12:15 pm: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Brosseau will make $1.4MM.
12:10 pm: The Brewers announced that they have signed utility player Mike Brosseau to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. His salary is not yet publicly known.
Brosseau, 29 in March, made his MLB debut with the Rays in 2019. Over that year and the shortened 2020 campaign, he got into 88 contests and seemed to cement himself as a valuable player. He hit 11 home runs and produced a batting line of .284/343/.500, leading to a wRC+ of 130. He also provided defensive versatility, playing the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. Unfortunately, he struggled in 2021 and wound up splitting his time between the majors and the minors. In 57 MLB games, he hit .187/.266/.347 for a wRC+ of 73.
The Rays traded Brosseau to the Brewers a year ago and he seemed to get back on track after the switch. Milwaukee primarily used him in platoon fashion, as 105 of his 160 plate appearances came against lefties. For his career, Brosseau has a 127 wRC+ against southpaws but just an 84 the rest of the time. That was largely true in 2022 as well, though he strangely walked much more against righties in his small sample. That led his wRC+ totals to come out pretty even at 117 and 119, despite a .274 batting average against lefties and a .217 against righties. On the whole, he finished the season with a .255/.344/.418 batting line and a 118 wRC+.
He surpassed three years of MLB service time this year, qualifying for arbitration for the first time. Though it’s not yet known what salary he agreed to, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected $1.2MM. Whatever the number, Brosseau has locked that money in. Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, teams could cut arbitration players in Spring Training and only pay a portion of the salary. However, the new CBA dictates that players will receive full termination pay so long as they don’t go to a hearing.
The Brewers currently have a number of lefties who project to get at least somewhat regular playing time, including Christian Yelich, Rowdy Tellez, Kolten Wong, Jon Singleton and Garrett Mitchell. Given Brosseau’s defensive versatility and penchant for hitting lefties, he should be able to plug himself into semi-regular platoon duty, as well as occasionally pinch-hitting and serving as a defensive replacement.
Mark, if you’re reading this… stop the team.
Mark Mathias says hello
*sell
Brosseau was a solid addition, why suggest selling the team on a positive thread?
Because our owner is awful?
He’s been doing fine
Lol
To throw in here, I just wanna mention we were in the cellar for since I can remember before Attanassio showed up. Breaking 81-81 would have felt like winning the world series back in the day. Bad ownership is just not warranted to be said. I’m sorry you feel that way. Our day will come, we have some good kids coming up, especially Frelick. I’d pluck Frelick in on opening day, that’s the confidence I feel about him. I don’t think he is a Hiura bust, and I’d hate to eat my words on that. We need to trade Hiura for some unproven 16-18 year old minor league talent. Even if low floor is all we can get but I’ve given up on the cool guy. I’ll still follow his career of course. Cool hard playing guy but I think he maxes out at AAAA. Overseas might be his eventual destination if a change of scenery and coaching does not work.
You must not be old enough to remember the Wendy Selig years.
I remember the Bud Selig years lol
Enjoy cheering for the Cubs or White Sox. Since you don’t want your team to be in WI anymore.
Or just cheer for the Rangers and then you’ll be happy with your old team!
He was a very welcome addition to the Brewers last year. Hope he can produce similarly in 2023.
Always seemed like the kind of guy who’d become a revelation if you just gave him everyday(ish) at-bats.
If they start out platooning him and he does well, he could eventually get more playing time. And what’s going on with Tellez? he had a good season in 2022 but all I hear is that they want to trade him. Why?
Rowdy may also be the Brewer who benefits most from the lack of shifting next year. With the industry telegraphing that they will value pull-happy lefty mashers higher than usual, maybe Brewers are seeing some trade value. I think that makes him more a of a player to hold on to, but he’ll be in the 5 mil range with arbitration, so it’s not insane that theyre gauging his value among other teams.
I think with Abreu signing already teams may be willing to trade a little bit more for him at the winter meetings. Not much out there for first baseman availability.
Just no more HR posing on balls that barely clear the wall…and a defender’s glove.
A lot of doubles stay singles that way.
Who?
I like the fact that two-handed catches are coming back. Also, what has happened to the pitch out? It seems to have disappeared.
If Jon Singleton receives regular at bats next year things have gone horribly wrong for this team. Passable Triple A numbers from a guy in his 30’s should not guarantee him a 26-man spot.
Mike Brosseau is a nice addition. I wonder if they will play him full time?
My guess is no, he’ll be an off the bench guy
The reason why I was thinking that is because there was talk of trading Rowdy Tellez and sliding Wong to 1B. I still think he will get in quite a few more games than he has the past few years.
Playing Kolten at 1B feels so Wong!
… but no really I don’t think that’ll happen.
Wong will get traded so this won’t happen
You are probably right because mlbtraderumors just posted an article about it.
As it currently stands, he’ll be off the bench. Urias will be the starter at third, but also the utility infielder. When Adames or Wong get days off, Urias will play those positions, with Brousseau playing third.
I can’t really see Wong at 1st base. If it involves trading the current, not to mention less expensive 1B in order to move him there, I see no logic in such an idea.
No offense to you fdp, it just seems completely backwards (which means they’ll probably do it, and see if Jim Gantner will come out of retirement to play 2B too).
I didn’t come up with the idea. I read it on mlbtraderumors last season. I also read about Rowdy as a potential trade candidate (which I would not like). That’s why I mentioned it mpe9. I do think it would be interesting to see what Mike B can do if he had 350 abs in a season.
Wasn’t meaning you did, so we’re clear. I have heard about the Rowdy trade talk before, but not moving Wong to 1B, or, obviously that the basis for trading Rowdy was to move Wong there. I was thinking the Wong to 1B wrinkle was a new thing because the previous idea of picking up his option to flip him isn’t working out like they’d hoped.
My understanding of trading Rowdy was, supposedly, to save money. So trading him to move Wong over..at basically twice the price (and as far as I know little or no experience) just doesn’t add up.
I think they should roll with Rowdy as the “regular” 1B with a right handed bat to platoon, who can also fill in elsewhere (Brosseau could be that guy).
Didn’t realize he started 2 games at 1b. Platoon him at 1b and backup 3b for Urias, who should be backing up SS/2b in case of injuries. Jace Peterson gone should give Mike B. More playing time.