Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Archives for April 2024
Red Sox Place Nick Pivetta On IL With Right Flexor Strain
12:20 pm: Pivetta’s flexor strain is mild, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow tells reporters (including Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe). The right-hander could come off the IL as soon he is eligible, barring any setbacks. In the meantime, the Red Sox will skip Pivetta’s turn in the rotation when off days allow and fill in the gaps with either Chase Anderson or Cooper Criswell.
11:56 am: The Red Sox have placed starting pitcher Nick Pivetta on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor strain, the team announced. The IL stint is retroactive to April 6. Brennan Bernardino has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester to fill Pivetta’s spot on the active roster.
It’s been a rough day for the Red Sox so far. Earlier this morning, manager Alex Cora revealed that shortstop Trevor Story is headed for an appointment with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache due to “concern with the bone structure” of his shoulder. His 2024 season could be in jeopardy. The possibility of losing Story and Pivetta will loom large over the Red Sox’s home opener today at Fenway Park.
Elbow problems are always worrisome, especially for pitchers, and especially given the recent rash of injuries to star hurlers like Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, and Eury Pérez. Pivetta was expected to take the mound tomorrow against the Orioles. Now, he is not eligible to rejoin the Red Sox until April 20. There is currently no timeline for his return. However, it’s getting hard to hear the words “flexor strain” and not prepare for the worst.
Twins right-hander Anthony DeSclafani recently underwent season-ending flexor tendon surgery. Rays righty Drew Rasmussen missed most of the 2023 season and remains on the IL after suffering a flexor strain last May. At the time, he hoped to be back for the stretch run in August and September, but eventually, he needed an internal brace procedure to repair his elbow. To make things worse, flexor tendon injuries often cooccur with UCL injuries. Dodgers starter Walker Buehler initially landed on the IL with a flexor strain in June 2022; two months later, he went under the knife for Tommy John.
A perennial breakout candidate, Pivetta, 31, often underperforms his advanced metrics; he has a career 4.81 ERA and 4.00 SIERA. Still, he has blossomed into a reliable arm for the Red Sox, tossing 498 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA and 6.2 FanGraphs WAR since 2020. He has pitched at least 140 innings in each of the past three seasons, and his only previous trips to the IL were due to COVID-19 protocols in 2021. The righty looked especially sharp in his first two starts this season, giving up a lone earned run while striking out 13 and walking just one over 11 innings of work.
The Red Sox, already without Lucas Giolito for the season, will be hard-pressed to replace Pivetta in the rotation if his flexor strain proves to be serious. For his part, Pivetta’s injury could not have come at a worse moment. He is set to reach free agency for the first time this offseason.
Marlins Void 2025 Club Option On Manager Skip Schumaker
April 9: Barry Jackson, Jordan McPherson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald add some additional context to Schumaker’s contract status. Schumaker, according to the report, was frustrated by the departure of Ng, who’d hired him less than a year prior.
The Herald trio writes that owner Bruce Sherman agreed to remove the club option on the contract “as a show of good faith” after Schumaker voiced his concerns. In essence, voiding the club option gives Schumaker control over his own future if he and Bendix clash over the course of the season. Per the Herald report, there have been no issues between Bendix and Schumaker even in spite of the team’s terrible (1-10) start to the season, but the in-house expectation is that Schumaker will explore other options following the season.
April 7: Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is set to become a free agent following the 2024 season, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Schumaker was hired by the club in October 2022 to serve under then-GM Kim Ng and agreed to a two-year deal with a club option for 2025, but Nightengale reports that Miami agreed to void the option this past winter.
Schumaker, 44, is a former big league outfielder and second baseman who played for the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Reds from 2005 to 2015 with a roughly league average .278/.337/.364 slash line in 1,149 career games. Just a few short years after retiring as a player in 2016, Schumaker began his coaching career as the first base coach in San Diego for the 2018 season. He was promoted to associate manager prior to the 2020 season but departed the club prior to the 2022 campaign to rejoin the Cardinals as Oli Marmol’s bench coach.
