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Brewers Release Taylor Jungmann To Pursue Opportunity In Japan

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The Brewers announced today that righty Taylor Jungmann has been released in order to allow him to pursue an opportunity in Japan. The 40-man space was needed to accommodate the addition of Boone Logan, whose previously reported signing was also made official.

It is not known what organization Jungmann will be joining, but it rates as something of a surprise that he’s heading out of affiliated ball. He was the 12th overall selection in the 2011 draft and showed rather well in his debut season of 2015. More recently, though, Jungmann had struggled to gain opportunities at the game’s highest level.

After receiving 21 MLB starts in 2015, Jungmann was pummeled in his 26 2/3 MLB frames in the ensuing season and did not fare much better at Triple-A. In 2017, though, he worked to a 3.06 ERA in 123 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A, averaging 8.2 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9. That still was only enough to earn him a single appearance in the majors.

Brewers Sign J.J. Hoover

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The Brewers have announced the signing of righty J.J. Hoover to a minor-league deal. It includes an invitation to participate in MLB Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. He can earn $1.1MM in the majors with another $1.65MM available through incentives, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).

Hoover, 30, spent the 2017 season with the Diamondbacks. Over 41 1/3 innings, he racked up a solid 11.8 K/9 on a 12.0% swinging-strike rate, though he also surrendered 5.7 walks and 1.52 home runs per regulation affair. Hoover ended up with a 3.92 ERA on the year, representing a nice bounce back after a disappointing 2016 season.

For Milwaukee, Hoover will join a camp competition to build out the bullpen. The club has already pursued cost efficiency in its early winter relief moves, including striking a multi-year deal with Jeremy Jeffress and bringing in Boone Logan via free agency.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/10/18

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We’ll track the latest minor signings and other transactions here …

  • The Brewers have brought back left-hander Nick Ramirez on a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. Brewer Nation first tweeted word of the signing. He converted from first base to the mound in 2017, turning in rather impressive results. In 79 1/3 frames over 49 appearances, all but one of which came at Double-A, Ramirez ran a 1.36 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. It obviously remains to be seen whether the former fourth-round pick can earn a shot at the majors, but it seems promising that he was able to throttle both right-handed (.214/.260/.305) and left-handed hitters (.167/.273/.240) while working in a multi-inning role.
  • First baseman/outfielder Kyle Jensen has a minors deal with the Giants, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). The 29-year-old has only seen brief MLB time but has generally produced quality numbers at Triple-A. In 1,793 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, he carries a .266/.341/.488 batting line with 178 home runs — though also over a thousand strikeouts. Jensen had a six-game stretch last year with Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, but otherwise did not appear professionally. A former 12th round draft pick of the Marlins, Jensen has also spent time in recent years with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks organizations.
  • Also signing a minor-league pact is lefty Keith Hessler, who’ll join the Rockies, according to Cotillo (Twitter link). Hessler, 28, has 34 MLB frames under his belt, over which he has allowed 21 earned runs while recording 23 strikeouts and issuing 17 walks. He has mostly plied his trade in the upper minors in recent years, though he also took an indy ball detour last season. At times, Hessler has produced solid groundball numbers and been very hard on opposing lefties, though neither really held true in his most recent showing. In 45 1/3 Triple-A frames with the Padres in 2017, Hessler carried a 4.57 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9.

Matt Garza To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Free agent righty Matt Garza is set to undergo surgery for a torn right shoulder labrum, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. It seems the injury was sustained in a mid-season collision that knocked Garza out of commission for a time but did not end his season.

Now 34 years of age, Garza just wrapped up a four-year, $50MM deal with Milwaukee. (The contract had included an option provision, but it was voided when he reached an appearances threshold.) His future as a pitcher appears uncertain now that he’s facing down a significant procedure.

As McCalvy notes, Garza was throwing rather well when he crashed into Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar on June 3rd. Though he landed on the DL, Garza returned and pitched through the injury — the extent of which was evidently not fully appreciated or fully expressed at that time. He continued to provide solid frames for the Brewers for a while and never really exhibited a velocity loss. Nevertheless, Garza lost his edge in an ugly run of outings during August.

The tough finish to the 2017 season left Garza with 114 2/3 innings of 4.94 ERA ball. Though he did manage to top the century mark in frames in each of his four seasons in Milwaukee, Garza only managed a 4.65 earned run average during his time there.

Prior to signing on with the Brewers, of course, Garza had been a steadily useful pitcher, with a 3.84 ERA and 7.6 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 through over a thousand MLB innings. He turned in a solid first campaign, with a 3.64 ERA through 27 outings, but things trended sharply south in 2015 and Garza never full returned to form.

Brewers Sign Christian Bethancourt

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The Brewers announced that they’ve signed catcher Christian Bethancourt to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. The 26-year-old former top prospect has been with the Padres organization for the past two seasons after spending his first seven-plus seasons with the Braves organization.

San Diego sought to convert Bethancourt, whose 80-grade arm has long been considered his best tool, from a catcher into a relief pitcher over the past two seasons, though the results of that experiment were less than favorable. Bethancourt’s fastball was capable of reaching the upper 90s, but he never demonstrated much ability to locate his pitches. The 2017 campaign was his long season spent primarily as a pitcher, and it produced an unsightly 8.21 ERA with 5.0 K/9 against 7.1 BB/9 in 41 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball last season.

