The Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed veteran shortstop Alex Gonzalez to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, according to Ken Rosenthal.
Gonzalez saw his season cut short for the Brewers last year after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament while sliding into second base in a game against the Giants in early May. He’s expected to backup Jean Segura, who was acquired from the Angels in the Zack Greinke deal.
For a professional baseball team, jacking up your payroll is a good way to get a bunch of positive attention. Similarly, dramatically chopping your payroll makes your a laughing stock AND attracts negative attention from litigiously-minded union types.
Slowly allowing your payroll to erode by 20% happens easily and quietly. Trade your best pitcher at the deadline for kids, let expensive relievers walk as free agents, buyout a veteran here and an injured player there, suddenly a team with a $100MM payroll has an $80MM payroll.
The Brewers are a smart team. They pushed their way into the playoffs twice in four years, astutely moving young pieces for players who helped get them to the post-season each time. For the time being, the Brewers will re-tool. Not rebuild, but the days of going “all-in” are over – for now.
The Milwaukee Brewers will likely be without 1B Corey Hart for the first six weeks of the 2013 season. Hart will undergo surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus, which should put him on the shelf for the next 3-4 months.
Hart took over first base duties in 2012 after Prince Fielder departed for Detroit and $214 million and Mat Gamel went down with a torn ACL in May. The 30-year old former outfielder hit .270/.334/.507 with 30 home runs in 633 plate appearances last season. A recuperated Gamel is his logical replacement at first for the start of the season.
Hart is entering the final year of a three-year deal and will earn $10 million in 2013. He holds a .276/.334/.491 batting line for his career and a .354 wOBA.
The Cubs are quickly becoming the darlings of the cognoscenti off-season. Cute pickups and high-value signings hold sway over the “deep cuts only” section of baseball fandom. Carlos Villaneuva is the latest value arm to join the Cubbies fold.
The Brewers are determined to get cheaper without getting worse, as evidenced by some snide comments coming from their brass. Milwaukee only has one major league signing under their belt thus far this off-season: inking Reed Johnson to a one-year deal with an option attached. hasn’t even signed a single big league free agent, a Reed Johnson signed with Braves, despite what the MLBTR transaction tracker tells you.
Johnson is a useful fourth outfielder, hardly a sexy pick up. Well if unsexy pickups are your thing, are you ever going to love Tom Gorzelanny, the newest Brewer after he agreed to a two-year deal with Milwaukee, pending a physical.
Doug Melvin is something of a badass. As the Brewers general manager, he runs his team well. They have Ryan Braun and Corey Hart and made the playoffs twice in recent years. It is a small market but they don’t seem to use it as a crutch, to the entire organization’s eternal credit. He also looks the part of a badass, a crucial aspect of badassery.
That said, taking tepid shots at the magnificent Cardinals and the way they do business is probably unwise, even if it was in jest.
It is probably in the best interests of Ryan Braun that he maintain a low profile this season. After all the fireworks resulting from his leaked positive drug test/botched test result snafu, that Ryan Braun just came out and played baseball was a good choice.
Any extra “DRUGS made him good!” scrutiny quickly went away as Ryan Braun promptly starting posting Ryan Braun numbers. Somehow the defending NL MVP doesn’t get the same amount media attention devoted to the Giancarlo Stanton’s or Mike Trout’s of the world yet here Braun sits: the best offensive player in baseball.
Every Thursday, the Getting Blanked crew makes a prop bet of sorts with one another having something to do with baseball games over the weekend. Of the three competitors, whoever wins the prop bet is able to dole out a punishment on the colleague of their choice. This week’s punishment was watching and recapping Tuesday night’s Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers game. We call this #PropHate.
The Narrative
I like to call Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Marco Estrada by the nickname Polo Erik. Think about it for a minute. Marco “Polo Erik” Estrada.
Last night, after previously leaving the game with the lead on four separate occasions this season, Polo Erik earned his first win of the season. But for as well as Polo Erik pitched, and he pitched well (6 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 9 strike outs, 0 runs), last night’s game will likely more easily be remembered (if it’s remembered at all) for Chicago Cubs reliever Alberto Cabrera losing it.
Dustin Parkes, Andrew Stoeten, Scott Lewis, Craig Robinson, Matt Klaassen, Eno Sarris, Riley Breckenridge
