City to Milwaukee prior to the non-waiver trade deadline (in exchange for Brett Phillips and Jorge Lopez) and went on to hit .256/.326/.441 with eight homers in 218 plate appearances as Milwaukee’s primary third baseman. On the season as a whole, the longtime Royals slugger hit .251/.315/.459 with 28 long balls and 33 doubles.

It’s the second consecutive quality season at the plate for Moustakas since returning from a 2016 ACL tear, and it’s bold, to an extent, to see him turn down the guaranteed $15MM he could’ve secured (if the Brewers were similarly comfortable paying him at that rate, which isn’t a given). Moustakas and agent Scott Boras found extremely limited interest in free agency last winter on the heels of a superior offensive season to the one he just concluded.

It’s certainly possible that Moustakas turned down some multi-year offers early in free agency and was ultimately forced to settle for his eventual one-year, $6.5MM deal after those suitors pursued alternative options. But now that he’s a year older and coming off a worse season with a relatively characteristic platoon split, it’d be hard to say that Moustakas did anything to truly elevate his profile in 2018. It’s true that he can no longer be saddled with a qualifying offer, which unquestionably sapped his market last offseason, so at the very least he’ll have that burden lifted as he explores the free-agent market for a second time.

As for Soria, the final season of his three-year, $25MM pact (also signed with the Royals) was arguably the best of the three. In 60 2/3 innings, the 34-year-old pitched to a tidy 3.12 ERA while averaging 11.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 0.59 HR/9 with a 35.7 percent ground-ball rate. Despite the fact that he’s entering his mid-30s, Soria posted the best swinging-strike rate (14.4 percent) and opponents’ chase rate (34.1 percent) of his impressive career. With that type of swing-and-miss ability in his back pocket, he’ll likely have little trouble topping the $10MM guarantee he’d have been promised had he instead accepted the option.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/30/18

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We’ll use this post to catch up on some recent minor moves and track any more that pop up today:

  • The Brewers announced that they’ve inked infielder Jake Hager to a minors pact that includes an invitation to MLB camp. With the news, Hager will again factor on the Milwaukee infield depth chart as camp gets underway. He had his most impressive showing at any level to open the 2018 season, slashing .292/.371/.521 with ten home runs in 257 plate appearances at Double-A Biloxi last year. But Hager’s output slowed after he was bumped up to Triple-A to finish out the year. The 25-year-old has spent most of his time in the minors at shortstop and also has experience at second and third base.
  • First baseman Joey Meneses was released by the Phillies in order to pursue an opportunity in Japan, the club announced. He’ll be signing with the Orix Buffaloes. Meneses, 26, was not on the Philadelphia organization’s 40-man roster and obviously did not factor in its plans. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t shown some impressive skill. After joining the Phillies on a minors pact for the 2018 season, the long-time Braves farmhand picked up International League MVP honors for turning in a stellar campaign in which he slashed .311/.360/.510 with 23 home runs in 536 plate appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Brewers Select Contract Of Tyrone Taylor

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The Brewers announced today that they have selected the contract of outfielder Tyrone Taylor. With that move, and the departure of three free agents from the 40-man roster, the club has two roster spots to work with at present.

Once considered one of the Milwaukee organization’s very best prospects, owing primarily to his defensive profile, Taylor fell largely off the map as he struggled to reach base or hit for power with any real consistency. The 24-year-old was a second-round selection in the 2012 draft, so he has been eligible for the Rule 5 draft quite a few times, but has never drawn outside interest.

Taylor would have qualified for minor-league free agency in a few days had it not been for this move. Whether or not he’ll remain a part of the picture in Milwaukee isn’t clear, as Taylor could conceivably be utilized as trade bait, but the club obviously felt he had shown enough in 2018 to have real value.

Despite first reaching the Double-A level (albeit briefly) in 2014, Taylor did not touch the highest level of the minors until the just-completed campaign. Once there, he followed through on the burst of life he had shown in an injury-shortened 2017 effort, turning in 481 plate appearances of .278/.321/.504 hitting along with twenty long balls — his first double-digit homer tally.

Brewers, Chase Anderson Hope For Bounceback Year

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  • The Brewers undeniably had a successful 2018 campaign, but it occurred despite of the struggles of righty Chase Anderson, who inked a short-term extension at the end of the prior season. As Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports, Anderson wrapped up the current year saying he has plans to get back on track for 2019. GM David Stearns, meanwhile, says the organization expects the same. Anderson, who’ll soon turn 31, did finish with a solid 3.93 ERA in 158 innings. But ERA estimators including FIP (5.22), xFIP (4.79), and SIERA (4.68) were not impressed, and Anderson failed to sustain the slight but notable velocity bump from the season prior.

Brewers Announce Changes To Coaching Staff

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The Brewers announced today that they will be seeking two new coaches, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was among those to report (Twitter link). Hitting coach Darnell Coles decided to leave the organization, while bullpen coach Lee Tunell and head athletic trainer Dan Wright will not be asked back.

Unsurprisingly, manager Craig Counsell will be back for his third full season in the dugout. He’ll be looking for a pair of new lieutenants for the 2019 season and will also be working with a new head trainer, as the club has decided to move on from Dan Wright.

Coles, a long-time major-leaguer, had served as hitting coach since the 2015 season. The 56-year-old had previously worked in the Milwaukee farm system before joining the Tigers as assistant hitting coach. Current Brewers hitting coach Jason Lane is said to be a possible candidate to take over for Coles but will also be allowed to pursue jobs with other clubs.

As for Tunnell, he’ll move on after a long run as the club’s bullpen coach. A former big league hurler, he had stepped into the position in the middle of the 2012 season and held onto the job when Counsell took over for Ron Roenicke.

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