- Contrary to a report last month, the Brewers’ unwillingness to part with high-end outfield prospect Lewis Brinson did not kill their chances of landing righty Sonny Gray from the Athletics, according to Rosenthal. The A’s would have accepted a package of other prospects from the Brewers’ talented farm system, relays Rosenthal, but the two sides still couldn’t work out a deal leading up to July 31. Oakland ultimately sent Gray to the Yankees for a trio of prospects on deadline day, officially ending any chance of the Brewers acquiring him.
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Brewers Rumors
Brewers Searching For Offensive Help
The Brewers have gone a horrid 9-17 since the All-Star break, yet they’re still only two games behind the Cubs for the National League Central lead. As such, general manager David Stearns remains on the hunt for potential upgrades, writes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The Brewers “are constantly monitoring the waiver wire,” revealed Stearns, who’s optimistic that he’ll be able to add outside help in the coming weeks. “I wouldn’t put it as a definite, but I certainly think it is a possibility that between now and the end of August we are able to pull something off,” he said. Milwaukee is specifically looking to breathe life into its sputtering offense, according to McCalvy, which aligns with their reported interest in Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler. The veteran might not even make it to the Brewers via waivers, though, and McCalvy relays that the team has failed in its attempts to add players via claims this month. When the Brewers have claimed players, clubs ahead of them in the waiver pecking order have either beaten them to the punch or the players’ teams pulled them back.
Tigers Place Ian Kinsler On Revocable Trade Waivers
Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler is on revocable trade waivers, per MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links). As we’ve emphasized with recent reports of players going on August waivers, the fact that Kinsler is on waivers at all isn’t all that noteworthy. Most players, after all, will be on revocable waivers this month.
What is noteworthy about Rosenthal’s report, though, is that it gives a timetable for when a fairly plausible August trade candidate will either be claimed or pulled back off waivers (thus removing his trade candidacy). In this case, the waiver period is up at noon CST tomorrow. Any team that is awarded the claim would then have another two days to work out a trade; if no deal is made, the Tigers could pull him back or allow him to depart without compensation.
According to Rosenthal, the Brewers still have interest in acquiring Kinsler, though he’d have to approve a trade to Milwaukee — a team that is on his partial no-trade clause. It’s not yet known if Kinsler will even make it to the Brewers on the waiver wire — every American League team and all N.L. clubs with worse records will have higher priority — nor is it known if the Brewers would definitively place a claim. In the event that Milwaukee did successfully claim him, however, the no-trade clause would add another wrinkle to the already-difficult task the two teams would face simply to agree on an exchange. (For what it’s worth, he has indicated a general willingness to accept a deal, though there were prior indications he’d only approve one if an extension could be arranged as part of the swap.)
Kinsler would represent an upgrade for Milwaukee, with Jonathan Villar and Eric Sogard failing to produce with any consistency. But it’s not entirely clear just how much the team would be willing to pay in salary and prospects. Kinsler is earning $11MM this year, around $3MM of which is still due. He’s also controllable via club option for 2018 at a reasonable $12MM. (Note: some sources have the option priced at $10MM, but the majority place it at the slightly higher rate; see, e.g., here.) There’s a hefty $5MM buyout, but that won’t likely come into play. As regards the Brewers, Kinsler’s salary would represent a fairly big chunk of change for an organization that has opened each of the past two seasons with just over $60MM on the books, though Milwaukee has plenty of spending capacity available and would surely like the idea of landing a veteran without a long-term commitment.
Of course, the ability to control a solid veteran player for a solid price on a one-year term will boost Kinsler’s appeal to many other clubs that might consider a claim. Second base hasn’t been an area of much demand, but perhaps there are a few other clubs that could consider pursuing a move. The Angels stand out as a conceivable possibility, as they could use the help at second, are still in contention, and have targeted short-term veterans in recent years as a way to remain competitive while trying not to clog future balance sheets.
Milwaukee and others will surely have their limits in valuing Kinsler. He’s already 35 years old and has managed only a .245/.324/.388 slash on the year, swatting ten home runs after a surprising 2016 campaign in which he launched 28 and carried an atypically robust .196 isolated slugging mark. But he’s easily worth his salary and looks to be an appealing asset for 2018. Despite the currently subpar batting line, Kinsler is avoiding strikeouts as well as ever and is drawing more walks than usual. A boost in his current .259 BABIP would likely bring him back to being at least a league-average hitter — indeed, he has never ended a regular season with a wRC below the league mean. And Kinsler still grades as a premium defender, making him a high-quality regular even if his batting productivity erodes somewhat.
Stearns On Relatively Quiet Deadline
- Brewers general manager David Stearns spoke at length with Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about his team’s decision not to part with significant long-term pieces for big-name upgrades prior to the non-waiver deadline. As Stearns explains, there was simply a group of players — both on the Major League roster and in the minors — that the Brewers weren’t willing to discuss in trades, barring the emergence of an unexpected trade candidate on the market. Stearns rejected the narrative that the Cubs’ acquisition of Jose Quintana galvanized the clubhouse and sparked a winning streak. “I think the Cubs’ recent run has more to do with the overall quality of their roster than one individual player,” said the GM. Haudricourt’s column is rife with lengthy quotes from Stearns on his thoughts leading up to the deadline and into August trading season, so readers should definitely check it out in its entirety.
Brewers Release Tom Wilhelmsen
The Brewers announced that they’ve released right-handed reliever Tom Wilhelmsen, who signed a minor league contract with the team on June 20.
This was the second stint with the Brewers for the 33-year-old Wilhelmsen, whom they selected in the seventh round of the 2002 draft. Wilmhelmsen has never cracked the majors with the Brewers, though, and struggled mightily with their Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs this year. Across 13 innings, Wilhelmsen recorded a 13.15 ERA with 7.62 K/9 and 4.85 BB/9.
