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Brewers Renew Devin Williams’ Contract

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The Brewers will be renewing the contract of right-hander Devin Williams for 2022 season, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports.  Club president of baseball operations David Stearns commented on the move, saying “We understand players have a right to take a renewal and look forward to watching Devin continue to make significant contributions to our team this season.”

As standard practice, teams agree to terms on contracts with all of their pre-arbitration players, even though there usually isn’t much real negotiating that takes place since pre-arb players don’t have leverage in demanding big raises beyond the minimum salary.  Most teams have formulas in place that do award raises to pre-arb players based on seniority or on particular achievements, though this can usually amount to a relatively small amount of extra money (maybe a bonus of $10K or $20K).

If a player doesn’t accept the team’s proposed salary, then the team can still give that same salary to the player, yet via a renewal rather than an “agreement.”  It is essentially something of a symbolic gesture reflecting that the player doesn’t agree with the number being offered by the team, and it doesn’t impact Williams’ status with the Brewers.  Quite a few prominent players over the years have opted for renewals rather than regular agreements, and Williams now joins this list of notable names.

Williams earned $681.1K last season, coming off an outstanding 2020 campaign that saw him capture NL Rookie Of The Year honors and finish seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting.  If that season has been played under the terms of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Williams would have received a significantly higher 2021 salary, as per the new $50MM bonus pool for pre-arbitration players and the extra money allotted for awards — the top two finishers in ROY balloting, top-five finishes for MVP or Cy Young balloting, and a spot on the All-MLB first or second team.

2022 is Williams’ final pre-arbitration season, as the reliever is slated for three arb years before becoming eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.  While Williams will get a raise as he enters the arbitration process, he is also the type of player whose true value isn’t accurately reflected by the traditional counting stats preferred by arbiters in deciding cases.  Williams’ whopping 42.9% strikeout rate or his 1.78 ERA in 2020-21 could be somewhat belied by his lack of saves, as Josh Hader (himself a dominant reliever) remains Milwaukee’s closer.

With Hader always rumored to be on the trade market, however, Williams would seem like the natural heir apparent to the closer’s job if the Brewers did indeed opt to send Hader elsewhere.  Williams would also seem like a logical candidate for a contract extension, if the Brew Crew wanted to get some cost-certainty over Williams’ arb years (such as if a new closer role did lead to a big increase in saves) and into at least one or two of his free agent years.

Devin Williams Discusses Last Year’s Season-Ending Injury

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The most recent news about Devin Williams was from October 5, with Williams having undergone surgery on his pitching hand, which he had broken when punching a wall the week before. At the time, the Brewers had finished their regular season schedule and were a few days away from starting their NLDS matchup with the Braves. There was still hope then that Williams could pitch in the World Series, if the Brewers were able to make it that far. Unfortunately, it was their opponents in that series who made it to the World Series, with the Brewers falling to the Braves.

It’s impossible to say whether the Brewers would have fared any better in the alternate reality where Williams doesn’t punch that wall, but it’s hard not to wonder. He had an incredible breakout during the shortened 2020 campaign, throwing 27 innings with a miniscule ERA of 0.33 and an absurd 53% strikeout rate. It would have been impossible for Williams to maintain that level of dominance in the larger sample size of a full season, but he still pitched well enough to prove that it wasn’t a complete mirage. Over 54 innings in 2021, he put up an ERA of 2.50, along with a 38.5% strikeout rate, still well above league average. But the Brewers had to head into the playoffs without him, due to the actions of Williams himself.

Now three months later, Williams sat down with Will Sammon of The Athletic to discuss the incident and the events surrounding it. As detailed by Sammon, the incident took place the night of Sunday, September 26, after the Brewers clinched the NL Central, with the post-game celebrations that started in the clubhouse eventually making their way into the outside world. Although Williams doesn’t go into explicit detail about what happened, he says that he became “upset over an altercation” and that “instead of taking it out on that person, I walked away, hit a wall.”

