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Chris Narveson

Quick Hits: Closers, Twins, Narveson, Kinsler, Lopez

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The Red Sox' recent experience shows the need for teams to be flexible at the closer position, writes ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. The Sox traded four players last offseason to get Joel Hanrahan (and infielder Brock Holt), but Hanrahan quickly went down with an elbow injury. They then replaced him with Andrew Bailey, and then Koji Uehara, who pitched brilliantly. The Red Sox weren't the only playoff team that changed closers for one reason or another, Crasnick notes — so did the Cardinals, Pirates, Tigers, Dodgers and Indians. That's worth keeping in mind this offseason, where the market for closers includes Joe Nathan, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit, Brian Wilson, Fernando Rodney and Edward Mujica. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Twins are interested in starting pitchers Gavin Floyd and Chris Capuano, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Floyd's agent, Mike Moye, says his client is progressing well in his return from Tommy John surgery, and Berardino suggests Floyd will be ready to go by the time spring training games begin. The Twins' top target is still Bronson Arroyo, Berardino notes.
  • One under-the-radar starting pitcher on the free agent market is Chris Narveson, who pitched this winter for Licey, in the Dominican. A number of scouts have their eyes on Narveson, Crasnick tweets. Narveson missed much of the 2012 and 2013 seasons due to injury, but was a reliable member of the Brewers' rotation in 2010 and 2011.
  • Ian Kinsler could block trades to all but ten teams, but he didn't put the Tigers on the list because he liked their chances of winning a championship, John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press reports. That's what allowed the Rangers to deal Kinsler to Detroit. "I’m really excited," he says. "Our chance to win the World Series is better than anyone's."
  • Reliever Javier Lopez, who recently signed for three years and $13MM, figures he might have been able to get similar money elsewhere, but he chose to stay with the Giants because he's happy in San Francisco, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. "In my case, I felt I wanted to be in a comfortable setting first and in a place that I feel has a chance to win. That’s why I chose San Francisco," he says. "I knew the offers would be around the same dollars, so it was just a matter of happiness." 

Minor Moves: Green, Kroenke, Narveson, Lalli

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Here are the day's minor moves …

  • The Brewers have re-signed corner infielder Taylor Green to a minor league deal after he was recently outrighted, agent Joshua Kusnick announced via Twitter (hat tip to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Andrew Gruman of FOXSportsWisconsin.com). The contract includes several opt outs and an invitation to big league spring training. Though the 27-year-old missed most of 2013 due to injury, he has a nice .311/.386/.513 line in parts of two seasons at the highest minor league level. His major league career line is less impressive — .207/.266/.343 — but it has come in just 154 plate appearances over two seasons. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy has the details. 
  • The club is also close to reaching a deal to bring back lefty Zach Kroenke, who is also represented by Kusnick, McCalvy reports in the same link. Kroenke has spent much of his time in Triple-A since 2009, splitting time between relieving and starting. Last year, he put up a 4.51 ERA in 129 2/3 innings. His deal does not include an invitation to MLB spring training.
  • Meanwhile, both lefty Chris Narveson and catcher/first baseman Blake Lalli have elected to become minor league free agents, notes McCalvy via Twitter. The news was originally tweeted by the Brewers Player Development account. Narveson, who spent 2010 and 2011 in the Milwaukee rotation but has not seen substantial MLB time since, was outrighted back in June. He posted a 5.14 ERA in 15 Triple-A starts this past season. Lalli, who was designated and then outrighted in September, has never been given a real chance in the bigs, but did put up a .282/.334/.447 line in 311 Triple-A plate appearances last year.
  • The White Sox recently dealt for first baseman Jackson Laumann, sending the Braves cash considerations in return, reports Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. Laumann, a 20-year-old righty, has done little to impress in rookie ball but will get a new shot with an organization whose amateur scouting department is headed by his father, Doug Laumann.
  • Alex Castellanos of the Dodgers remains the only player in DFA limbo at present, as reflected in MLBTR's DFA Tracker.

Minor Moves: Chris Narveson

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We'll keep track of today's minor moves here.