Formerly the Mariners’ closer, Wilhelmsen signed a minors deal with the Diamondbacks over the winter after dividing 2016 between Seattle and Texas. Wilhelmsen made Arizona’s season-opening roster, but he underwhelmed over the first few months of the campaign, leading the team to designate him for assignment in early June. While Wilhemsen showed off a 95 mph fastball and posted a 49.4 percent ground-ball rate in 26 1/3 innings with the D-backs, he combined a 4.44 ERA with unappealing strikeout and walk rates (5.81 K/9, 4.1 BB/9).
Jett Bandy Suffers Fractured Rib
- The Brewers may not be able to count on catcher Jett Bandy down the stretch. As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal tweets, the 27-year-old has been diagnosed with a fractured rib. It is not immediately clear how much time he’ll miss, though anything but a fairly rapid return could spell the end of his season. With Stephen Vogt also out, Andrew Susac is the only healthy 40-man alternative to join Manny Pina on the MLB roster. But Susac himself only just made it back from injury woes, and it’s possible Milwaukee could end up checking into the market for alternatives.
Brewers Outright Wily Peralta, Kirk Nieuwenhuis
The Brewers announced today that right-hander Wily Peralta and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis have both cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
The 28-year-old Peralta was designated for assignment on Saturday, and Milwaukee was apparently unable to find a taker for him in any trade talks that may have occurred. No team felt comfortable claiming the remaining $1.4MM on his $4.275MM salary, either, so Peralta will return to the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate.
While the fact that Peralta has more than three years of Major League service time allows him to refuse the outright assignment, the fact that he has fewer than five years of service also means that he would forfeit that remaining $1.4MM in order to hit the free-agent market. Peralta will earn that $1.4MM through season’s end whether he’s on the 40-man roster or not, but if he isn’t on the 40-man at the end of the year, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.
It’s been a tough year for Milwaukee’s former Opening Day starter. Peralta posted a 6.08 ERA with a 32-to-17 K/BB ratio through eight starts this season before losing his spot in the rotation and heading to the bullpen. While his strikeout rate and velocity ticked up working in relief, his walk rate also ballooned. Ultimately, Peralta surrendered 23 earned runs on 28 hits and 15 walks in just 17 1/3 frames out of the Brewer bullpen.
As for Nieuwenhuis, the veteran outfielder spent most of the 2016 campaign on the Brewers’ big league roster but has just 16 games and 31 plate appearances to his credit thus far in 2017. He’s hit just .115/.268/.269 in that time, though he’s a career .221/.311/.384 hitter in parts of six big league seasons. He’s in a similar situation to Peralta in that he agreed to a split deal this past winter that reportedly pays him $900K in the Majors and $257K in the minors (each pro-rated). He’d have forfeited the remainder of that contract had he gone the free-agent route.
Brewers Designate Kirk Nieuwenhuis For Assignment
The Brewers have designated outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis for assignment, the team announced (via Twitter). The move creates 25-man roster space for Jeremy Jeffress, who was acquired by Milwaukee earlier today.
This is the second time Nieuwenhuis has entered DFA limbo this season, as the outfielder was previously designated and then outrighted off Milwaukee’s roster in April. Nieuwenhuis will again have the option of rejecting an outright assignment (if he isn’t claimed or a trade isn’t worked out) to become a free agent, though he chose to remain in the Brewers organization during his first outright.
Nieuwenhuis just had his contract purchased by the Brewers two days ago when Milwaukee designated Wily Peralta for an assignment. In 16 games and 31 overall plate appearances for the Crew this year, Nieuwenhuis has just a .115/.258/.269 slash line. The six-year veteran played in a career-high 125 games for the Brewers in 2016, getting some playing time for the rebuilding club after four previous seasons as a part-timer with the Mets and Angels.
Brewers Acquire Jeremy Jeffress
The Brewers have struck a deal to acquire righty Jeremy Jeffress from the Rangers, as ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick first reported (via Twitter). The move reverses the reliever’s move this time last year, when he headed to Texas from Milwaukee along with Jonathan Lucroy. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets that the Rangers will receive righty Tayler Scott in return.
The 29-year-old Jeffress returns to the organization that drafted him in the first round in 2006, and for whom he played in 2010 and 2014-16. (He saved 27 games for the Brewers last season, although he doesn’t seem likely to now supplant Corey Knebel as the Brewers’ closer this year.) Jeffress hasn’t been the pitcher this season that he was in that second Brewers stint, however — in 40 2/3 innings with Texas this year, he’s posted a 5.31 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and an ugly 4.2 BB/9. He has, however, maintained mid-90s velocity, and the Brewers likely hope he returns to some version of his prior self as he gets a change of scenery. If he does, they can control him for two more years after this one through the arbitration process.
Scott, 25, had a 2.34 ERA with a strong 9.2 K/9 but a too-high 5.1 BB/9 in 61 2/3 innings of relief this season at Double-A Biloxi. He was a fifth-round pick of the Cubs in 2011, but Chicago released him last year, then signed a minor-league deal with the Brewers after a brief stint in independent ball. He did not rank in MLB.com’s list of the Brewers’ top 30 prospects.
Sonny Gray Trade Rumors: Deadline Day
With about one hour remaining until the trade deadline, all eyes are on Athletics ace Sonny Gray. Gray comes with a 3.43 ERA on the season and club control through 2019. The latest:
- The Yankees’ dialogue continues on Gray, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports says the Yankees and A’s have had some movement on a trade, but aren’t quite there yet. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com feels Gray will either go to the Yankees or stay with the A’s. There is a strong belief within the A’s organization that a Gray trade will get done, tweets MLB.com’s Jane Lee.