After eventually realizing the severity of the injury days later, Williams was left with the difficult task of informing his teammates about the situation. On the subject of whether he adequately expressed himself in that moment, Williams told Sammon, “I think most people understood what I was trying to say. They got the message. But that … that was the most difficult part.”

However, despite the emotional toll of feeling like he disappointed his teammates, he hasn’t been spending his offseason completely mired in guilt. That’s at least partially attributable to Hunter Strickland who, though now a free agent, was with the Brewers at the time. He had a similar self-imposed injury when with the Giants in 2018 and told Williams, “You have to forgive yourself at some point and move on. Otherwise, you’re just holding yourself back, keeping yourself from moving forward.” When asked if he heeded Strickland’s advice, Williams said, “There was definitely a month and a half when I was just sitting there, couldn’t do anything and I was down on myself. But if I stayed like that, I would never get to where I want to be.”

Williams is now on pace to return to full health before reporting to spring training, gearing up for 2022. He figures to be an integral part of a Brewers pitching staff that is largely the same as the one that was among baseball’s best in 2021, as the club looks to make the postseason for a fifth consecutive season.

Devin Williams Fractures Hand, May Return In World Series

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October 5: The Brewers announced Williams underwent successful hand surgery today (as reported by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt). The star reliever is currently in a splint and will rehab in the Brewers’ Arizona facility. Provided rehab goes as expected and the Brewers advance past their NL competition it’s possible Williams will be an option for the team during the World Series.

September 29: Brewers reliever Devin Williams is going on the 10-day injured list with a right hand fracture, the team informed reporters (including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com and Will Sammon of the Athletic). The injury is expected to require surgery and is likely to end his season, although Milwaukee isn’t completely ruling out the possibility he could return for the World Series if the club were to win the National League pennant.

It’s an incredible blow to the Brewers’ postseason plans, as few relievers in baseball have been better than Williams over the last two years. The right-hander broke into the majors late in 2019, but he logged few enough innings to retain rookie eligibility in 2020. Last season, Williams absurdly allowed just one earned run (four runs total) over 27 innings while striking out a laughable 53% of opposing hitters. That showing earned him the National League’s Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year awards.

It’d have never been reasonable to expect Williams to continue to dominate at quite that level again, but he’s posted another phenomenal season for the Brew Crew. Over 54 innings, he’s worked to a 2.50 ERA with a 38.5% strikeout rate that checks in seventh among the 249 relievers with 30+ frames. Williams had been expected to pair with Josh Hader to log the club’s highest-leverage postseason innings, but they’ll now have to navigate the playoff field (at least the first couple series) without one of their top bullpen weapons.

That’d be a crushing enough blow on its own, and the manner in which Williams got hurt only adds to the shock. He told reporters he suffered the injury after punching a wall on Sunday (video via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). He learned about its severity when he was unable to warm up before last night’s game. Williams’ dejection and disappointment in himself is obvious in that clip, and his potential season-ending absence was certainly similarly deflating news for the rest of the clubhouse.

The Brewers have already clinched the NL Central title, where they’ll meet up with the NL East winner (the Braves, in all likelihood) in the first round. In addition to Hader, manager Craig Counsell will have Hunter Strickland, Jake Cousins and Brent Suter as key end-of-game options. It’s also likely a productive member or two of the Brewers’ vaunted starting rotation (Adrian Houser, Brett Anderson and/or Eric Lauer) will work out of the pen as Milwaukee shortens the rotation to maximize the number of innings logged by Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff. It’s still a very strong group of arms, but there’s no sugarcoating that losing Williams deals a significant blow that’ll force most of the rest of the staff up a peg in the pecking order.

To replace Williams on the active roster, Milwaukee selected veteran righty Colin Rea from Triple-A Nashville, designating utilityman Tim Lopes to clear a 40-man roster spot. Rea signed a minors deal last month and has performed well over seven starts. Through 35 2/3 frames with the Sounds, the 31-year-old has a 2.27 ERA with a solid 24.6% strikeout percentage and a minuscule 2.8% walk rate.

That earns Rea his first big league look of the season. The former Padres and Marlins hurler didn’t appear in the majors at all from 2017-19, but he made it back for a brief look with the Cubs last season. He tossed fourteen innings of nine-run ball with Chicago, striking out ten while issuing just a pair of walks.

