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Brewers Option Domingo Santana

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The Brewers announced today that they’ve optioned outfielder Domingo Santana to Triple-A Colorado Springs. In a related move, the club has elected to promote Brad Miller, whom the team acquired from the Rays just under two weeks ago.

It’s been quite the fall from grace for the soon-to-be 26-year-old Santana, who last season enjoyed a breakout campaign headlined by 30 homers, 15 stolen bases and a .278/.371/.505 batting line. That hardly seems like a fluke on the surface, considering Santana’s .362 xwOBA ranked just outside the 10th percentile among 546 hitters with at least 50 batted ball events. His hard contact rate (39.7%) and plate discipline (12% walk rate, 26.5% chase rate) also supported the argument that Santana was simply a very good hitter.

Santana’s struggles this season have been well-documented. He appears to have taken a step backwards in nearly every facet of his game. Certainly the power has mysteriously disappeared, evidenced by a mere three homers and .354 slugging percentage. But equally alarming is the fact that his walk rate has dropped off significantly; his 8.5% clip so far would be the lowest of his career by a full two points (not including an 18 PA cup of coffee in 2014). Santana’s batting average has also dropped a full 31 points even despite a marginal increase over last year’s gaudy .363 BABIP. His one stolen base thus far puts him on pace for a dramatic drop-off from the 15 bases he stole in 2017.

One of the biggest differences in Santana’s game this year is his batted ball profile. His line drive rate has plummeted from 27.4% last season to 22.8% so far in 2018. Those lost liners have all turned into ground balls, and as a result Santana’s hit the ball on the ground more than half the time this year. He’s also been chasing quite a few more pitches outside of the strike zone; his chase rate of 30.8% is a large jump from last year’s 26.5% clip.

The move likely means more playing time for Jesus Aguilar, who’s been a revelation for the Brewers this season. Aguilar, who came to Milwaukee last year after being designated for assignment by the Indians, has been one of the top ten best hitters in baseball this season. However, due in part to the return of Eric Thames to the lineup, Aguilar has sat on the bench twice in the past week. The removal of Santana from the active roster should help clear up a bit more playing time for a hitter who has certainly earned it with his 16 homers and .975 OPS.

2018 Amateur Signings: 6/22/18

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Let’s round up Friday’s draft deals of note. As always, the rankings referenced come courtesy of Fangraphs, MLB.com, Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law; Fangraphs and MLB.com scouting reports are available to the public free of charge, while the others require subscriptions.

  • The Pirates have a deal with second-rounder Braxton Ashcraft, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. Aschcraft’s $1,825,000 bonus comes in well over the slot value for the 51st overall selection ($1,382,400). The Baseball America (#58) and MLB.com (#64) analysts were highest on the reputedly athletic hurler, who’s regarded more for his projectability than his present ability on the mound. He’ll forego a commitment to Baylor to join the Bucs, who have inked most of their top picks but are still trying to work things out with sandwich round selection Gunnar Hoglund.
  • Astros second-rounder Jayson Schroeder also lands over slot, Callis tweets. Like Ashcraft, Schroeder is a high-school righty who still needs polish but has shown promising tools. He’ll take home a $1.25MM bonus after being taken 66th overall, a choice that carried a $965,300 allocation. Schroeder had been slated to attend the University of Washington.
  • The Brewers announced their deal with second-round choice Joe Gray, with Callis again tweeting the dollars. Gray lands right at the $1,113,500 allocation for the 60th selection. He’s another toolsy player who’ll forego a collegiate commitment, but in his case he’s an outfielder who has decided against a run at the University of Mississippi. A quality defender with power, Gray is seen as possessing significant upside — if his hitting ability can catch up to his other talents. Notably, the Brewers have yet to ink first-rounder Brice Turang. And amateur scouting director Tod Johnson suggested today that a deal is not inevitable, telling Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link): “Obviously he and his family have to make a decision as to whether he wants to get on the field and start playing professionally, or go down to LSU and go that route.”

Brewers Designate Boone Logan

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The Brewers have designated lefty Boone Logan for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot will go to right-hander Freddy Peralta, who was recalled to take a start this evening.

Logan, who’s closing in on his 34th birthday, simply never got things going after joining the Brewers on a one-year deal over the winter. His $2.5MM guarantee included a buyout for a club option in 2019, which obviously now will not be exercised. The contract also included a hefty $3.2MM incentives package that started to accrue after 25 appearances.

Logan will continue to receive the promised money, but won’t see any of that potential extra cash. He opened the year on the DL and has struggled since being activated. In 10 2/3 innings, he has allowed seven earned runs on 15 hits and 10 walks (three of them intentional).