The Brewers, however, announced Bethancourt as a catcher, so it seems they’ll focus on him as a depth option behind the dish rather than on the mound. Bethancourt is a lifetime .298/.326/.437 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons (601 plate appearances) but has batted just .222/.252/.316 over the life of 489 PAs at the MLB level. He’s had some significant trouble with passed balls (19 in 940 MLB innings as a catcher), though his exceptional arm has helped him to throw out 35 percent of would-be base thieves in the Majors and 37 percent over the course of his minor league tenure.

Milwaukee presently has Manny Pina, who had a breakout season in 2017, and veteran Stephen Vogt atop its catching depth chart with Andrew Susac and Jett Bandy as 40-man options beyond that pairing. As such, Bethancourt will have a difficult time cracking the big league roster out of camp, though it’s certainly conceivable that he could reach the Majors at some point during the 2018 campaign should injuries or poor performances from the options ahead of him open a path to at-bats.

Brewers Appear Unlikely To Spend Big On Starter

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A quick look around the National League…

  • The Brewers are arguably in position to spend big on a free agent starting pitcher this offseason, but it’s unlikely to happen “unless prices come down,” Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. General manager David Stearns claims he’s “comfortable” with the team’s current rotation options – including the newly signed duo of Jhoulys Chacin and Yovani Gallardo. At the same time, he’s still working to improve the Brewers’ pitching and other areas of their roster. “I wouldn’t say we have anything that is imminent,” he told Haudricourt. “But that can always change with one phone call. We are involved on a number of fronts, some of them farther along than others. We’ll see where that takes us.”
  • Outfield prospect Edward Olivares is someone San Diego had “been on for some time” before acquiring him in Saturday’s Yangervis Solarte trade with Toronto, Padres general manager A.J. Preller said (via Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune). Preller went on to reveal that the Padres may not be done trading infielders, even after shipping out Solarte. “We’re still having discussions on the different infielders, and we’ll see how things play out,” stated Preller, who admitted after acquiring third baseman Chase Headley last month that he could flip him. Other teams had also called about Cory Spangenberg and Carlos Asuaje at that point.
  • The Mets and reliever Jenrry Mejia avoided arbitration this week, settling on a $1.729MM salary, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link). However, Mejia isn’t in position to collect that money, as Heyman notes. Major League Baseball issued Mejia a lifetime ban in February 2016 after his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.

Brewers To Sign Boone Logan

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Lefty reliever Boone Logan has agreed to a one-year deal with the Brewers, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter links). Logan will be guaranteed $2.5MM on the deal, which comes in the form of a $1.875MM base salary plus a $625K buyout on a $4.125MM option for the 2019 season. Logan can also earn up to $3.2MM worth of incentives in each year of the deal. He’s represented by Hub Sports Management.

[RELATED: Updated Brewers Depth Chart]

Milwaukee was light on left-handed bullpen help for much of the 2017 season and, at multiple points throughout the year, didn’t have a lefty in its bullpen at all. The 33-year-old Logan will give the Brew Crew an experienced option to help remedy that situation in 2018; it’s quite possible that he’ll be joined by young southpaw Josh Hader, who excelled in a relief role last year. Milwaukee could also return Hader to a starting role in ’18, though that could be dependent on what moves are yet to come for GM David Stearns and his staff.

Last season with the Indians, Logan hit the disabled list with a strained lat muscle in late July, and that injury ultimately proved to be season-ending in nature. He wound up tossing just 21 innings in 38 appearances as a lefty specialist in Cleveland, working to a 4.71 ERA. That said, Logan racked up a dozen strikeouts per nine against 3.9 walks per nine along with a 50 percent ground-ball rate in that time and has generally been a quality relief piece over the past eight seasons, with last year’s injury-shortened campaign and a dreadful 2014 season (6.84 ERA for the Rockies) standing out as notable exceptions.

Logan has long offered tantalizing skills, even if the results haven’t always quite matched. He has long boasted well-above-average swinging-strike rates — never higher than last year’s 18.5% rate — with a heater that sits around 94 mph and a heavily used, generally devastating slider. He has registered eleven or more strikeouts per nine in each of the past six campaigns. Of late, Logan has also generated quality groundball numbers as well (around 50% in each of the past two seasons).

Nevertheless, Logan owns a less-than-exciting 4.47 ERA in over 400 career MLB innings. No doubt that’s due in some part to the fact that he has never really figured out right-handed hitters. When pitching without the platoon advantage, Logan has coughed up a .286/.373/.472 cumulative batting line, with a K/BB ratio less than half that he has maintained against same-handed hitters.

Given the relatively meager commitment this contract represents, the Brewers will likely not feel much pressure to extend Logan beyond his area of greatest function — that is, entering to face tough lefties but not being asked to serve in a general setup capacity in high-leverage spots. Certainly, Logan won’t occupy much space on the organization’s payroll ledger, which still seems to offer quite a bit of room for additions for 2018 and beyond.