Rea was in the organization by August 31, so he would be eligible for the Brewers’ postseason roster. Players in the system but not on the 40-man roster at the start of September can still be added to the playoff roster via petition to the Commissioner’s Office for teams with players unavailable due to injury. Considering Rea is coming up as a direct replacement for Williams, the Brewers should have no problem getting him onto the postseason roster if they’re impressed enough with his current form to want to do so.

Brewers Place Devin Williams On 10-Day Injured List

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The Brewers have placed right-hander Devin Williams on the 10-day injured due to discomfort in his right elbow.  The team also announced that southpaw Angel Perdomo has been called up from Triple-A to take Williams’ spot on the active roster.

Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns provided some background on the injury to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters, saying that Williams felt some soreness while warming up yesterday.  (The righty, as you might expect, didn’t end up pitching in the Brewers’ 11-6 win over the Reds.)  An MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage, Stearns said, noting “We do not expect this to be a lengthy absence and are treating this with caution.”

The reigning NL Rookie Of The Year has taken a probably inevitable step back from his otherworldly 2020 numbers, but Williams has still been solid with a 2.97 ERA and a 36.1% strikeout rate that ranks in the 96th percentile of all pitchers.  While Williams has continued to miss bats, however, his 13.9% walk rate ranks as one of the lowest (sixth percentile) in baseball.

Those control problems aside, Williams has continued to be a big piece of the Brewers’ end-of-the-game puzzle, combining with Brad Boxberger and Brent Suter to set up All-Star closer Josh Hader.  While Williams’ injury could end up being as relatively innocuous as Stearns suggests, it’s probably safe to assume the Brewers (like any contender) are still interested in adding further relief depth to the bullpen for the pennant race.

Brewers Notes: Infield, McKinney, Lauer, Cain, Williams

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The most likely scenario for the Brewers at shortstop is turning back to Orlando Arcia while giving third base to Travis Shaw, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Luis Urías, meanwhile, could begin the year in Triple-A. Urías has been hampered by a left hamstring injury, which could account for a potential early-season demotion. The Brewers were hopeful the former top prospect would show enough to claim a starting job in the infield this spring, going so far as auditioning Arcia at different spots around the diamond. If Urías isn’t totally full speed, the Brewers can use his minor league options as a means of keeping Daniel Robertson and Billy McKinney, each of whom they’d have to expose to waivers if they don’t start the season on the roster. McKinney wasn’t a lock to stay in Milwaukee, but he has done his part with a strong spring, writes Andrew Wagner of the Wisconsin State Journal. The Brewers don’t have an outright need for McKinney, although it helps that the left-handed outfielder can play first base as well.

More out of Milwaukee:

  • It has been a tough Spring Training for Eric Lauer, note Tom Haudricourt and Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Over five innings between three appearances, the left-hander has issued seven walks and given up three home runs. The Brewers optioned Lauer to Triple-A Nashville Friday, taking him out of the mix for a season-opening rotation spot. Acquired from the Padres as part of the deal that also brought in Urías and sent out Trent Grisham and Zach Davies, Lauer suffered through a brutal first season in Milwaukee. He allowed sixteen runs in eleven innings last year, issuing nine walks while striking out twelve.
  • Lorenzo Cain and Devin Williams made their Cactus League debuts in last night’s game against the Reds, Haudricourt and Rosiak were among those to relay. Cain, delayed by a quad injury early in camp, took three plate appearances and played some center field. He’ll rest today but expects to be back in the lineup tomorrow. The Brewers have proceeded cautiously with Williams, who missed their playoff series last year with a shoulder injury. The reigning NL Reliever of the Year says he’ll have “three or four” more tune-up appearances before Opening Day, per Haudricourt and Rosiak.

Brewers Open To Moving Josh Hader

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The Brewers are looking for offensive upgrades this winter, and they have at least one significant bargaining chip. Milwaukee is open to offers for elite reliever Josh Hader, per Robert Murray of Fansided.