After a year working under Marmol in St. Louis, Schumaker quickly emerged as a finalist to replace outgoing manager Don Mattingly in Miami, and eventually reached a deal with the Marlins shortly thereafter. His debut season as manager scarcely could’ve gone better, as Schumaker led a surprisingly competitive Marlins club to an 84-win season in 2023, securing the club’s first full-season playoff appearance since 2003. Miami’s surprising performance was enough to earn Schumaker NL Manager of the Year honors over fellow finalists Craig Counsell and Brian Snitker.
Since then, however, there’s been plenty of upheaval in the Marlins organization. Ng parted ways with the organization after ownership refused to offer her an extension and indicated they planned to reduce her role by installing a president of baseball operations above her. Her departure last fall reportedly upset Schumaker. The club subsequently hired former Rays GM Peter Bendix to run the club’s baseball operations department.
The club went on to make minimal additions to its roster this winter, only adding shortstop Tim Anderson on a major league deal. Slugger Jorge Soler departed for San Francisco via free agency, and the Marlins at least entertained the idea of trading Jesus Luzardo and other young starters this winter. While it’s still early in the 2024 season, the returns on the club’s inaction this winter are nothing short of awful; the club has lost each of its first nine games this season while suffering injuries to key pieces such as Eury Perez and Braxton Garrett — both of whom opened the season on the injured list. Perez will miss the entire 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery.
Given the recent changes in club leadership and the team’s struggles, it’s possible Bendix hopes to choose his own manager following the 2024 season, resulting in the team being willing to forfeit their ability to unilaterally retain Schumaker. If Schumaker doesn’t remain in Miami beyond the current season, Nightengale suggests that he could join Red Sox manager Alex Cora as one of the most attractive managerial candidates available to clubs this winter.
Dodgers Outright Dinelson Lamet
April 9: Lamet cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He has more than enough service time (nearly six years) to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, if he chooses.
April 6: The Dodgers announced that right-hander Dinelson Lamet has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a roster space for fellow righty Gus Varland, who has been called up from Triple-A.
Lamet’s minor league deal was selected to the active roster on April 1, and he has posted a 2.08 ERA over three appearances and 4 1/3 innings of work. While a small sample size, Lamet’s 16.7% strikeout rate was uninspiring, and he allowed a solo homer to Michael Busch during 1 1/3 frames in yesterday’s 9-7 Dodgers loss to the Cubs. If Lamet is the proverbial 26th man on the roster, Los Angeles seems willing to risk losing him on outright waivers in order to add a fresh arm in Varland, though it is certainly possible Lamet clears waivers and remains in the organization.
This cup of coffee with the Dodgers represents one of Lamet’s better stretches of pitching in the last four years, as he has a 6.63 ERA over 111 1/3 innings with four different big league clubs since the start of the 2021 campaign. Once a promising starter in the Padres’ rotation in 2019-20, Lamet has been set back by injuries and a consistent lack of control when facing MLB batters.
The Opener: Valdez, Gray, MLBTR Chat
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As the 2024 MLB regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Valdez to be evaluated:
Astros southpaw Framber Valdez was scratched from his start yesterday due to elbow soreness, becoming the latest player of note in the league to suffer an elbow-related injury scare. Per Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle, the lefty has departed the team’s road trip and is set to return to Houston today for further evaluation. Kawahara adds that both manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown downplayed the seriousness of Valdez’s injury, with Espada emphasizing that Valdez has not yet been placed on the injured list. If Valdez misses time, he’d join Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia Jr., and Lance McCullers Jr. as Astros starters on the injured list, though Verlander could be nearing a return later this month.
Right-hander Blair Henley was called up to take the mound in place of Valdez yesterday, but he allowed five runs while recording just one out against the Rangers. Fellow righty Spencer Arrighetti could be an alternative option to take the ball next time Valdez’s spot in the rotation comes up if he’s not cleared to take the ball and Houston decides not to stick with Henley.
2. Gray to make Cardinals debut:
The Cardinals are expected to activate right-hander Sonny Gray from the injured list today to make his club debut in St. Louis against the Phillies. The 34-year-old signed with the club on a three-year, $75MM deal this offseason on the heels of a dominant 2023 campaign with the Twins where he led the majors with a 2.83 FIP and finished second to Gerrit Cole in AL Cy Young voting. He’ll get a tough assignment in his Cards debut, taking the mound opposite Phillies ace Zack Wheeler. St. Louis is surely hoping that Gray can help the club turn its rotation around. The group’s collective 4.85 ERA ranks 20th in MLB, and their 5.48 FIP ranks 29th, ahead of only the Blue Jays, through the young 2024 season’s first 11 games.
