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Latest On Brewers’ Offseason Approach

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The Brewers are open to trade offers on the majority of their roster, writes Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. While that’s standard procedure for most teams — especially smaller-market franchises — Rosenthal suggests that Milwaukee could be more amenable than they had been in previous offseasons to moving notable players.

Around this time last offseason, Milwaukee was reportedly telling teams they weren’t interested in dealing Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes or Willy Adames. It doesn’t seem they’re being quite so definitive this time around. At the same time, that doesn’t guarantee any of those players will be on the move.

Woodruff doesn’t hold much trade value at this point anyhow. The All-Star righty underwent shoulder surgery and will miss the bulk of next season. He’s on track to hit free agency after that year. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for an $11.6MM salary if tendered an arbitration contract. There’s a chance Milwaukee cuts him loose for nothing before next Friday’s non-tender deadline.

Burnes would have immense trade appeal, while Adames would be a valuable asset in his own right. The former is one of the sport’s best pitchers and would likely be the best starter available if the Brewers seriously considered dealing him. The 2021 Cy Young winner worked to a 3.39 ERA over 193 2/3 innings this year. He reached the 200 strikeout mark for a third straight season, fanning 25.5% of opponents. While a less impressive showing than Burnes’ three consecutive sub-3.00 ERA years between 2020-22, that’s still very strong production.

Swartz projects him for a salary just above $15MM in his final season of team control. The projected outlay on Adames checks in at $12.4MM. The 28-year-old shortstop is coming off a relative down season. He hit .217/.310/.411 across 638 trips to the plate. That’s well below the .256/.325/.483 line he’d posted between his acquisition from the Rays in May 2021 and the end of the ’22 season.

Despite the dip in offense, Adames would have strong trade appeal. He’s an excellent defender at the infield’s most demanding position. He still connected on 24 home runs and has topped 20 longballs in each of the last four full seasons. A dismal free agent shortstop class leaves other teams without many alternatives.

It is generally expected that Burnes and Adames will price themselves out of Milwaukee when they reach free agency. The Brewers could expect a stronger trade return this offseason than they would if they shopped either player at the deadline — an acquiring team would not only get a full year of their services, they’d be able to make them a qualifying offer next winter.

Moving either player would deal a notable blow to Milwaukee’s hopes of repeating as NL Central champions, though. Between Woodruff’s injury and Wade Miley hitting free agency, the Brew Crew are already thin on the rotation front. The aforementioned middle infield shortage would make it difficult to effectively replace Adames on a low-cost free agent pickup.

The Brewers have made one trade this offseason, sending Mark Canha to the Tigers in lieu of an $11.5MM club option. Moving either Burnes or Adames would be a much tougher decision. Milwaukee has around $36MM in guaranteed contracts for next season. The arbitration class is projected for nearly $65MM, although non-tenders of Woodruff and Rowdy Tellez would trim almost $18MM from that estimate. The Brewers opened the 2023 season with a player payroll in the $119MM range, so retaining Burnes and Adames should be financially viable.

Various others on the Milwaukee roster are sure to be the subject of interest from rival teams. Devin Williams would be one of the most in-demand relievers, while Adrian Houser could hold appeal to clubs looking for starting pitching. It’s hard to envision the Brewers orchestrating a full teardown — the organization has instead sought perpetual contention by moving select players as they get closer to free agency — but there are various options on the table for GM Matt Arnold over the coming months.

MLB Announces 2023 All-Star Rosters

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The starters for the 2023 All-Star Game were already announced earlier this week, and today the league revealed the reserve selections and the pitching staffs for the National League and American League teams.  Fan balloting determined the game’s starters, while the reserves and pitchers were picked by a combination of the player ballot and selections from the league office.

This won’t be the final list of players involved, as some more substitutions will be announced later for players who are injured or who have opted not to participate.  Every team must have at least one player represented at the Midsummer Classic, and the starting pitchers for the game will be announced on July 10.

Of note, Shohei Ohtani will be in the game as both a DH and as a pitcher for the third consecutive season.  The Braves led all teams with eight All-Stars, while the Rangers weren’t far behind with six players chosen.  This year’s All-Star Game takes place in Seattle on July 11.

National League

American League

NL Central Notes: Reynolds, Williams, Senzel, Santillan

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Even with three games already in the books on the Pirates’ 2023 season, Bryan Reynolds’ contract status is still the biggest story in Pittsburgh baseball, given the reports from earlier this week suggesting the two sides had made a lot of progress towards an extension.  The deal in question appears to be an eight-year, $106MM pact, yet the sticking point appears to be the Pirates’ reluctance to include an opt-out clause for Reynolds following the 2026 season.