As central as Hader has been to this run of Brewers contention – and as unique a talent as he has been – the Brewers have to at least listen to offers. He’s projected to make $5.65MM this season, and he has another two seasons of control remaining. Now might be the peak of Hader’s trade value.

For the Brewers, he might be a luxury they can no longer afford. Even at his most dominant, Hader maxed out at 2.7 bWAR during the regular season. There’s additional value for Hader’s role in the postseason, however, evidenced by his dominant run of 10 scoreless innings in the 2018 playoffs that played a major role in getting the Brewers to the NLCS. For an NL contender looking to balance to scales against the  juggernaut Dodgers, a weapon like Hader could present a solution.

Besides, it just so happens that the Brewers produced another high-end reliever in Rookie-of-the-Year Devin Williams. As tantalizing as the pair would be at the tail-end of games, the Brewers have other holes to fill and a limited payroll. They had a roughly $97MM payroll in 2020, and they’re already close to that number with arbitration projections for 2021. They could non-tender Corey Knebel to open up about $5MM, but he’s also a high-end bullpen piece at his best – which he wasn’t in 2020 with a 6.08 ERA in 13 1/3 innings.

If they’re serious about upgrading the offense, which Murray notes finished 26th in runs and 24th in OPS, moving a piece like Hader might provide a path. Naysayers may point to the mph he lost on his fastball this season, but he was still among the very best in the game at limiting hard contact (85.4 mph EV), avoiding barrels (14.7 Barrel%), and striking out opposing hitters (39.7 K%) – not to mention a 2.94 xERA that ranks among the top 10% in the game.

Devin Williams, Kyle Lewis Win Rookie Of The Year Awards

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Brewers right-handed reliever Devin Williams and Mariners center fielder Kyle Lewis have won the 2020 Jackie Robinson National League and American League Rookie of the Year awards, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Monday.

Williams was up against Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth, who tied for second place in the balloting. This is not the first postseason award for the 26-year-old Williams, who already took home NL Reliever of the Year honors.

A second-round pick in 2013, Williams has turned into a gem for the Brewers since debuting in the bigs a year ago. He put up a brilliant .33 ERA/.86 FIP combination with 17.67 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 61.1 percent groundball rate over 27 innings in 2020. Among qualified relievers, the hard-throwing Williams ranked first in ERA, FIP, K/9 and fWAR (1.4). He’s the first pitcher to ever win ROY without making a start or registering a save.

Lewis, now 25, became a Mariner when they selected him 11th overall in 2016. Injury issues slowed Lewis for a bit after that, but he has done nothing but hit since Seattle first called him up in 2019. This past season, Lewis slashed .262/.364/.437 (126 wRC+) with 11 home runs, five stolen bases and 1.7 fWAR over 242 plate appearances. That was enough for Lewis, who won unanimously, to finish ahead of White Sox center fielder Luis Robert and Astros righty Cristian Javier for AL ROY honors.

Liam Hendriks, Devin Williams Win Reliever Of The Year Awards

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Liam Hendriks of the Oakland Athletics and Devin Williams of the Milwaukee Brewers have won the Reliever of the Year Award in their respective leagues, per MLB.com (via Twitter).

Hendriks takes home the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever Of Year Award after saving 14 games in 24 appearances with a 1.78 ERA/1.14 FIP and 13.1 K/9 to 1.1 BB/9 across 25 1/3 innings. It was the second consecutive stellar campaign for the native Australian. He posted a  1.80 ERA/1.87 FIP in 75 games (85 innings) while notching 25 saves in 2019. In the postseason, he impressed with a scoreless 3-inning outing with the season on the line in game three of the ALDS against Houston. Unfortunately, it would be his final appearance of the year, as Oakland would bow out of the postseason tourney in the next game.

Hendriks becomes the first A’s player to win the award, which replaced the Rolaids Relief Award in 2014. It’s particularly good timing for Hendriks, as the 2019 All-Star heads into free agency this winter at the pinnacle of his career.

