The Brewers announced that they have claimed third baseman Matt Dominguez off waivers from the Astros (Twitter links). To clear room on the 40-man roster, they’ve designated left-hander Wei-Chung Wang for assignment. Dominguez has been optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs by the Brewers.
The Astros designated Dominguez for assignment last week in order to clear space on the 40-man roster for the promotion of top prospect Carlos Correa. In doing so, Houston effectively pulled the plug on one player for whom they very recently had high hopes in order to give a chance to a new young player. Dominguez was never as highly regarded a prospect as Correa, of course, but he frequented Top 100 prospect lists from 2009-12 as a member of both the Astros and Marlins organizations.
It’s easy to forget that Dominguez, who has spent parts of the past four seasons in the Majors, is still just 25 years of age. The Marlins first brought him to the Majors at just 21 years old and eventually traded him to Houston in the deal that sent Carlos Lee to Miami. Dominguez made a late-season appearance in Houston in 2012 and served as the team’s everyday third baseman in 2013-14.
That first season with an everyday gig proved to be his best to date, as he batted .241/.286/.403 with 21 homers. Despite the questionable OBP skills, Dominguez offered power and solid defense at third base, per DRS, producing 2.2 rWAR in his age-23 campaign. That’s a solid year, especially when considering his inexperience, but he took a step back in 2014, hitting just .215/.256/.330. That was concerning enough for Houston to bring in Luis Valbuena and Jed Lowrie in the winter, leaving Dominguez at Triple-A, where he continued to struggle (.251/.289/.371).
For the Brewers, though, they have little in the way of MLB-ready replacement options following the 2015 season when Aramis Ramirez retires. While Dominguez is far from a sure thing to provide them with above-average production at the hot corner — hence the DFA — he gives Milwaukee an experienced option with a good deal of team control remaining. Dominguez is all but a lock to be controllable through the 2019 season, as he’d need 110 days of MLB service to be eligible for free agency following the 2018 season, and there are only 111 days of the season remaining after tonight’s games.
With Ramirez’s name popping up in trade rumors as of late, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Dominguez eventually received an audition at the Major League level in the current season. That could theoretically push him into Super Two status and make him arbitration eligible this offseason, but his lack of recent offensive production would probably result in a relatively modest salary — especially when juxtaposed with Ramirez’s current $14MM price tag.
The 23-year-old Wang was a Rule 5 pick by the Brewers in 2013, and the team carried him on the roster through the entire 2014 season to avoid losing him, so the decision to designate him and again risk losing him was likely a tough pill to swallow. The Taiwanese southpaw pitched just 17 1/3 innings last year and yielded 21 runs, but given the fact that he was selected from the Pirates’ Rookie-level affiliate, those struggles shouldn’t be a stunning outcome. This season at Class-A Advanced, Wang has posted a 5.93 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings.
I doubt anybody is going claim Wang. He’s just not big league ready. A smart move designating him as they’ll more than likely get to keep him in the organization while he develops but now he won’t be taking up a 40 man roster spot.
That’s what the Pirates thought as well before Wang was picked in the Rule 5 Draft.
…but how can they all resist having a guy to whom they can play “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” as his walk-on music?
Good move for Milwaukee.
So the Brewers wasted a 25 man roster spot all of 2014 on Wang and then they DFA him only two months into 2015? I seriously think keeping him on the roster in 2014 is what cost them the playoffs. They almost never used him because he wasn’t ready to be a big leaguer and the rest of the bullpen just got worn out and they struggled the last two moths of the year.
In amassing their 31-48 record over the last half of last year, MKE averaged a whopping 3.4 runs per game. Our issues were not due to bullpen fatigue.
It all adds up.
How much is the last guy in any team’s bullpen used?
Just because they DFA’d him to make room on the 40, doesn’t mean he won’t clear waivers.
More than 17 innings which is all Wang pitched in a complete 2014 season. If your argument is true then we should just cut active rosters to 24 men because apparently that last guy just isn’t needed.