3. MLBTR Chat today:
The 2024 season is now in full swing, and some clubs have gotten off to surprisingly strong starts while plenty of expected contenders have struggled to open the year. If you have questions regarding your favorite club’s start to the campaign, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will host a live chat with readers this afternoon at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, and that same link will allow you to join in on the chat once it begins or read the transcript after it is completed.
Angels Sign Angel Felipe To Minor League Deal
The Angels recently signed reliever Angel Felipe to a minor league deal (h/t to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy). While the contract details aren’t clear, it seems fair to presume that was a two-year pact. Felipe underwent Tommy John surgery last month and will miss the entire 2024 season.
Felipe entered Spring Training holding a 40-man roster spot with the A’s. The 26-year-old righty had made his major league debut with Oakland a year ago. A waiver claim out of the San Diego organization, Felipe tossed 15 innings of seven-run ball for the A’s in the second half.
While he held his job over the winter, the surgery marked an end to his A’s tenure. Oakland designated Felipe for assignment shortly after announcing he’d go under the knife. They released him after the DFA, as injured players cannot go on outright waivers.
In parts of eight minor league campaigns, Felipe owns a 4.65 ERA. He allowed 5.46 earned runs per nine innings in 30 appearances between San Diego’s and Oakland’s Triple-A affiliates last season. The 6’5″ hurler missed a decent number of bats, fanning a third of opposing hitters. He also walked nearly 14% of batters faced, continuing a trend of career-long issues finding the strike zone.
Cubs’ Julian Merryweather Shut Down With Rib Fracture
Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather has been diagnosed with a rib stress fracture in his back, manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat (relayed by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). He’ll be shut down entirely for a month before going for further evaluation.
Merryweather’s absence from game action will last well beyond that initial four-week period. Even if he is cleared to resume baseball activity in a month, he’ll need to build his arm back into game shape. Chicago already placed Merryweather on the 15-day injured list over the weekend. They initially announced the injury as a shoulder strain, but further testing evidently showed it was a back issue. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if he eventually winds up on the 60-day IL.
Injuries have been an unfortunately recurring theme for Merryweather, who has pitched like a quality high-leverage arm when healthy. He didn’t reach the majors with the Blue Jays until he was nearing his 29th birthday, largely because of a 2018 Tommy John procedure. He debuted in 2020 but missed a good chunk of the following season due to a significant oblique strain. A 2022 abdominal strain again led to a notable absence, likely contributing to Toronto’s decision to waive him the following offseason.
The Cubs claimed him, a move which paid off when Merryweather turned in a career-best ’23 campaign. The righty avoided the IL last year and turned in a 3.38 ERA with an excellent 32.3% strikeout percentage across 72 innings. He’d fanned six over 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball this year before going on the shelf.
Royals Sign Zach Davies To Minor League Deal
The Royals announced this evening that they’ve signed starter Zach Davies to a minor league pact. The Boras Corporation client has been assigned to Triple-A Omaha.
Davies adds a veteran rotation option to the upper levels of the K.C. system. He was in Nationals camp this spring but didn’t make the MLB roster and was cut loose just before Opening Day. The 31-year-old righty had struggled in exhibition play, allowing 14 runs in as many innings across four starts.
That came on the heels of a rough 2023 campaign. Davies was tagged for seven earned runs per nine through 18 starts with the Diamondbacks a year ago. He missed some time with a back injury and was released in the days leading up to Arizona’s postseason run. Davies had turned in more serviceable back-of-the-rotation production in the preceding season. He managed a 4.09 ERA despite middling strikeout and walk numbers over 134 1/3 frames with the Snakes in 2022.
Davies doesn’t throw hard and has never missed many bats. He nevertheless posted solid results early in his career on the strength of above-average control and a lot of ground-ball contact. Davies has started exactly 200 games at the major league level and owns a 4.36 ERA in a little more than 1000 innings. He has allowed 5.43 earned runs per nine over the past three seasons, though, in part because his formerly strong walk rates have ticked upwards.
