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Brewers Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Brewers announced today that they’ve promoted Chris Hook from pitching coordinator to pitching coach, hired Steve Karsay away from the Indians organization to serve as the new bullpen coach, and hired Scott Barringer away from the Astros to serve as the new head athletic trainer. Milwaukee also formally announced the previously reported hiring of Andy Haines as hitting coach and announced that Jason Lane would reprise his role as assistant hitting coach.

Hook has been with the organization for more than a decade, primarily working as a pitching coach at the minor league level before spending the 2018 season as the organization’s pitching coordinator. The 50-year-old had an 11-year professional playing career, including 65 2/3 innings with the Giants in 1995-96. He’ll be plenty familiar with a number of the team’s homegrown arms, having worked with them along the way in their journey to the Majors.

“I think when you know players and how they think, you can move them quicker,” said Hook of that benefit (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy). “That’s the way I feel. Even though I don’t know all of these pitchers, I know a good bit of them, and I feel like they trust me. If we trust each other, you can do good things with people.”

The 46-year-old Karsay was a pitching coach in the Indians’ system for the past seven years, including a 2016-18 run as the pitching coach in Triple-A Columbus, where he worked with promising young arms like Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber, among others. Karsay collected 41 saves and posted a 4.01 ERA through 603 1/3 innings as a Major Leaguer from 1993-2006.

Barringer creates yet another opening the Astros need to fill after previous losing bullpen coach Doug White, hitting coach Dave Hudgens and assistant hitting coach Jeff Albert to other organizations (to say nothing of assistant GM Mike Elias heading to Baltimore as the new Orioles general manager). Barringer was the Astros’ assistant athletic trainer from 2017-18 and the organization’s minor league medical coordinator in 2016. Prior to that, he as a minor league athletic trainer with the Cubs and Diamondbacks for a combined five seasons.

Nathan Eovaldi Drawing Widespread Interest

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4:36pm: Eovaldi has received interest from “everybody and their mother,” a source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI. However, “truly serious suitors” won’t begin to stand out until after Thanksgiving, Bradford hears. The Yankees are among those who will at least consider Eovaldi, per Bradford.

8:59am: Free-agent starter Nathan Eovaldi has drawn considerable interest on the open market, according to the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, who writes that the Brewers, Phillies, Braves, Angels, White Sox, Blue Jays and Giants join the previously reported Red Sox and Padres as early suitors for the right-hander. More teams may join the fray, Cafardo adds.

Although Eovaldi is a two-time Tommy John surgery recipient who only threw 111 regular-season innings in 2018, the soon-to-be 29-year-old still managed to significantly boost his stock. Across 22 appearances (21 starts) divided between Tampa Bay and Boston, Eovaldi pitched to a solid 3.81 ERA/3.60 FIP with 8.19 K/9, 1.62 BB/9 and a 45.6 percent groundball rate. Among pitchers who threw at least 100 innings, Eovaldi finished third in both average fastball velocity (97.4 mph) and infield fly percentage (15.7), tied for sixth in BB/9, and 12th in K/BB ratio (5.05). He also yielded a paltry .284 expected weighted on-base average, an even more impressive figure than the .293 real wOBA hitters registered against him.

After posting those strong numbers during the regular season, Eovaldi proved capable of shining on the game’s biggest stage for the Red Sox, who couldn’t have asked for more when they acquired him in July. Eovaldi surrendered just four earned runs in 22 1/3 postseason innings, helping the Red Sox vanquish the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers en route to a World Series title. The success Eovaldi enjoyed in October surely helped his stock heading toward the open market, where MLBTR predicts he’ll land a four-year, $60MM guarantee.

A lucrative payday for Eovaldi this offseason may have been unthinkable at this time last year, when he was still recovering from the 2016 Tommy John surgery he underwent as a Yankee. However, Eovaldi now has a clean bill of health. Dr. Christopher Ahmad, who performed Eovaldi’s most recent surgery, gave his right arm a ringing endorsement Friday, telling Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston: “To me, he’s over Tommy John surgery and he’s over revision Tommy John surgery. And I would consider him in the same category of somebody who has a healthy arm, and whatever worry I have about that player, I have the same or less for Nate.”

Adding to Eovaldi’s appeal, he doesn’t come with a qualifying offer attached, which isn’t the case with either Patrick Corbin or Dallas Keuchel – the only starters MLBTR projects to sign bigger contracts. Of course, Eovaldi’s resume isn’t on the level of theirs. While Corbin and Keuchel have offered superstar-caliber production at times, Eovaldi has generally performed like a mid- to back-end starter. Also a former Dodger and Marlin, Eovaldi owns a 4.16 ERA/3.82 FIP with 6.78 K/9, 2.74 BB/9 and a 46.8 percent grounder rate over 850 innings, and he hasn’t exceeded 125 frames in a season since 2015. There are certainly some red flags with Eovaldi, then, yet it’s still unsurprising that teams are lining up for his services.