Brewers Reportedly Interested In Lorenzo Cain, Open To Trading Current Outfielders

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The Brewers possess a wealth of young MLB-ready options in the outfield, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription required and recommended) that Milwaukee has nonetheless expressed interest in Lorenzo Cain, who has been a “frequent topic of conversation” for Brewers officials this winter.

Milwaukee has Ryan Braun, Keon Broxton and Domingo Santana currently aligned in the outfield, with 23-year-old Brett Phillips also factoring prominently into the mix and top prospect Lewis Brinson looming in Triple-A. One possible outcome, according to Rosenthal, is that the Brewers could deal from their current outfield depth to add a controllable rotation option and make room for Cain. He’s not the only one to report on such a possibility as of late, either; Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted yesterday that Milwaukee is open to dealing Broxton or, for a much more significant haul, Santana.

Of the incumbent group of outfielders, any of Broxton, Brinson, Santana or Phillips would figure to draw plenty of interest, though the Brewers showed no inclination to make Brinson available at the non-waiver trade deadline. Each of that group is controllable for either four (Santana), five (Broxton) or six (Brinson, Phillips) full seasons.

Broxton has a penchant for strikeouts and is OBP-challenged as a result, but he’s coming off a 20-homer, 20-steal season with the potential to be an asset on defense. While Defensive Runs Saved (-7) and Ultimate Zone Rating (-2.2) were down on his glove in 2017, Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric pegged him at +9, thus placing him among the game’s best outfielders, and his excellent speed gives him plenty of range in center.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers depth chart & Milwaukee Brewers payroll]

Santana is fresh off a strong .278/.371/.505 slash and 30 homers, though he’s best suited for corner outfield duty (despite some experience in center). For a team seeking an offensive boost in right or left field, he’d be an extremely appealing target, but his controllable nature and strong 2017 play are undoubtedly the reasons that Schulman suggested Santana would require parting with “a ton” in any trade.

As for Brinson and Phillips, both are capable of manning center field and both have at various points been considered among baseball’s very best prospects. Brinson currently holds that distinction in the eyes of many after hitting .331/.400/.562 in Triple-A last year, though he struggled mightily in 55 MLB plate appearances. Phillips’ star has faded due to an alarming strikeout problem (29.8 percent in both Double-A and Triple-A, 34.7 percent in the Majors). He still managed to post strong numbers in Triple-A and in the Majors last year, though both of those batting lines were fueled by BABIPs north of .400.

A trade of Braun doesn’t seem especially likely given that he’s owed $72MM over the next four seasons (including a $4MM buyout on a 2022 option and $18MM in deferred salary) and can veto any trade thanks to his 10-and-5 rights.

Signing Cain, who rejected the Royals’ qualifying offer, would cost the Brewers their third-highest selection in the 2018 draft as well as the slot money that comes with that pick. (That would be their selectionin Competitive Balance Round B, which is currently No. 74 overall.) That’d obviously represent somewhat of a deterrent, though the Brewers may look at signing Cain and addressing their rotation via trade as a means of more financially palatable course of action than signing Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn (each of whom would also require the forfeiture of that pick after rejecting their own QOs).

Milwaukee has been tied to virtually every top starter on the market to varying degrees, ranging from Arrieta and Lynn earlier in the offseason to Cobb shortly before the New Year. If GM David Stearns and his staff have deemed asking prices for free agency’s most meaningful rotation upgrades too sizable, there’s logic to spending on Cain and then utilizing organizational depth to fortify the starting corps. That, of course, assumes Cain can be had at a more reasonable price point. Ultimately, the possibility of adding Cain and addressing the rotation via trade is likely just one of many avenues that the Brewers are exploring at present as they seek to remain competitive in a strong NL Central division.

Jimmy Nelson Discusses Rehab

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  • Brewers righty Jimmy Nelson, who underwent surgery on a torn labrum in September, told MLB Network on Tuesday that his “rehab is going just about as well as it could possibly go, knock on wood” (via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Its still unclear, though, how much time the 28-year-old will miss next season after emerging as a front-of-the-rotation starter in 2017. For now, Nelson’s “really anxious to start a throwing program and get to spring training.”

Dodgers Acquire Dylan Baker

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12:10pm: The transaction actually occurred as a trade, with the Brewers set to receive cash or a player to be named later in the deal, per a club announcement.

11:13am: The Dodgers have claimed righty Dylan Baker off waivers from the Brewers, according to a tweet from Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Baker had been designated for assignment by Milwaukee.

The 25-year-old hurler has spent his entire professional playing career to date with the Indians, who took him in the fifth round of the 2012 draft out of Western Nevada College. He was claimed by the Brewers earlier in the offseason, though obviously he won’t end up suiting up with that organization (barring future waiver movement).

Though Baker has not thrown much of late, owing to Tommy John surgery, he has obviously drawn the attention of scouts around the game. In 2017, Baker worked to a 2.84 ERA in 12 2/3 Double-A frames over 13 appearances, recording a healthy 10:1 K/BB ratio. He had mostly worked previously as a starter, so it’s somewhat unclear what role he might occupy moving forward.

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