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Jimmy Nelson Out For Season

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7:32pm: If Nelson does require surgery, the procedure he’d undergo carries a success rate of better than 90 percent, Rosiak tweets.

12:46pm: The Brewers announced that Jimmy Nelson will miss the rest of the season with a right rotator cuff strain and a partial anterior labrum tear. General manager David Stearns said Saturday that it’s unclear whether Nelson will require surgery, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter).

The premature end to Nelson’s year is a devastating development for the 73-68 Brewers, who trail the NL Central-leading Cubs by four games and sit three games back of the Rockies for the league’s last wild-card spot. The Brewers are currently in the midst of a three-game series against the Cubs and took the opener on Friday, 2-0, behind Nelson. The 28-year-old tossed five innings of four-hit, two-walk ball and added seven strikeouts, and he threw one of those frames with a labrum tear, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets. Nelson suffered the injury on the base paths after hitting a fifth-inning single.

Like his team, Nelson has been a surprising success story this season. The emergent ace posted spectacular numbers across 175 1/3 innings and currently ranks fourth among major league starters in fWAR (4.9), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.21), 10th in groundball rate (50.3 percent) and 15th in ERA (3.49). While Nelson’s brilliant work this year came at a near-minimum salary, his price tag will rise in the offseason. Nelson will take his first trip through arbitration, where the ERA, innings, strikeouts and 12-6 record he logged in 2017 should each help his cause.

As for the Nelson-less Brewers, they’ll likely look to their minor league system for down-the-stretch rotation help, Stearns announced (via McCalvy, on Twitter). Candidates to come up include Triple-A right-hander Taylor Jungmann and Double-A righty Aaron Wilkerson, per McCalvy.

Brewers Outright Aaron Brooks

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  • The Brewers outrighted right-hander Aaron Brooks to Triple-A, per a club announcement. He had been designated recently. Teams are obviously intrigued by his arm, as he has bounced around on waivers in recent years. But Brooks just hasn’t performed this year at Triple-A, where he owns a 6.12 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 — as well as 29 home runs allowed — over 145 2/3 innings.

Brewers Designate Aaron Brooks, Select Quintin Berry

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The Brewers have designated righty Aaron Brooks for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot will go to outfielder Quintin Berry, whose contract was selected.

Brooks, 27, was claimed off waivers recently from the Cubs. He has not pitched in the majors since brief showings with the Royals and Athletics in 2014 and 2015. Over 145 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2017, Brooks has been tagged for 29 long balls and 192 hits and carries a 6.12 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9.

In Berry, the Brewers will be adding a notable speed-and-defense option to their bench down the stretch. The 32-year-old has played little this year in the minors and last cracked the majors briefly in 2015. But he’s a popular late-season roster addition and has appeared in the postseason previously (in 2012 with the Tigers and in 2013 with the Red Sox).

Emerging Young Starters Key For Brewers

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The Padres fired hitting coach Alan Zinter on Friday, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Zinter lasted less than two seasons in the position, having taken the job in November 2015. The Padres’ offense ranked toward the bottom of the majors during Zinter’s run, but he didn’t exactly have a world of proven talent at his disposal. Manager Andy Green explained to Lin that he’s seeking a “different voice” for the role. Meanwhile, GM A.J. Preller told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com that the Padres will begin searching for a successor immediately, but he indicated there’s no rush to hire a replacement (Twitter link).

Here’s more from the National League:

  • The Brewers’ rotation was rife with question marks entering the season, but it now appears the surprise contenders have at least three legitimate building blocks in Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson and Zach Davies, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel observes. The emergence of that cost-controlled trio has been especially important to a team that’s not able to spend big on free agents, and Haudricourt points out that the Brewers may even have a couple more promising young starters on hand (Brandon Woodruff and Josh Hader). It’s possible they’ll go into 2018 with those five comprising their rotation, Haudricourt notes.
  • Rockies outfielder David Dahl is resigned to the fact that he won’t be able to contribute this year, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. Dahl hasn’t appeared in a major league game this season, and he hasn’t played in a minor league contest since July 31, thanks to the rib injury he suffered during spring training. Now, Dahl doesn’t expect to swing a bat again until December, according to Saunders. “The thing I really need is rest, to let it heal completely, because every time I would start swinging, I would start feeling it again,” said the 23-year-old Dahl, who excited the Rockies last season with a .315/.359/.500 batting line in a 237-plate appearance rookie campaign.
  • A partial UCL tear in Wei-Yin Chen’s left elbow has kept him from taking the mound since May 1, but he’ll return to the Marlins in the coming days, Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. While Chen will finish 2017 as a reliever, the Marlins expect to slot him back into their rotation next season. After this fall’s World Series, Chen will be able to opt out of the remaining three years and $52MM left on the five-year, $80MM contract he signed with the Fish in January 2016. That’s obviously not going to happen, though, as the ex-Oriole has struggled with injuries and turned in mediocre results during his two years in Miami.