Kansas City’s rotation has been excellent in the first couple weeks. Only the Red Sox had a lower rotation ERA entering play today, as K.C. starters have worked to a microscopic 1.60 mark in their first 10 starts. Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh have each taken the ball two times.
The Royals kicked veteran righty Jordan Lyles into multi-inning relief and have Daniel Lynch and Jonathan Bowlan as rotation depth in Omaha. Minor league signee Luis Cessa had initially been assigned to Triple-A but was recently moved to the development list after walking five of his first 23 opponents.
Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers lost their manager and traded their ace. They also focused on big league talent in their trade returns and added several win-now veterans as they look to stay relevant in a wide-open National League Central division.
Major League Signings
- Rhys Hoskins, 1B: Two years, $34MM (contains opt-out after 2024 season)
- Brandon Woodruff, RHP: Two years, $17.5MM (includes buyout of 2026 mutual option)
- Wade Miley: One year, $8.5MM (includes buyout of 2025 mutual option)
- Jakob Junis, RHP: One year, $7MM (includes buyout of 2025 mutual option)
- Gary Sanchez, C: One year, $3MM
- Joe Ross, RHP: One year, $1.75MM
- Eric Haase, C: One year, $1MM (split major league deal; Haase has since been outrighted to Triple-A)
2024 Spending: $39.75MM
Total Spending: $72.75MM
Option Decisions
- LHP Wade Miley declined $10MM mutual option (received $1MM buyout)
- Declined $7.25MM club option on LHP Andrew Chafin (paid $725K buyout)
- Declined $2.5MM club option on LHP Justin Wilson (paid $150K buyout)
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired INF Joey Ortiz, LHP DL Hall and Competitive Balance (Round A) draft pick from Orioles for RHP Corbin Burnes
- Traded OF Mark Canha to Tigers for minor league RHP Blake Holub
- Traded RHP Adrian Houser and OF Tyrone Taylor to Mets for minor league RHP Coleman Crow
- Acquired 1B/OF Jake Bauers from Yankees for minor league OFs Jace Avina and Brian Sanchez
- Acquired RHP Taylor Clarke from Royals for minor league RHP Ryan Brady and minor league INF Cam Devanney
- Acquired INF Oliver Dunn from Phillies for minor league OF Hendry Mendez and minor league INF Robert Moore
- Acquired LHP Bryan Hudson from Dodgers for minor league LHP Justin Chambers
- Traded INF Abraham Toro to A’s for minor league RHP Chad Patrick
- Traded LHP Clayton Andrews to Yankees for minor league RHP Joshua Quezada
- Traded LHP Ethan Small to Giants for cash
- Claimed INF/OF Vinny Capra off waivers from Pirates
Extensions
- Jackson Chourio, OF: Eight years, $82MM (includes two club options)
- Colin Rea, RHP: One year, $4.5MM (includes 2025 club option)
Minor League Signings
- Christian Arroyo, Austin Nola (later released), Kevin Herget, Rob Zastryzny, Enoli Paredes, Yonny Hernandez, Easton McGee, Brewer Hicklen
Notable Losses
- Corbin Burnes, Mark Canha, Adrian Houser, Carlos Santana, Victor Caratini, Eric Lauer, Rowdy Tellez, Julio Teheran, Jesse Winker, Andrew Chafin, Justin Wilson, Tyrone Taylor, Abraham Toro, Clayton Andrews, Ethan Small
The manager’s chair hasn’t been a question for the Brewers in nearly a decade. Craig Counsell helmed the Brew Crew from 2015-23, guiding the club to a 707-625 record (.531) and five postseason appearances in nine seasons. His status as a managerial free agent was a major storyline early in the offseason not only for the Brewers but for several clubs around the sport. The Mets, Astros and Guardians were all connected to Counsell after his contract expired on Nov. 1, but the Cubs made a surprise push to bring in their longtime division foe, dismissing David Ross and signing Counsell to a record-setting five-year deal that’s worth a reported $40MM.
