The Brewers have acquired infielder/outfielder Jake Bauers from the Yankees, per announcements from both clubs. Minor league outfielders Jace Avina and Brian Sanchez are headed to the Yanks in return.
Bauers, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks prior to the 2023 season and ended up getting into 84 big league games on the year. He struck out in 34.9% of his plate appearances but walked at a 9.9% clip and hit 12 home runs. His final batting line of .202/.279/.413 translated to a wRC+ of 89. He’s out of options and has qualified for arbitration for the first time, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a salary of $1.7MM next year. Tonight is the deadline for clubs to decide whether or not to tender contracts to arb-eligible players and it seems the Yanks preferred to exchange Bauers for some prospects as opposed to making him part of the 2024 club.
Though the results weren’t outstanding in 2023, Bauers has generally hit well in the minors and has continued to intrigue clubs around the league. Drafted by the Padres back in 2013, he was traded to the Rays as part of the Wil Myers deal, with Tampa later flipping him to Cleveland in the three-team deal that also involved Edwin Encarnación, Carlos Santana and Yandy Díaz. Bauers was dealt a third time, going to the Mariners in 2021, but couldn’t thrive at the big league level with any club.
He has hit .211/.302/.361 in his career as a major leaguer but has a much more impressive line of .257/.363/.438 at Triple-A. The Brewers will be the latest club to take a chance on him finally putting it together at the big league level, perhaps as a Rowdy Tellez replacement. Tellez hit just .215/.291/.376 this year and is projected to make $5.9MM in his final arbitration year, making him a speculative non-tender candidate. With Bauers projected at less than a third of of that price and also having two more seasons of club control, the Brewers are taking a bet that he will be better value for money.
The tender deadline is at 7 pm Central tonight, so the Brewers still have a few hours to work out a trade of Tellez or decide whether to keep him around. In addition to first base, Bauers has also played some corner outfield. That perhaps allows them both to fit on the roster but the club is fairly loaded with outfield options, having Christian Yelich, Tyrone Taylor, Joey Wiemer, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins, with prospect Jackson Chourio charging hard towards a major league debut.
In exchange for a player that likely wasn’t in their plans anyway, the Yanks will add a couple of pieces to their farm system, both long-term plays. Avina, who turns 21 in June, spent 2023 in Single-A. He hit .233/.373/.442 at that level for a wRC+ of 134. Sanchez is just 19 and was in the Dominican Summer League this year, hitting .297/.414/.446 for a wRC+ of 129. Neither are Rule 5 eligible at this point and won’t need a 40-man roster spot for the time being.
They must have thought they were getting Jack.
At 1 year for 24
Not jumping up and down over this
You should at least break a smile. The Yankees got two good prospects for a player they no longer needed.
Well, there’s our new left and center fielders.
One of them is a lefty!
I hear he can pitch too.
Cashman is finally getting left handed bats! Baby steps…
No the Yankees have decided modern baseball team construction isn’t for them. They are returning to buying old worn out veterans at crazy prices. Expect them to sign the Japanese pitcher and Bellinger for CF. What’s 2 more $25-$35 million 7 year contracts to them? It’s amazing that Cashman looks back on 2014 and thinks that’s when he knew now to put a team together. He obviously still has feelings for Carl Pavano. You can tell by how quickly he rushed to California last year to sign Rodon. As long as they spend more than the Mets they will consider themselves the winner!! I predict around January Cashman will proclaim Rob Refsnyder ready for his triumphant return to NYC and will sign him to a 3/$39m contract to play LF.
Why are you giving up two minor leaguers for Jake Bauers? Wouldn’t surprise me if this is the Brewers big offensive pickup for the offseason.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Bauers hits 25 ding dongs and plays decent first base. The Brewers are still one of the smart teams so they must see some potential juice to squeeze here.
@jdgoat
Another usual Brewer trade.
Good question! Unfortunately, the answer is that he fits the recent typical Brewer player mold plus the Milwaukee front office has a melanin quota for the team.
Dang. I honestly thought the Yankees would give Bauers a chance to establish himself with the club. And for what they got in return, surprised they held onto him as a trade chip while DFA-ing all those other guys a week or two back.
He’s been terrible for 4 teams now , a player whose single positive is the ability to homer now and then. I think he has established himself. That they got anything in return is amazing,
Sorry Jake I barely knew you
Imagine if NYY gave Chapparo a chance last year instead of keep playing Bauers ♂️
Isn’t Chapparo 3rd base – and still on Double A?