Ryan Braun Happy To Still Be With Brewers

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  • Ryan Braun remains as the last key veteran from the Brewers’ 2014 club who’s still with the team as it makes another run at contention in 2017, and he’s happy to still be in Milwaukee, he tells MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby. Rumors about being traded to the Dodgers last winter makes Braun feel especially grateful, he says. “Last year, obviously, I was close to getting traded,” says Braun. “When it didn’t happen, obviously, it makes me that much more appreciative of however much time I do end up spending here.” Braun adds that it isn’t lost on him that after him, the position player who has been with the Brewers the longest is Domingo Santana, who first suited up with Milwaukee a little over two years ago this week.

Brewers Minor League Julio Mendez In Critical But Stable Condition

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Brewers minor league infielder Julio Mendez suffered a cardiac event after being hit by a pitch during a rookie-level game Saturday in Tempe, Ariz., the team announced (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The 20-year-old Mendez is currently in critical but stable condition at a Tempe hospital. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with Julio and his family,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said in a statement. “We will provide updates as soon as we know more.”

Brewers Unsure Of What They Have In Jonathan Villar

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  • Infielder Jonathan Villar looked like a long-term core piece for the Brewers last year when he slashed .285/.369/.457 with 19 home runs and stole a major league-high 62 bases as a shortstop/third baseman. That performance was good enough for the Brewers to offer Villar $23MM on an extension in the offseason. Villar rejected the Brewers’ proposal, though, and has taken major steps backward this season as a second baseman, having hit .227/.283/.348 with nine homers and 23 steals over 393 PAs. Now, thanks to his sharp decline from 2016 to ’17, the Brewers are unsure of what they have in the 26-year-old Villar, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Haudricourt wonders if the Brewers will commit to Villar at the keystone again next year or look elsewhere, as they did when they acquired free agent-to-be Neil Walker from the Mets a couple weeks ago. General manager David Stearns hasn’t made any decisions yet for 2018, but he admits there’s uncertainty regarding Villar. “How do you judge him?” Stearns said. “I think it’s the right question. I just don’t have a good answer for you.”

Rangers Acquire Paolo Espino, Designate Tanner Scheppers

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The Rangers have acquired right-hander Paolo Espino from the Brewers for cash considerations and designated fellow righty Tanner Scheppers for assignment, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Espino will report to Triple-A with his new organization.

The Brewers designated Espino on Wednesday after the 30-year-old had a difficult 17 2/3-inning major league debut with the club this season. Across six appearances and two starts, Espino logged a 6.11 ERA with 6.62 K/9 against 4.08 BB/9. He has been better this year at Triple-A (4.52 ERA, 8.68 K/9, 1.67 BB/9 in 75 2/3 frames) and has generally fared well at that level since ascending to it in 2010. He’s now in his fourth organization since the Indians chose him in the 10th round of the 2006 draft.

Scheppers, also 30, is certainly the more proven major leaguer of the two, but his career has gone off the rails thanks in part to a spate of injuries over the past several seasons. At his best, the 2009 first-round pick was a key member of the Rangers’ bullpen in 2013, after which Texas attempted to turn him into a starter. The hard-throwing Scheppers took the ball for the Rangers to open the 2014 season, but he only totaled four starts in eight appearances that year and posted a 9.00 ERA in 23 innings. He hasn’t worked extensively in the majors since recording a 5.63 ERA and a 5.4 BB/9 in 38 1/3 relief innings in 2015. Scheppers’ struggles have continued this season with Triple-A Round Rock, where he has registered a 5.05 ERA despite passable strikeout and walk numbers (6.8 K/9 and 2.72 BB/9) through 46 1/3 frames.

Brewers Designate Paolo Espino

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The Brewers have designated righty Paolo Espino for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot was needed to make way for fellow right-hander Aaron Brooks, who was claimed off waivers.

Espino debuted in the majors this year for Milwaukee at thirty years of age. He made two starts and four relief appearances, but was tagged for a dozen earned runs in his 17 2/3 frames. Espino surrendered five long balls and eight walks while picking up 13 strikeouts.

It took quite some time for Espino to receive a call-up despite carrying a 3.76 ERA in over five hundred Triple-A innings. While he has a broad arsenal of pitches and has long demonstrated excellent control in the upper minors, Espino works at under 90 mph with his fastball and doesn’t miss many bats.

Brewers Claim Aaron Brooks From Cubs

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The Brewers have claimed right-hander Aaron Brooks off outright waivers from the Cubs, MLBTR has learned (Twitter links). He’ll join Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate for the time being. Brooks was designated for assignment over the weekend when the Cubs picked up Rene Rivera from the Mets.

A hip injury cost Brooks the majority of the 2016 season, and he’s struggled with Triple-A Iowa thus far in 2017. Through 138 innings there, Brooks has posted a 6.20 earned run average, though his 6.9 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 48.7 percent ground-ball rate and 4.29 xFIP all offer a bit more cause for optimism than his bottom-line run prevention numbers. Brooks had a solid year in 2015 with the Triple-A affiliates of the Royals and Athletics, pitching to a 3.56 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9. With rosters set to expand in September, it’s possible that Brooks’ residence on the 40-man roster could lead to a September look audition with the Brewers.

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