The Brewers not only lost their longtime skipper but also their longtime president of baseball operations. David Stearns stepped down following the 2022 season but stuck with Milwaukee in an advisory role for the 2023 season. After his own contract expired, perhaps baseball’s worst-kept secret quickly came to fruition; Stearns accepted the job as president of baseball operations for his hometown Mets, departing the Milwaukee organization entirely one year after ceding baseball operations autonomy to current GM Matt Arnold.
Arnold’s presence gave the Brewers’ front office some continuity even as Stearns departed, and Milwaukee opted for continuity in the dugout as well. Although they were tied to a host of external candidates (e.g. Toronto’s Don Mattingly, Houston’s Joe Espada, L.A.’s Clayton McCullough), the Brewers stayed in-house and elevated bench coach Pat Murphy to the skipper’s chair. Murphy, who previously coached Counsell in his college days at Notre Dame, had served as Counsell’s bench coach since 2015. He lacks big league managing experience but has two decades of NCAA experience and is quite familiar with the Brewers organization, their current talent and the upcoming wave of prospects.
As for the roster itself, starting pitching has been the hallmark of the Brewers for several years, with co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff atop the rotation and the underrated Freddy Peralta standing as an overqualified “third” starter. That all changed in a back-and-forth offseason that at times left fans wondering whether the Brewers were rebuilding or whether they were fully committed to winning in 2024. Toeing that line is nothing new for the Brewers, who regularly make hard roster decisions and trade players with dwindling control for MLB-ready prospects.
Setting aside the turnover with regard to some of the team’s key decision-making personnel, the offseason was in many was bookended by a pair of seismic transactions regarding their longtime one-two punch. Woodruff was non-tendered in November after undergoing shoulder surgery that’s expected to wipe out the majority of his 2024 season. And while it took Arnold & Co. most of the offseason to make it happen, they traded Burnes for a pair of immediate, controllable big leaguers and the Orioles’ Competitive Balance pick (No. 34) in this summer’s draft.
Joey Ortiz stepped right into the Brewers’ infield, and they’ll hope he can hold down a role there for six or more years. He’s controllable through at least the 2029 season and is a premium defensive player with modest power, above-average speed and a plus hit tool that gives him a chance to hit for average. He’ll play second base and third base in 2024, but if impending free agent Willy Adames departs either at the trade deadline or in free agency this winter, Ortiz has the defensive chops to step right in at shortstop.
Left-hander DL Hall, the other player to come over from the O’s in the Burnes swap, jumped right into the rotation spot vacated by the former NL Cy Young winner. Like Ortiz, he’s a touted prospect who’s drawn his share of top-100 fanfare in recent years. Scouts question whether the 2017 first-rounder (No. 21 overall) has the command to stick in a big league rotation, but even if he doesn’t, Hall’s velocity and quality secondary pitches give him a good chance at being a high-end leverage reliever.
Burnes was one of four notable veterans whom the Brewers traded away this offseason — and the returns on the others weren’t as impactful. Mark Canha was flipped to the Tigers in exchange for minor league righty Blake Holub — a 25-year-old relief prospect who’d yet to pitch in Triple-A at the time of the swap.
Right-hander Adrian Houser and outfielder Tyrone Taylor were both targets of Stearns with the Mets. He acquired his two former players in exchange for an upside play for the Brewers’ development staff: righty Coleman Crow. The former 28th-round pick signed for fifth-round money with the Angels back in 2021. He’s now twice been traded and made only four starts last year before requiring Tommy John surgery.
Mark Chiarelli wrote for Baseball America at the time of the trade why some of Crow’s fastball traits and his curveball movement made him a favorite of analytically inclined clubs. Unlike Ortiz, Hall and Holub, he’s further from MLB readiness. But Houser is a back-end starter entering his final season of club control and Taylor is a fourth outfielder coming off a down year at the plate. Adding some legitimate upside, even if it comes with significant injury concern, surely held appeal.
Subtracting Burnes, Houser, Woodruff, Canha and Taylor was a notable hit for the Brewers — particularly with veterans Carlos Santana, Victor Caratini and Andrew Chafin all hitting free agency. However, the Brewers never seemed interested in any sort of protracted rebuild. That was never Stearns’ M.O. and doesn’t seem to be Arnold’s, either. The Brewers could’ve traded Peralta (signed through 2026), Devin Williams (signed through 2025) and Adames (controlled for this season only), kept payroll in the gutter and made the 2024 season one focused primarily on development.