To be fair, Logan has also run up 14 strikeouts and shown well in terms of average velocity (94.3 mph on his fastball) and swinging-strike rate (14.0%). That said, the walks seemed to be a product of real command troubles. Logan has worked in the zone at a 45.0% career rate, but has done so on just 33.9% of his pitches thus far in 2018.

Rosenthal On Brewers' Deadline Possibilities

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Rival executives expect the Brewers to be aggressive in targeting starting pitching help this summer, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (video link). The Brewers’ rotation has been a middle-of-the-pack group to this point, as it entered Saturday 13th in the majors in ERA (3.92) and 19th in fWAR (3.8). Of course, the unit has been without its top starter from 2017, Jimmy Nelson, who’s working back from the right shoulder surgery he underwent last September and should return sometime this season. He and another starter acquired from elsewhere could help the Brewers hold on to a playoff spot, which they were unable to do a year ago during an 86-win campaign. Rosenthal also points to catcher and shortstop as positions the Brewers could upgrade, though he notes they’re “unlikely” to be in play for Manny Machado at the latter spot.

Yankees Acquire Wendell Rijo To Complete Erik Kratz Trade

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The Yankees have acquired second baseman Wendell Rijo, who is officially the player to be named later in May’s Erik Kratz trade with the Brewers; the club’s PR department has announced the acquisition.

Nothing about the 22-year-old Rijo immediately jumps off the page. Originally an international signee of the Red Sox out of the Dominican Republic, Rijo’s played all of 374 games at the Double-A level and hasn’t been particularly impressive with the bat overall. This season, Rijo sports a .200/.304/.375 slash line with four homers across 93 plate appearances.

Notably, though, his walk rate has made a significant jump in 2018. In a limited sample, he’s walked 12.9% of the time, which is up from just 7.7% at Double-A last season. Even more intriguing is the fact that Rijo’s suffered from some severe bad luck thus far; his .214 BABIP indicates that he likely deserves a higher batting average than the mere .200 he owns at present. Rijo was also active on the basepaths in his first three pro seasons, swiping at least 15 bags during each minor league season from 2013-2015. Though he hasn’t done nearly as much of that in recent seasons, one has to imagine he’s still got the potential to kick it up a notch on the bases.

Regardless, the Yankees will be happy to get anything in exchange for the veteran Kratz, whom they re-signed to a minor-league deal during the offseason following using him mostly in a defensive replacement capacity and during just four MLB games in September of 2017. He’s been surprisingly effective for the Brewers this season: the backstop has three homers and a .511 wOBA across his 29 plate appearances in 2018.

Amateur Draft Signings: 6/15/18

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Here are the day’s deals of note from the top few rounds of the draft (rankings referenced are courtesy of Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs and ESPN’s Keith Law — with the scouting reports from MLB and Fangraphs both coming free to the general public) …

  • The Giants agreed to a $1.5MM bonus with second-round choice Sean Hjelle, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). A towering righty from the University of Kentucky, Hjelle was taken with the 45th overall choice, which came with a $1,587,600 pick allocation. He ranked as high as thirtieth on pre-draft lists, earning that placement on the Baseball America board. Evaluators seem to think the polished collegiate hurler is likely to be a steady, back-of-the-rotation arm, though he isn’t generally seen as possessing immense upside.
  • Mets second-rounder Simeon Woods-Richardson will receive a $1.85MM bonus to forego his commitment to the University of Texas, Callis tweets. That lands above the $1,485,100 slot value at the 48th overall pick. While the right-handed hurler has shown quite a lot of promise at times, there are concerns that he has not consistently maintained that high level throughout his starts. Grades were all over the map, with BA highest at #76. Clearly, the Mets believe they can tap into the tools.
  • The Brewers will save some money against the slot value on Micah Bello, their competitive balance round B pick, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports on Twitter. He’ll receive a $550K bonus, leaving the club with some excess pool space from the 73rd overall pick ($824,900 slot). A Hawaiian high-school outfielder, Bello did not draw top-100 billing but placed 121st on BA’s board. He’s credited as a quality overall hitter who may yet have a bit of upside, with some speed and perhaps some untapped power potential, though it’s not clear whether he’ll remain an up-the-middle defender as a professional.

Yankees Acquire International Pool Space From Brewers

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The Yankees announced today that they have acquired international bonus pool availability from the Brewers. The swap will send minor-league righty Chad Whitmer to Milwaukee for an undisclosed amount of spending capacity.

It is not immediately clear whether the funds are from the current signing period, which ends today, or for the new one set to open on July 2nd. Baseball America’s Ben Badler has provided ample detail on the Yanks’ most recent international class and previewed the organization’s upcoming dealmaking.

Whitmer, 23, was a tenth-round pick last year who has yet to take the mound in the current season. He turned in 19 innings of 3.79 ERA pitching at the Rookie ball level (Gulf Coast League) in his debut campaign, allowing 24 hits but also recording an impressive 22:2 K/BB ratio.