What do you consider “all of 2014” to be? Because we DL’ed him in early July after he surpassed the 90-day requirement for Rule 5 picks and he didn’t take up a roster spot again until rosters expanded in September. I know a lot of people are pissed about the Wang situation, but it didn’t cost us the postseason, plain and simple.
Our bullpen in the second half of 2014 pitched to a perfectly reasonable 3.62 ERA (3.55 FIP, 3.40 xFIP), compared to the group’s first half numbers of a 3.61 ERA (3.63 FIP, 3.28 xFIP). Now factor in the offense’s collective .239/.303/.375 batting line in the second half (compared to their first half .257/.316/.412 line), and your argument simply doesn’t hold up. Wang did not cost us the 2014 season. You can scapegoat him all you want, but he isn’t the reason.
THANK YOU Sage! Finally someone with an intelligent response/outlook on this matter.
I was screaming this last year while it was happening after it was evident he couldn’t hang in the bigs even in a blowout. One less pitcher to eat innings A lot of things went wrong but this decision to keep him in the bullpen on a first place team was by far the Worst move I think I have ever seen.
As far as Dominguez goes, this could be a precursor to an Aramis Ramirez trade.
Just curious, which teams are looking for a below average, aging, expensive 3B?
The Brewers probably figure that Wang is going to make it through waivers, but I am not so sure about that.
Good claim considering Brewers have little to nothing behind ARam. He could be a full-time fixture next season. Brewers really have nothing to ‘lose’ at this point (24-41).
Agree. Dominguez can still pick it at third, but somehow lost his confidence at the plate last year and it’s carried over to this year. He did have 7 RBIs in his last game at Fresno (AAA) so he may be starting to put it back together. As an Astros fan, I wish “Matty D” all the best.
Seems like a bizarre decision to DFA a young pitcher you gave a roster spot to for the entire 2014 season in exchange for a career 80 OPS plus fringe player. I’m really ready for Doug Melvin to be gone.
Between Wren’s promotion to AAA and this transaction, maybe they’re preparing for the inevitable Gomez and ARam trades. We don’t have much help in the minors at 3B…at least for a few years.
Maybe, but I’d guess Wren goes to AAA because he’s raking and Taylor is a CF.
What’s weird is that I read recently that Wang has been working on his secondary pitches. Which explains the poor performance this year. Not sure of the rationale for letting him go when we have lesser, older talent on the 40-man that could easily be DFA’d. I guess MKE feels Wang will make it through waivers. Be interesting to see if PIT does anything.
At this point, it can’t hurt the Brewers to take a flyer on a guy like this. If he continues to struggle like he did with Houston, it’s not like he’s costing them anything more than league minimum. I’m anything but a Melvin fan (I’ve been calling for his head for some time), but the one area where he does well is getting a productive year or two out of “scrap heap” pickups.
Hmm… looks like they optioned Dominguez to AAA immediately, so that’s even less of a risk financially.
“Lack little” in 3b options? That would mean they have many options. Don’t they just “lack”?
I fixed that for Steve.
Am I the only one here that’s REALLY excited about this claim? I can see him being a long term replacement for Aramis.
Nope, I’m right there with ya. This is exactly the type of move we should be making at this point. Young, controllable, has potential, cheap. All at a position where we lacked depth big time, and I think this is a great move. Potential long-term replacement, or a stop-gap for a prospect (perhaps acquired in a trade this summer) at worst.
Nope Eric, I’m pumped also!!! He’s only 25, can pick it at 3rd, and has some pop in the bat. This could be a tremendous steal for the Brewers
Or they’ll just rely on a low average … low OBP power hitter once again. We’ve already seen how that works out.
Seriously? Another power hitter with low average and low OBP. Doug Melvin is like the Oakland Raiders of baseball, only instead of trying to play the speed game he thinks he can a .220, 20+ HR, 270 OBP guy at every position. Wang should have been expendable last year when we where making a actual run at it. I know he’s still on the team for now but why do this now for an average player?
I like the pick up. He’s still young, has time to figure things out, has some pop in his bat, and plays respectable defense at 3B. He can be a part of a rebuild and prove serviceable.