Instead, they made a slew of short-term free agent investments that helped backfill some rotation depth and add some punch to the lineup. No free agent pickup was larger — either in pure financial terms or in terms of potential 2024 impact — than Rhys Hoskins, who inked a two-year, $34MM deal to step an everyday role between first base and designated hitter. Hoskins is playing his first season since 2022, as a spring ACL tear cost him all of 2023. He can opt out of his contract at season’s end and quite likely will, if he performs anywhere close to his prior standards in Philadelphia. He gives the Brewers a legitimate middle-of-the-order threat at first base — something they’ve lacked in recent years. As a bonus, he didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Phillies, meaning he’s eligible to receive one at season’s end if he indeed takes that opt-out.
In addition to first base, Milwaukee stocked up on catcher depth and brought in some low-cost bench help. Eric Haase signed a one-year, split big league deal and was set to be the backup catcher — until he very suddenly wasn’t. Gary Sanchez’s price tag dropped to the point where the Brewers opportunistically snagged him as well, inking him to a one-year deal worth $3MM in guaranteed money (restructured from his original $7MM guarantee after some concerns arose on his physical). That pushed the out-of-options Haase, who had a mammoth spring showing, off the 40-man roster. The Brewers succeeded in passing him through waivers, and Haase opened the year in Triple-A to serve as a very nice piece of depth behind the dish.
Other bench pickups included journeyman first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers and unheralded infield prospect Oliver Dunn, acquired from the Phillies. Bauers hasn’t hit in the big leagues but showed enough power and plate discipline with the Yankees last year that the Brewers traded some low-level prospects for him. Dunn was a squeezed out of the Phillies’ 40-man picture thanks to a crowded infield mix, but he posted huge Triple-A numbers last year and won a roster spot in Milwaukee with a big showing in camp. He’s been excellent so far in his brief MLB debut. Veteran Christian Arroyo joins that bench depth as a minor league signee who opened the year on the Triple-A injured list.
As those bench pieces filtered in, others familiar faces moved out. Abraham Toro and Taylor were traded. Rowdy Tellez was non-tendered. Santana, Caratini and Jesse Winker reached free agency. Fringe 40-man arms Ethan Small and Clayton Andrews were traded for modest returns. Bullpen fliers Taylor Clarke and Bryan Hudson were added via trades that sent a series of low-profile prospects to Kansas City and Los Angeles, respectively.
Perhaps the biggest area in need of an overhaul was the rotation. With Woodruff injured and non-tendered and Burnes (eventually) traded, things would’ve looked unsettled, to say the least, without some form of reinforcements. Milwaukee didn’t break the bank but brokered affordable one-year deals with a returning Wade Miley, a returning Colin Rea, swingman Jakob Junis (who’s pitching in a starting role) and former Nats righty Joe Ross, who’s returning from several injury-ruined years.
Milwaukee also surprised some by ultimately retaining Woodruff on a two-year, $17.5MM deal that’ll pay him just $2.5MM in 2024 and $5MM in 2025. There’s a $10MM buyout on a $20MM mutual option for the 2026 season that is highly unlikely to be exercised but helps Milwaukee kick some of the payments down the road a bit. That move won’t make a big impact for ’24, unless Woodruff returns for a theoretical playoff push, but it’s a big boost to their 2025 outlook when Woodruff can rejoin Peralta and some combination of Hall, Rea, Aaron Ashby, top prospect Robert Gasser and any other external additions in the rotation mix.
Miley and Rea were both with the Brewers last year. Rea technically never reached free agency before signing a new one-year deal with a club option. He can max out at two years and $10MM on the contract and should at the very least eat up some innings near the back of the rotation. Miley, currently nursing a minor shoulder issue, has had a late-career renaissance in the NL Central. Over the past three seasons he’s pitched with the Cubs, Reds and Brewers — combining for a 3.26 ERA in 320 1/3 innings. After signing, he was open about how his priority had been to return to Milwaukee. Ross has shown solid strikeout capabilities and good command at his best, but he’s been beset by injuries. His Brewers debut was his first MLB appearance since the 2021 season.