  • The Brewers have activated pitcher Chris Narveson from the disabled list, and have outrighted him to Triple-A Nashville, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy tweets. Narveson had been on the DL with a finger injury in 2013 after missing most of the 2012 season with a rotator cuff injury. He struggled in five rehab starts at Nashville, posting a 7.00 ERA in 18 innings.

Brewers Notes: Lohse, Rotation, Mat Gamel

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Today, the Brewers are hosting Brewers On Deck, their annual winter fan festival. Here's the news being made at the event:

  • Owner Mark Attanasio says there's always a chance the Brewers could enter the bidding for free agent starter Kyle Lohse, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. "It’s a function of size of contract, length of contract." Attanasio said. "Kyle had a phenomenal two seasons the last two seasons. We just have to see if that fits in our overall scheme." Attanasio refused to specifically say if the team has spoken with Scott Boras, Lohse's agent.
  • Manager Ron Roenicke indicated Yovani Gallardo and Marco Estrada are locks for the starting rotation leaving Mike Fiers, Wily Peralta, Mark Rogers, and Chris Narveson vying for the other three spots, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Roenicke questioned whether Narveson, who underwent rotator cuff surgery last May on his throwing shoulder, will be ready for camp; but, assistant GM Gord Ash said everything is great with the left-hander and he is not behind schedule, reports Haudricourt. 
  • Roenicke touted the team’s rotation depth, arguing the five starters at the beginning of the season don’t have to be the same five at the end, writes McCalvy. Roenicke referred to options like recently signed free agent reliever Tom Gorzelanny, who has experience as a starter, and prospects Tyler Thornburg and Hiram Burgos.
  • Earlier today, we learned the Brewers are seeking first basemen in light of Corey Hart's knee surgery on Friday, which will force him to miss the first two months of the season. Mat Gamel, Hart's replacement, himself underwent knee surgery last May. Assistant GM Gord Ash said Gamel was examined today and "he is ready to go," Haudricourt tweeted. 
  • Melvin did say he is talking to a couple of free agent infielders, reports McCalvy on Twitter. Haudricourt opines it sounds like shortstop Alex Gonzalez is still in play (Twitter link). Gonzalez played 24 games for the Brewers in 2012 before his season was cut short by knee surgery.
  • The Brewers will lose the only catchers on their 40-man roster, Jonathan Lucroy and Martin Maldonado, to the World Baseball Classic. Haudricourt stumped Roenicke when he asked the manager about the catching depth chart. "Don't ask me that question because I don't know," said Roenicke. "I want a guy that's going to be with us to be working with these (pitchers), to get them locked in. We're not going to have our two guys there talking to them all the time. So it's going to be difficult. There isn't (an obvious No. 3 catcher)." The Brewers will have five non-roster catchers in camp who have a combined six games of big league experience.

Brewers, Chris Narveson Avoid Arbitration

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5:53pm: Narveson will earn $840K in 2013, reports Jim Goulart of Brewerfan.net (Twitter link).

2:46pm: The Brewers announced that they avoided arbitration with left-hander Chris Narveson. The SFX client obtains a one-year deal for the 2013 season.

John Axford, Burke Badenhop, Marco Estrada and Carlos Gomez are the Brewers' remaining arbitration eligible players, as MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows. Though Narveson's 2013 salary isn't known, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a salary of $800K.

Platform Years For First-Time Eligible Starters

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Clayton Kershaw's salary jumped from $500K to $7.5MM this year, and it wasn't just because of his Cy Young performance. Kershaw qualified for arbitration for the first time in his career over the winter, so he obtained the right to establish his salary by comparing his production to that of his peers.

James McDonald (Pirates) - PW

Though $7MM raises are reserved for elite performers like Kershaw, many first-time eligible starting pitchers will see their salaries rise from $500K or so to $2-4.5MM this coming offseason. A player’s case depends in large part on his career numbers, but his most recent season, or platform year, matters a great deal. 

Advanced statistics like xFIP, wins above replacement and swinging strike rate don't generally figure in to arbitration cases. Instead, traditional stats such as innings, starts, wins and ERA determine players' salaries.

With one third of the season now complete, let’s check in on the prominent starting pitchers on track to be first-time arbitration eligible this coming offseason:

Read more

Chris Narveson To Undergo Season-Ending Operation

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Brewers left-hander Chris Narveson told reporters, including MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, that he needs season-ending surgery on his pitching shoulder. The operation will repair a partially torn rotator cuff and require between six and nine months of rehab.