It isn’t clear if anything has changed in talks, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links) hears from both sides that, essentially, they “haven’t heard anything” about any further progress.  Mackey notes that GM Ben Cherington didn’t mention anything about Reynolds or the contract talks during his weekly radio show today, though naturally it would’ve been a little surprising to hear an executive make any significant public comment on contract negotiations that (apparently) are still ongoing.  Opening Day was reportedly viewed as a deadline to get an extension finalized, and while that deadline was completely unofficial, it begs the question or whether or not Reynolds and the Bucs can solve the impasse soon or if the matter might be tabled until the offseason…..or, if Reynolds might be traded elsewhere before the deadline.

More NL Central items….

  • Devin Williams was hit in the arm by a Dansby Swanson line drive during the ninth inning of yesterday’s game, though Williams remained on the mound to close out the Brewers’ 3-1 win over the Cubs.  Williams told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters that the liner “glanced off” his right elbow and “it didn’t feel too good,” leading to a bit of lingering soreness today.  While the injury doesn’t appear to be serious, Williams and manager Craig Counsell said that the reliever’s availability for today’s game wouldn’t be known until Williams did some pregame warmups. [UPDATE: Williams didn’t pitch in Milwaukee’s 9-5 win over Chicago, but Counsell said the reliever was available if called upon.]
  • Nick Senzel and Tony Santillan are slated to begin rehab assignments at Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday, Reds manager David Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer).  Both were hampered by injuries that pushed back their Spring Training work, as Senzel underwent toe surgery during the offseason and Santillan was still recovering from a lower back issue that plagued him during the 2022 campaign.  Barring any setbacks, however, Senzel and Santillan appear to be on pace to join the Reds by around the middle of April, with Senzel perhaps moving into a utility role and Santillan stepping back into Cincinnati’s bullpen.

Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters

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The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.

Without further ado…

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Marlins

Mariners

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

List Of All-Star Roster Replacements

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7:25PM: Freddie Freeman is also joining the NL roster, as the league announced that the Dodgers first baseman is replacing Starling Marte.

4:04PM: The league announced that the Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas has now been added to the NL roster, taking the spot of Brewers righty Corbin Burnes.

July 17, 1:15PM: The Mariners have announced that Ty France will be joining the festivities as well. MLB later announced the addition as well, noting that he is replacing Mike Trout. With Trout not taking part, Byron Buxton will move into the starting center fielder role for the American League.

10:05AM: MLB has announced three more additions, with one of them being the previously reported addition of Williams. The other two are closers: Liam Hendriks of the White Sox and Jordan Romano of the Blue Jays. Those three will replace Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Max Fried.

July 16, 11:01PM: Brewers reliever Devin Williams has also been named to the NL roster, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).

7:11:PM: Four replacements were announced to the All-Star rosters, taking the spots of four other players who won’t be part of the Midsummer Classic.  Dodgers left-hander Tyler Anderson, Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth, and Braves third baseman Austin Riley will be joining the National League’s team, while Blue Jays second baseman Santiago Espinal has been named to the American League’s roster.

Espinal is replacing Jose Altuve, who was hit in the knee by a pitch on Thursday.  Altuve sat out Friday’s action and is back in the Astros lineup tonight as the DH, but even though he is well enough to play, Altuve and the Astros will use the All-Star break to get the second baseman fully back to 100 percent.  Altuve had been voted in as the AL’s starter at second baseman, but now the Guardians’ Andres Gimenez take over as the starter for Tuesday’s game.

Jazz Chisholm was voted as the NL’s starting second baseman, but the Marlins standout will also be missing the game due to his lower back injury.  Chisholm has been on the 10-day injured list since June 28, but he has been working out at the Marlins’ spring camp, and taking part in baseball activities.  There isn’t a set timeline for Chisholm’s return, but the team is hopeful Chisholm can be activated for the start of the second half.  With Chisholm out, Jeff McNeil becomes the NL’s new starter at the keystone, while Cronenworth will take over the backup infield role.

Giants lefty Carlos Rodon is also battling injury, opening the door for Anderson to receive the first All-Star nod of his seven-year career.  Rodon has both a blister and a split nail on the middle finger of his throwing hand, and told  Henry Schulman and other reporters that he is skipping the ASG in order to give the injury time to properly heal.  There isn’t yet any indication that Rodon might require a visit to the injured list, and since Rodon last pitched on Thursday, he’ll receive at least a full week off between starts.

Riley was perhaps the most prominent omission from the original All-Star roster, given how the Braves slugger has posted some huge numbers over the first half.  However, as it often the case with “snubs,” the situation sorted itself out once other players started to drop out.  Riley will be taking the place of Nolan Arenado, as the Cardinals third baseman will use the break to rest a lingering back problem.

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.
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