Brewers star left fielder Ryan Braun can veto a trade to all teams except the Dodgers, Angels, Marlins, Rays and Nationals, but the idea of rebuilding Milwaukee dealing him “is becoming more realistic,” FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (video link). Braun, 32, will have four years and $76MM left on his contract after this season, and Rosenthal believes he’d make plenty of sense as a complement to Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun in the Angels’ outfield. However, the Angels’ dearth of quality prospects and a potential reluctance on owner Arte Moreno’s part to acquire Braun, given his contract and past suspension for PEDs, are factors that could stand in the way of a trade, Rosenthal adds.
Brewers Rumors
Brewers Demote Taylor Jungmann
- Though he started the Brewers’ third game of the season, right-hander Taylor Jungmann was optioned to Triple-A by Milwaukee today, the team announced. The 26-year-old made a very strong debut in 2015, logging 119 1/3 innings with a 3.77 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate, but he’s struggled tremendously in 2016. Thus far, Jungmann has yielded 21 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings, and he’s walked as many batters as he’s struck out (13). His velocity is also down two and a half miles per hour from last season. The Brewers called up reliever David Goforth in the interim, but they’ll need to make a move to add another starter in advance of Jungmann’s next would-be turn in the rotation, which would come on Tuesday. As MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy points out (on Twitter), Jungmann now faces the unenviable task of attempting to find the solution to his struggles in one of the game’s least-favorable pitching environments: Colorado Springs.
Scooter Gennett Placed On DL; Brewers Select Hernan Perez’s Contract
11:20am: Manager Craig Counsell tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Gennett has a “mild” strain of his oblique (Twitter link). Counsell’s early expectation is that Gennett will be out three weeks, which would be on the low end of the typical recovery time frame for oblique strains.
10:36am: The Brewers announced this morning that second baseman Scooter Gennett has been placed on the disabled list due to right oblique tightness. In his place, the club has selected the contract of infielder Hernan Perez from Triple-A Colorado Springs and transferred Matt Garza to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Gennett, 25, has been one of Milwaukee’s more productive hitters thus far, batting .258/.361/.516 with four homers through 18 games (72 plate appearances). There’s no timeline on his return just yet, though an oblique issue could conceivably sideline him for up to a month, depending on the severity of the issue. Jarrod Dyson recently missed six weeks with a Grade II oblique strain, though the club has labeled Gennett’s injury simply as “oblique tightness” for the time being.
Perez, also 25, was hitting .339/.364/.484 in one of the best hitters’ environments in the minor leagues, but he doesn’t have that type of track record in the Majors, where he has posted a collective .235/.251/.307 batting line in 351 trips to the plate. He’ll combine with Yadiel Rivera and Rule 5 pickup Colin Walsh to cover Gennett’s time at second base.
Garza’s transfer to the 60-day disabled list confirms that he won’t return to the club within his initial timeline of four to six weeks. The veteran right-hander hit the disabled list with a strained lat muscle earlier this month and has yet to pitch for the Brewers in 2016. Garza is in the third season of a four-year, $50MM contract with Milwaukee which also contains a complex fifth-year option that is largely dependent on the health of his right arm. (The $5MM club option turns into a $13MM vesting option if Garza throws 110 games over the course of the contract’s first four seasons but also shrinks to just a $1MM option if he spends more than 130 days of a season on the disabled list.) The Brewers owe Garza approximately $23.36MM over the remainder of that contract through the end of the 2017 season. He’s earning $12.5MM this year and will earn the same in 2017. At this point, his best-case scenario for a return would be early June. While Milwaukee may have had some hope of Garza pitching well for the first half of the season in order to emerge as a viable trade chip, he won’t have much time to build up value before this season’s Aug. 1 trade deadline rolls around.
Scooter Gennett Scratched With Oblique Tightness
- Brewers infielder Scooter Gennett was scratched from tonight’s lineup due to oblique tightness, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. There’s no immediate word on the severity of the injury. Gennett is off to a hot start this season, batting .258/.361/.516 this year after mostly struggling in 2015.