The Brewers moved right-hander Marco Estrada to Narveson's spot in the rotation, so they have enough starting pitching for now. Estrada struck out nine over five innings while allowing one run in his first start of the season on Saturday. Wily Peralta, who was recently optioned back to the minor leagues, provides GM Doug Melvin with another internal candidate for the rotation.

Narveson, 30, made 28 starts for the Brewers in each of the past two seasons. He has a 4.67 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 394 2/3 innings as a big leaguer and will be arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason.

Examining Milwaukee’s Rotation

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When the Brewers effectively replaced starters Manny Parra and Braden Looper with Randy Wolf and Doug Davis this offseason, the rotation seemed better-positioned to carry the team than it was last year, when Brewers pitching was largely disappointing. 

Their starters posted a 5.37 ERA a year ago and their pitching staff as a whole allowed more runs than every NL club except the Nationals. GM Doug Melvin discussed trading for Kevin Correia, Jarrod Washburn, Doug Davis, Brian Bannister and others when the team was in contention last summer. The Brewers even claimed Davis, but they never made a major move. 

This year the Brewers are among the worst teams in the National League in runs allowed (14th) and home runs allowed (15th). Their bullpen has been disappointing, but the starters have done better than last year, combining for a 4.70 ERA. 

Yovani Gallardo has been fantastic so far, with a 3.07 ERA and 11.0 K/9. Wolf's ERA is below 4.00, but he's walking significantly more batters than he did with the Dodgers last year. Like Wolf, Dave Bush has an ERA around 4.00, but is walking far more batters than usual. Meanwhile, hitters are batting .415 on balls they put in play off of Davis. That figure should drop and drag Davis' 7.56 ERA down along with it. Rounding out the rotation, Chris Narveson pitched well against the D'Backs on Sunday, but he is no sure thing.

The Brewers have some options within the organization should their current starters falter. Carlos Villanueva has experience starting and this year he's throwing harder than ever. Villanueva, the team's pitcher of the month in April, is striking out more than a batter per inning. John Axford, ranked 23rd among Brewers prospects by Baseball America before the season, is pitching well in Triple A and could be called upon to replace Villanueva in the 'pen.

The Brewers have a solid but unremarkable rotation at this point, though they're surely hoping to see Wolf and Bush limit their free passes. We can expect Davis to improve and Villanueva could contribute, so the Brewers don't appear as desperate to acquire arms as they were a year ago. It may all be a moot point. If Milwaukee can't turn things around, they may become sellers and Jeff Suppan, Davis and Bush could be trade bait for other clubs.

What’s Next For Jeff Suppan?

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11:35am: MLB.com's Adam McCalvy tweets that Suppan is throwing a simulated game today, as he's been dealing with a stiff neck.

8:13am: The Brewers have three pitchers up for their fifth starter job: Jeff Suppan, Manny Parra, and Chris Narveson.  Though all three are in line to throw today, manager Ken Macha was evasive when asked about Suppan's schedule (Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporting).  Macha also supplied a vague answer when asked if a roster move should be expected today.

A month ago, Suppan made our list of five overpaid veterans who could be released.  The Brewers would have to assume his remaining $14.5MM, which doesn't strike Haudricourt as likely.  The Brewers may choose to keep Suppan, Parra, and Narveson, but since Parra and Narveson are out of options, Carlos Villanueva would have to be demoted.

A trade could clear the logjam, though Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports wrote Saturday that the Brewers have not discussed Parra with other clubs.

Brewers DFA Chris Narveson, Call On Parra

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The Brewers designated reliever Chris Narveson for assignment to make room for Manny Parra, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Narveson, a 27-year-old lefty, pitched 10.2 innings this year, striking out nine, allowing five walks and fifteen hits for an unsightly ERA of 8.44.

Parra could ease some of the Brewers' concerns about their rotation if he pitches like he did during a month-long demotion to Triple A Nashville. After 13 disappointing starts in the majors, Parra pitched to an ERA of 2.92 in the minors, allowing 13 walks and 16 hits in 24.2 innings with 19 strikeouts.

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