Jan. 12, 2:03 PM: The club has made the signing official this afternoon.
Jan. 8, 8:52 PM: The Brewers have agreed to terms on a split, Major League contract with free-agent righty Jake Petricka, per The Athletic’s Robert Murray (Twitter links). He’ll land a spot on the Brewers’ 40-man roster as part of the deal, which is still pending a physical. Petricka is represented by Platinum Sports.
Petricka, 30, spent the 2018 season with the Blue Jays and logged 45 2/3 innings out of the Toronto bullpen, working to a 4.53 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 1.18 HR/9 and a strong 51 percent ground-ball rate. The former White Sox setup man averaged better than 95 mph on his sinker and posted a career-best 10.5 percent swinging-strike rate in his lone year with Toronto.
Prior to his time with the Jays, Petricka appeared in parts of five seasons for the ChiSox, though his final two years in Chicago were marred by injury. He pitched to a 3.24 ERA / 3.56 FIP through his first three seasons on the South Side, averaging 6.1 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 with a ground-ball rate of nearly 64 percent in that time. Petricka, though, required elbow surgery in 2016 and pitched just 33 2/3 innings from 2016-17 combined before last year’s return effort.
Because he only has four years, 157 days of Major League service time, Petricka will be controllable for both the 2019 season and the 2020 season. If he carves out a spot in the Brewers’ bullpen this season, he’ll be arbitration-eligible next winter before becoming a free agent in the 2020-21 offseason.
Petricka does have a minor league option remaining, and by virtue of the split deal he signed, he’ll earn at different rates for time spent in the Majors and the minors. Once his deal is complete, the Brewers will have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
Who needs Bryce and Machado with signings like this
Because the brewers had/have a snowball’s chance in Jamaica of signing either of them…?
moron
You don’t need either Harper or Machado. They are both going to be budget killers for any small or medium sized market. If they want 300 million, they are going to a big market team that has the money. CWS, Phillies, LAD, Yankees, Boston, San Fran, Nationals, Cubs all have the money but a few are so high up on the Luxury Tax scale they are not really in the mix. Stick to the plan and pick up pieces instead of one huge mistake like Machado. I would take Harper over Machado every day of the week and twice on Sunday!
Brewers would never have the money to get someone like Patrick Corbin let alone Harper or Machado. They all 3 want to win. They wouldn’t win the 2nd most boring city in America. The only thing other than the packers history that Wisconsin has is Wisconsin Dells. And I’m not sure if Wisconsin dells is still around.
Someone is still raw about 2018.
On an unrelated note, do you know when Nfl kicker tryouts start?
If that’s the case, why do I see so many of you fibs up here in Wisconsin all the time?
Because the State of Illinois is literally a barren wasteland.
Who?
He can flat bring it, and induces a lot of ground balls
He’s terrible. He has no idea where the ball is going. I painfully watched him during all of his Jays tenure. The only way this is a good signing is if he gets his control back that he didn’t have in Toronto.
Most of the time hitters got themselves out. Just let the guy throw it and don’t swing.
#scoutseyes
He looked a lot better than a 4.5 era to me with the Jays, but I shouldn’t argue with #scouteyes I guess.
so you’re saying only have him pitch to latin american players. Could work
Their answer to the Cubs bringing Hamels back.
Aweee are you still angry you choked away division lead to Milwaukee.. hang in there champ.
This is Bumgarner! I guess they settled for less! Lol! One mans junk is another mans treasure! Maybe this guy can turn things around.
I don’t really understand the hate train around Bumgarner. The dude had 2 freak injuries in back to back seasons, was rushed back to the big leagues and skipped several rehab starts, and even with all that still managed to average a 3.28 ERA if you average the 2017-2018 season era’s. Also, he was better in 2018 than he was in 2017. So he’s not drastically declining by any means. Not only that, he put up the numbers above with terrible defense behind him. You’re talking Longoria butchering balls at 3rd, Denard Span in CF, Alen Hanson literally all over the diamond, Hunter Pence and Andrew McCutchen who were both pretty mediocre defenders with limited range. All he had was Crawford at short. I’d say props to him for battling it out and putting up relatively good numbers despite the adversity.
Look at his home/away splits in 2018. AT&T made his numbers look a lot better.
How many players play better on the road? I didn’t see the numbers but I doubt they are drastic enough to worry about in comparison to other pitchers!
Try looking at the numbers.
Between 2013-2015 everyone said justin verlander was done. Would u like him on your team today? I look at bumgarner in the same light that I look at V. Two guys that are tallying HOF arguments (2014 Ws). Do not take folks lightly.