Williams takes the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever Of The Year Award from his teammate Josh Hader, who won the previous two seasons. It’s quite the achievement for the unheralded rookie, who rode his trademark change-up to a 0.33 ERA/0.86 FIP in 27 innings across 22 games with an absurd 17.7 K/9 to 3.0 BB/9 in 2020. The 26-year-old unfortunately missed the playoffs due to right shoulder soreness. He’ll be one of the more interesting cases to track next season, assuming a return to the standard 162-game season.

Injury Notes: Osuna, Meadows, Brewers

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It’s been nearly two months since Tommy John surgery was initially recommended for Astros closer Roberto Osuna. A couple weeks later, however, Houston skipper Dusty Baker revealed that Osuna was opting for a rest-and-rehab route. Osuna elaborated on the decision to FOX 26’s Mark Berman, revealing that a second opinion offered him a different conclusion: a forearm strain that could benefit from four weeks or so of rest. Osuna shut down from throwing for the recommended four weeks and resumed throwing three weeks ago. He’s optimistic that he’ll be able to avoid surgery based on the way his arm feels and his most recent input from doctors.

Even with a deep postseason run for Houston, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he builds up to the point of being able to pitch in 2020. And given that he’s eligible for a raise on this year’s $10MM salary in arbitration before becoming a free agent next winter, he doesn’t appear to be a lock to be tendered a contract. Even if he were to simply repeat this year’s salary, that’d be a rather sizable gamble to take on a reliever who is just months removed from a Tommy John recommendation.

A couple more injury notes from around the game…

  • The Rays have been without Austin Meadows since Sept. 17 due to an oblique strain, but Tampa Bay general manager Erik Neander tells reporters that it’s possible Meadows will be able to rejoin the club for its upcoming ALDS date against the Yankees (Twitter link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The 25-year-old Meadows opened the season on the Covid-19 IL after testing positive and experiencing symptoms in July. He didn’t look like himself when on the field, struggling to a .205/.296/.371 slash with a bloated 33 percent strikeout rate in 152 plate appearances. That’s miles away from last year’s .291/.364/.558 slash and 22.2 percent strikeout rate. If Meadows is able to return to that 2019 form, it’d obviously represent a major boost to the Rays in a division series that could pit them against Gerrit Cole twice. With Meadows absent, the Rays’ only left-handed-hitting outfield options have been Kevin Kiermaier and Brett Phillips.
  • Brewers skipper Craig Counsell didn’t give a particularly positive update on Brett Anderson when asked by reporters last night (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The veteran lefty, who is not on the Wild Card roster due to a blister, hadn’t improved much since the end of the regular season and was “not close” to being considered for the team’s roster in round one of postseason play. Right-hander Devin Williams, meanwhile, said he believes he’d be able to rejoin the roster in the next round of postseason play, should the Brewers qualify (Twitter link from McCalvy). The breakout changeup artist was left off Milwaukee’s Wild Card roster due to shoulder soreness. Any Brewers injury news could be rendered mostly moot, of course, as they’ll fight for their playoff lives tonight in an elimination showdown with the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw.

Devin Williams Not On Brewers’ Wild Card Roster Due To Shoulder Issue

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Top Brewers reliever Devin Williams will not be on the Brewers’ Wild Card Series roster due to a yet-unspecified arm issue, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that Williams is dealing with shoulder soreness that isn’t considered a major issue but is enough to keep him from participating in this three-game series. It’s a massive blow for a Brewers club that was already considered a sizable underdog to the top-seeded Dodgers.

Williams, 26, posted an explosive rookie season during which he recorded a 0.33 ERA and 0.86 FIP with a ridiculous 17.7 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 through 27 frames. Williams struck out 53 percent of the batters he faced on the year.

The Brewers formally announced their roster just minutes after Passan’s report, confirming Williams’ absence. Here’s how it breaks down:

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Milwaukee’s roster also omits southpaw Brett Anderson, who dealt with a blister on his pitching hand late in the season, leaving them with just 12 arms on which to rely. That’s a bit surprising in today’s game, particularly for a Brewers club that lacks a defined rotation picture behind right-hander Brandon Woodruff.

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