You have to remember that Chapparo is a long time Yankee minor leaguer. Bauers is more highly regarded because he came from another organization
The Yankees always bury or disparage the kids they sign or draft.
Rowdy’s replacement at 1B?
At first glance, seems like a lateral move at best. Except for all the money they can save. Times are tough, having to pay for all the stadium upkeep and whatnot.
I guess he performs much better than his stats indicate our our eyes see. My eyes see a bottom rung afterthought of a player.
Yeah, Bauers is much better than Canha…?
He’s not much better than anybody
He’s so much worse
He’s 80% cheaper. That’s what matters.
Now I’m just waiting for the yearly BP reclamation project Cashman always picks up.
Why would the Brewers do this?? Give up two prospects for a guy that gets DFA’d every year? Are the Brewers tanking to move to Las Vegas also?
They’re locked in to Milwaukee until 2050, so I guess Las Vegas is out of the question for them at least.
I don’t know where the “prospects” rank in their system, but I don’t think they’re very high. Guess we’ll have to wait a few years before we know how they pan out.
Think they can improve him.
Better off with Jake from State Farm
He’s the one wearing the khakis, right?
That’s quite the haul for the Yankees. Very lottery ticket for a player that shouldn’t see a ML roster.
He’ll fit right in with the other Mendoza hitters they already have
Not sure why this trade was made. They released McKinney thought Bauers was the 5th Outfielder. Cabrera or Pereira better step up.
I think they can do better. Both kinda stink with their high strikeouts. Hopefully this clears space to improve the bench.
The Yankees just opened up four spots on the 40 man roster, and got a little something in return. That’s extremely valuable right now, given the likelihood of a number of free agent signings, as well as some trades.
The Brewers acquire a batter with a borderline 200 average. Sounds about right.
This is damn near a cry of desperation. There has got to be more talent already on the farm. Kripes!
“He will be better value for money.” Yes, I would hope that he would be of value for money.
If they really want to be fair put all the teams with similar payrolls in same division and adjust accordingly each year
Where’s the fair part?
What don’t you understand?
Teams with payroll under 100m Div 1
200m Div2
300m Div3
400m Div4
The part which makes this fair.
our long national nightmare is over
Well Brew Crew, he’s your problem now.
Bauers is a good fastball hitter, problem is he can’t hit anything else.
Cheaper version of Telez?
The best version of Tellez is none.
It continues to be difficult to be a Brewer fan.
This team is obsessed with former Cleveland players
Good trade for both teams, Bauers wasn’t in the plans for next year, and the Brewers are rebuilding. Bauers has some upside as a player.
Upside? Yikes.
Every year since Prince, except for Thames, Milwaukee stockpiles mediocre 1st base options and then proceeds to underperform at the position until the deadline when they acquire a veteran to shore-up. Would anticipate this is not their first hot-stove move for the cold corner.
Jesus Aguilar actually worked out for a minute too in 2018
Even Thames was a mediocre option on paper. Nobody knew if his kbo numbers would translate. Getting one really good year out of him was as much good luck as good management.
I’m sure the guys Cashman received in return will never even sniff the majors
A for NY. 2 solid prospects for a non tender.
D for MIL. Something to work with and improve. I wouldn’t have gave up that much. Can’t imagine they had much competition. They do pretty good though so could very well improve him and these prospects never amount to anything.
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge pickup! I mean, yawn
Holy Yankees steal.
Why would the Brewers send 2 players to the Yankees for Bauers? There are plenty of “bauer” type players out there -and cheap
1.7 million for wRC+ of 89? Ouch
could be worse … could be 87 for 32M
Going to miss his OF play…not.
Why you ask? The Brewers like every MLB club realizes the Yankee player’s numbers do not represent the player’s performance. When you have stupid batting practices that encourages swing and miss and power of hit ball….oh don’t forget their stupid “Beach Ball Routine” they’ll get a much better player.
Santana made a difference after the trade deadline. Instead of wasting $1.7M on this guy. Why not have put that $ towards signing Santana or some other FA that might actually impact the MLB roster full-time next season? No, not Donaldson, Turner, Mancini, Belt, or some other typical recent Milwaukee acquisition slow afoot two result “hitter”!!