Pitching Market Rumors: Gray, Corbin, Anibal, Keuchel, Parker

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The Yankees have received multiple offers for right-hander Sonny Gray and are currently in the process of evaluating them, per SNY’s Andy Martino. GM Brian Cashman has been unusually candid about his plan to move the obvious change-of-scenery candidate, and interest in buying low on the talented righty has reportedly been robust. Gray, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $9.4MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility next year, pitched quite well away from Yankee Stadium and maintained his velocity and ability to miss bats. But he was frequently shelled in the Bronx and ultimately lost his rotation spot late in the season. The Reds are among the teams who’ve been prominently connected to Gray recently, though it stands to reason that upwards of half the league could have interest given his track record.

More rumblings on the market for pitching and bullpen help…

  • The Phillies have been primarily connected to Bryce Harper and Manny Machado in free agency, but MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports that the Phils are also eyeing left-hander Patrick Corbin. Philadelphia has substantial payroll flexibility and a sense of urgency on the heels of a late 2018 collapse, but they’ll surely face quite a bit of competition in a pursuit of Corbin. The Yankees and Nationals, too, have shown early interest in Corbin.
  • Morosi also notes within that column that the Brewers are exploring the market for rotation help and have shown some preliminary interest in righty Anibal Sanchez. The 34-year-old parlayed a minor league deal with the Braves into an absolutely brilliant rebound campaign that landed him 28th on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agent rankings. Beyond a 2.83 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate in 134 1/3 innings, Sanchez also allowed the least hard contact of any pitcher in the game, per Statcast.
  • Speaking of generating weak contact, that skill will be at the forefront of agent Scott Boras’ pitch to teams when marketing lefty Dallas Keuchel, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Boras, speaking to Rosenthal, tabbed Keuchel as the “soft-contact genius of his era” — and though the title is dripping with characteristic Boras hyperbole, it’s also underscored by truth. As Rosenthal points out, Keuchel leads the Majors in soft-contact rate (26.9 percent) since his big league debut. Boras notes that Keuchel’s age-26 through age-30 seasons stack up comparably with those of Andy Pettitte and Tom Glavine as well — another semi-outlandish but also factual claim that’ll no doubt be in his pitch to owners and top-ranking baseball ops executives.
  • Rosenthal also reports that while the Angels are looking to add to both the bullpen and the rotation, it’s also possible they’ll listen to offers on right-hander Blake Parker. The 33-year-old Parker has been terrific find for GM Billy Eppler, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 22 saves in 133 2/3 innings since being claimed off waivers in December 2016. Parker is arbitration-eligible this winter and projected to earn $3.1MM and is controllable through the 2020 season.

Christian Yelich, Mookie Betts Win MVP Awards

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The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced tonight that Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich was voted the Most Valuable Player of the National League. Meanwhile, fellow outfielder Mookie Betts took the prize in the American League.

Yelich nearly pulled off a unanimous win after helping lead the Brew Crew to a stirring NL Central title. Only one first-place vote went to another player, as Mets hurler Jacob deGrom was not-unjustly rewarded for an exceptional season that already netted him a Cy Young Award.

Clearly, though, Yelich stood above the rest of the position-player field. It surely helped his case that he led a resurgent Brewers club, but the 26-year-old turned in a stellar first year in Milwaukee quite apart from what his teammates did around him. In 651 plate appearances, he turned in a .326/.402/.598 batting line with 36 home runs and 22 steals.

That eye-popping offensive output, combined with solid glovework and excellent overall baserunning, left Yelich with a hefty tally of 7.6 WAR (by measure of both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference). Cubs infielder Javier Baez placed second, with Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado finishing in bronze-medal position.

As for Betts, his season was even more compelling, allowing him to stand out even against a field of excellent contenders in the American League. He finished the season with a ridiculous .346/.438/.640 slash while qualifying for the 30/30 club. Plus, he’s widely considered one of the best defenders and baserunners in the game.

It’s a credit to Betts that he was able to top yet another MVP-worthy performance from the incomparable Mike Trout, whose perennial excellence is not diminished by the fact that a rotating cast of others has occasionally matched or bettered him. Indians infielder Jose Ramirez turned in a second consecutive third-place finish.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/12/18

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The latest minor league transactions from around baseball…

  • The Brewers announced (Twitter link) the signing of left-hander Angel Perdomo to a minor league deal with an invitation to their big league Spring Training camp.  Baseball America ranked Perdomo as the 18th-best prospect in the Blue Jays’ minor league system prior to the 2017 season, though the southpaw hit something of a wall in high-A ball, spending the last two seasons at the level and posting a modest 3.67 ERA, 2.12 K/BB rate, and 9.6 K/9 over 154 2/3 innings.  The 24-year-old Perdomo did miss time to injuries in each of the last two years, however, so better health and a fresh start in Milwaukee’s organization could get his career back on track.

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.

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