His fastball is gone and it was his best pitch. There is a chance he regains it but most likely his years as an ace are over and you would be hoping for a #2 or #3 pitcher. Now the Brewers could still use that but I wouldn’t’ want to pay up for it. If Bumgarner has the same stuff he had in 2018 from now on he is just not going to be a great pitcher.
@ender Bumgarner is not a #2 and the fact you have the audacity to call him a. #3 is hilarious. Maybe on 5 or 6 teams he’d be a #2, but on a rotation as hilariously weak as the Brewers he’d easily be the #1. Please get some knowledge before spreading your junk.
Good for him getting a Major League deal; I expected a minor league deal for him. I thought he was often misused last season with the Jays (some out of necessity though as the starters stressed the bullpen hard). He should fare a bit better out of the AL East (Boston/New York mostly) meat grinder.
Agreed. A bit surprised it wasn’t a minor league deal also.
It’s a split deal so even though he’s on the 40 man he’s not guaranteed an MLB spot. I would guess he doesn’t break spring training on the MLB roster with the options Milwaukee has in their pen.
A really sneaky good move here. Upside of mid to high 2 era, won’t do any worse then last year . Great arm and stuff! Worth a flier for sure!!
Petricka was not a bad reliever. his issue is staying healthy, particularly staying away from season ending injuries
He’s got so much good movement on his pitches as well. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him succeed given how unpredictable relievers are.
He pitches for paycheck with every throw. Reason for DL? A lot, we think? 95 sinker! A lot of arm and shoulder to do! Brewers make him a specialty item, and use for specials only and wow, maybe?
I hope English isn’t your first language..
Maybe third language! MLB love is definitely first language!
Now that is a classy comment right there! ^^
I think that’s what happens when you translate something online from English to Spanish to French to Swedish to Russian and then back to English.
Isn’t Petricka Lithuanian? Maybe he’s a relative who doesn’t like him
I can finally go to sleep.
His ERA was flattering for how he really pitches. He was mop up material for sure. Good luck Jake.
Well it was these kinda signings that made our rebuild take a shorter time. I like where are team is for the most part. I think our pitching is solid and they are adding some depth. I know people want Madbum but it’s kinda funny a couple of years ago San Francisco was looking to add Corey Hart.He had like one year of control left and the Brewers wanted a young arm with plenty of control left. San Francisco decided to not make the trade. Which gave them a couple more WS with Mad bum. Best thing they ever did. I think that the Brewers should do the same this time too. I think these guys have a bright future in the Brewers rotation.
No way the Brewers give up young flamethrowers with many years of team control for Madbum. Kluber? yeah of course I would but one year rental for someone who is declining and injury prone the last few years is a silly move. Stearns is not impulsive and wont make a dumb trade for a rental to mortgage the future
I absolutely agree with you on that maybe my explanation didnt make sense which is quite possible lol
Well it just is not Stearn’s m.o to do.
Every move he has made has been for what he keeps reiterating “young talented controllable players” Bum does not fit the mold of young and controllable. We could get Bum for one year, but i do not think that puts us over the edge still. Cards are going to be really good IMO. Cubs? ehh they havent done much but they still are the cubs and will always be a threat. I could see the Brewers going after Stroman who im pretty sure has some years left but dont quote me on that
One of the best things about Stearns is that we can count on him NOT to do something that makes no sense. Anyone paying attention knows his general guidelines for improving the team and when we see crazy proposals that want the Brewers to load up their top young talent for the next Matt Garza, we’re confident it isn’t going to happen. He’s unloaded a fair amount of younger players but every move has made perfect sense. One or two make come back to bite him, but not many.
Except for acquiring Schoop…that really didn’t make much sense.
Sounds a lot like what O’s fans were saying about Miley last year. I am interested to see how much Miley gets signed for this year.
Good for Petricka. At times looked good, at times looked awful. Wasn’t going to be part of the Jays plans for 2019 as they need to get younger, inexperienced arms into the bigs to sink or swim. Good luck to Jake.
They cut Dan Jennings for this dweeb?
They didn’t think Jennings was worth the 1.6 he was projected to get in arbitration. And Petricka isn’t replacing him, he’s a lottery ticket at this point. Unless he has a lights out spring he’s gonna start the season in San Antonio.
Alex Claudio is probably who will slide into Jennings’ role. He’ll probably pitch in more high leverage situations too, since he’s better. This dude (Petricka) will be a shuttle guy, back and forth between MLB and AAA when they need a fresh arm. Really no risk and I assure you he’s making less than Jennings would’ve.