While the Rea deal technically counts as an extension, given the timing of the deal, that clearly wasn’t the team’s big extension move of the offseason. That came in the form of a record-setting eight-year, $82MM deal for 20-year-old Jackson Chourio, who entered the season as a consensus top-five prospect in the sport. Chourio spent the 2023 season as one of the youngest players in Double-A, though you wouldn’t have known he was 19 by looking at his numbers. The uber-talented Venezuelan outfielder hit .280/.336/.467 with 22 homers, 44 steals, plus defense and just an 18.4% strikeout rate against much older competition. He cracked the Brewers’ Opening Day roster, and the hope is that he can be a foundational piece for the better part of a decade.
There’s clear risk when signing a player who’s never taken a single big league at-bat to this type of contract. The Brewers invested just $2MM more in a then-19-year-old Chourio than they did in Lorenzo Cain when he was one of the market’s top free agents. Milwaukee already controlled Chourio for six, if not seven seasons (depending on when they’d have chosen to call him up sans extension). They’re buying three or four extra years of control with this deal, which would be worth 10 years and $130MM if both options are exercised (with the potential for more based on MVP voting).
It’s a steep bet for a team that tends to operate with a mid-range payroll, but it’s a necessary one of they were to have any real hope at keeping Chourio beyond his initial window of club control. Extensions for young stars like Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez (12 years, $209MM) and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. (11 years, $288.7MM) show just how expensive a star player can get after even a year or two of MLB service. Milwaukee, already with Christian Yelich’s nine-year, $215MM contract on the books, surely was none too keen on the notion of dishing out a second $200MM+ contract down the road. The Brewers clearly believe Chourio has star potential, and even if he settles in as “only” an average regular, the contract would hardly be an egregious overpay.
The 2024 Brewers scarcely resemble the 2023 unit — particularly with Williams on the shelf for the next several months due to stress fractures in his back — but there’s a nice crop of young talent bubbling up. If they’re not contending when the deadline rolls around, expect veterans like Adames, Williams (if healthy), Junis, Sanchez and others to hit the trade block. But the NL Central also lacks a clear favorite, and there’s enough promising young talent on the Milwaukee roster (e.g. Ortiz, Hall, Chourio, Sal Frelick) and enough established contributors (e.g. Peralta, Adames, Yelich, Hoskins, William Contreras) that this club could very well be right back in the mix even after subtracting a series of high-profile names.
Rangers Select Davis Wendzel
The Rangers announced they’ve selected infielder Davis Wendzel onto the major league roster. Rookie infielder Justin Foscue has been placed on the 10-day injured list as a result of a left oblique strain. To clear space on the 40-man roster, Texas transferred third baseman Josh Jung from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Wendzel, 26, is headed to the big leagues for the first time. Texas took the right-handed hitter 41st overall in the 2019 draft. The Baylor product hasn’t moved through the ranks as quickly as the team likely envisioned on draft day, but he’s now headed to Globe Life Field after parts of five seasons in the minors.
Within his first two-plus seasons in pro ball, Wendzel had reached the Triple-A level. He has played there since 2022. Wendzel struggled in his first look at Triple-A pitching, hitting .207/.287/.398 during the ’22 campaign. He improved in his second season, connecting on 30 homers with a roughly average .236/.361/.477 overall line. Wendzel went unselected in the Rule 5 draft but he’s been off to a blistering start this year. Over his first nine contests, he’s hitting .314/.419/.657 with a trio of homers and four walks and strikeouts apiece in 43 trips to the plate.
That excellent first week surely played a role in Wendzel’s first promotion, but his call is also motivated in part by injuries to players above him on the third base depth chart. Jung broke his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch a few days into the season. He underwent surgery and will miss 8-10 weeks, making his move to the 60-day IL a formality. Jung’s injury spurred Foscue’s first MLB call, but the Mississippi State product lands on the shelf himself after just two plate appearances. The Rangers didn’t provide a timetable for his return. Depending on their severity, oblique strains sometimes lead to absences in excess of a month.
Since Jung went down, the Rangers have relied on Josh Smith as their primary third baseman. That’ll likely continue, with righty-hitting Ezequiel Duran on hand as a complement to Smith’s left-handed bat. Wendzel adds another righty bat to that mix and has the ability to back up the middle infield duo of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.