Chris Carter Off To Strong Start
- First baseman Chris Carter is off to a nice start with the Brewers, as Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. After another productive evening, Carter owns a .259/.328/.593 slash with four long balls over his first 64 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from his awful start to the 2015 season, and Carter attributes it in large part to his offseason effort to change his approach. “I’m just hitting more balls the other way,” Carter explained. “My homers this year have been to center, right-center. That’s something that I didn’t do that much last year until the end of the year. It’s something I worked on in the offseason, hitting balls where they’re pitched instead of trying to pull them.” Thus far, at least, Milwaukee’s $2.5MM investment has been well worth it.
Brewers Select Contract Of Alex Presley
The Brewers have officially selected the contract of outfielder Alex Presley, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel first reported on Twitter. Righty Tyler Cravy was sent down on options to create an active roster spot, while righty Zack Jones has been placed on the 60-day DL to create 40-man space.
The 30-year-old Presley did not break camp with Milwaukee, of course, despite strong spring numbers. Neither did he draw interest from other teams in a major league capacity at the start of the year — when his contract allowed him an opt-out opportunity if a club had been willing to put him on an Opening Day roster.
Though it’s been a while since he’s been able to produce at an above-average clip at the major league level, Presley has been been off to a hot start at Triple-A, slashing .344/.400/.563 in 35 plate appearances in a continuation of his good showing in camp. It seems that he will factor into the still-crowded center field mix, as the club appears largely set in the corners but hasn’t received much up the middle from players like Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ramon Flores, and the already-optioned Keon Broxton.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/16/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The Rangers sent lefty reliever Andrew Faulkner to Triple-A and recalled righty Nick Martinez, according to John Henry of MLB.com. Prior to the move, Faulkner tossed 4 1/3 innings for the Rangers and allowed four earned runs, five hits and three walks while striking out just one batter. Martinez logged extensive time in the majors last season, totaling 125 innings of 3.96 ERA ball with Texas. ERA estimators like FIP (4.98) and xFIP (4.99) thought far less of his performance. He’ll serve as a long reliever and spot starter for the Rangers.
- The Brewers have called up righty Zach Davies from Triple-A Colorado Springs to make a spot start against the Pirates on Sunday, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, they sent outfielder Keon Broxton down to Colorado Springs. Davies, whom the Brewers acquired from the Orioles last year, fared respectably in his first big league action in 2015. In six starts (34 innings), he put up a 3.71 ERA to go along with a 6.35 K/9 and 3.97 BB/9. Broxton went without a hit and struck out 11 times in 18 plate appearances before the demotion.
- The Orioles have released righty Todd Redmond, their Triple-A Norfolk Tides affiliate tweets. The 30-year-old Redmond pitched a combined 152 innings for the Blue Jays in 2013 and 2014, appearing as both a starter and as a reliever, but spent most of last season with Toronto’s Triple-A team. The O’s signed him to a minor-league deal in November, but he struggled after being sent to Norfolk, allowing 15 runs in five innings there. In his big-league career, Redmond has a 4.25 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 171 1/3 innings.
Brewers Outright Ariel Pena
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that right-hander Ariel Pena has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A from the Brewers after being designated for assignment last week. Pena, who had been outrighted once before, had the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency but chose to remain in the Brewers organization. The Brewers originally acquired Pena along with Johnny Hellweg and Jean Segura in the trade that sent Zack Greinke to the Angels. The Brewers also announced (on Twitter) that they’ve released three players from their Dominican Summer League affiliate.
Brewers Haven't Had Recent Lucroy-Related Talks With Rangers
- Robinson Chirinos’ fractured forearm put the Rangers’ already below-average catcher situation in an even worse position than it was in previously, though they have not engaged in any recent discussions with the Brewers about Jonathan Lucroy, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The Rangers have been linked to the Brewers as a potential trade partner for Lucroy since the offseason. General manager Jon Daniels said the team did its “due diligence” on outside options in the aftermath of Chirinos’ Saturday night injury, but not for a “major” addition, per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.
Brewers Outright Ariel Pena
- The Brewers have announced that they’ve outrighted righty Ariel Pena to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Pena has three days to decide whether to accept the assignment. Pena opened the season in Milwaukee’s bullpen, but the Brewers designated him for assignment this week when they acquired Sam Freeman. Pena split the 2015 season between Colorado Springs and Milwaukee, posting a 4.28 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in six outings (including five starts) with the big club.