Brewers Activate Eric Thames

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The Brewers announced that they’ve activated first baseman/outfielder Eric Thames from the 10-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Brandon Woodruff to Triple-A Colorado Springs to clear a spot on the roster.

Thames has been out since late April due to a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb and will be returning on the short end of the initial six- to eight-week timeline provided for his recovery. The 31-year-old hardly showed signs of rust in Triple-A on his rehab assignment, though, going 6-for-14 with a homer, a walk and no strikeouts in a total of 15 plate appearances over four games leading up to his activation.

Prior to his injury, Thames had gotten off to a nice start, hitting .250/.351/.625 with seven homers in 74 plate appearances before suffering the injury. That marked a nice continuation of Thames’ production in his return to the Majors in 2017, when he hit .247/.351/.518 with 31 homers after parlaying a dominant three-year run in South Korea into a three-year contract with Milwaukee.

The impending return of Thames may very well have contributed to yesterday’s decision to trade Ji-Man Choi to the Rays in exchange for Brad Miller. With Thames, Ryan Braun and Jesus Aguilar all on the roster, the Brewers had little means of getting Choi into the MLB lineup. However, Miller brings some left-handed pop in his own right and provides additional defensive versatility, making him a better fit for the Brewers at the MLB level.

Rays Trade Brad Miller To Brewers For Ji-Man Choi

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June 11: Tampa Bay is covering $2.209MM of the remaining $2.709MM remaining on Miller’s contract through season’s end, according to the Associated Press. Choi’s split contract calls for an $850K salary in the Majors and a $250K salary in the minors, and he’d be owed about $513K through season’s end if he were to spend the rest of the year in the Majors. That doesn’t seem likely to be the case, so the Rays will save a bit of money while paying Choi at his minor league rate of pay, though the overall cost-savings in the deal look to be more or less negligible, even for a cost-conscious club like Tampa Bay.

June 10: The Rays have dealt infielder Brad Miller to the Brewers for first baseman Ji-Man Choi, as announced by both teams on Twitter.  Tampa will also send some cash to Milwaukee as part of the deal.  Miller and Choi have each been optioned to Triple-A with their respective new organizations.

Miller was designated for assignment earlier this week, though he had hit respectably well (.256/.322/.429 with five homers) over 174 plate appearances for the Rays this season.  Beyond those decent batting numbers, however, Miller brought little else to the table — he has continued his career-long struggles against left-handed pitching, and has posted below-average defensive numbers wherever he has played around the diamond.  Miller is also coming off a rough 2017 campaign, so it could be that the Rays sought to sell as high as they could on him while he was still productive, in order to get at least some of his $2.79MM in remaining salary off the books.

[Updated Brewers and Rays depth charts at Roster Resource]

Though Miller doesn’t bring much defensive value as a shortstop or second baseman, he can at least offer the Brew Crew some extra pop at both middle infield positions.  Jonathan Villar hasn’t done much against righty pitching over the last couple of years, while defensively-gifted shortstop Orlando Arcia is suffering through a dreadful year at the plate.  Miller and Arcia could form a platoon, with Arcia stepping in as a late-game defensive replacement on days when Miller starts, plus the Brewers also have veteran Eric Sogard in the bench mix.

Middle infield was a weak spot for a Brewers team that is fighting for a postseason berth, and the low-cost addition of Miller could mean that the club won’t seek out more substantial second base or shortstop help at the trade deadline.  Miller also adds a bit more depth to the roster at first base and in the corner outfield positions, though Milwaukee is already pretty set at those spots.

Choi signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last offseason that guaranteed him $850K if he reached the majors, so he’ll only add another $510K or so to Tampa’s payroll.  The 27-year-old hit .233/.281/.500 over 32 plate appearances for the Crew, getting some time at first base with Eric Thames and Ryan Braun hit the disabled list.  (Just yesterday, in fact, Choi hit a pinch-hit grand slam in Milwaukee’s 12-3 rout of the Phillies.)  The 27-year-old will essentially replace Miller as a left-handed hitting option in the Rays organization, though the team is currently giving top prospect Jake Bauers (another lefty bat) a chance to stick in the big leagues as a regular first baseman.

Eric Thames Could Return Monday

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  • The Brewers expect first baseman Eric Thames back at the beginning of the upcoming week, Joe Bloss of MLB.com relays. Thames landed on the DL on April 27 with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, derailing a start in which he slashed .250/.351/.625 with seven home runs in 74 plate appearances. Fellow first baseman Jesus Aguilar has been outstanding in Thames’ absence, however, with a .296/.369/.556 line and 11 homers in 187 PAs this year.

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