Brewers pass on high-priced bullpen help
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns has keen interest in adding bullpen depth this off-season.
Just not at these prices.
The free-agent relief market continued to be aggressive at the winter meetings Wednesday. The going rate was $7 million to 9 million per season, with every deal going two or three years.
One such deal went to Anthony Swarzak, the midseason addition who pitched so well for the Brewers (2.48 ERA in 29 games, 39 strikeouts in 29 innings). Swarzak, who had his best season while turning 32 in September, signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets for $14 million.
Stearns confirmed he made a twoyear offer to Swarzak but didn’t want to guarantee that much money.
“Anthony did a tremendous job for us this year and we wanted to bring him back,” Stearns said. “He found a better situation elsewhere. He had a really good year and because of that, the market rewarded him handsomely.”
Asked if Swarzak was tough to evaluate because he pitched so much better at this latter stage of his career, Stearns said, “I think relievers in general are tricky to evaluate. The fluctuation of performance from year to year is pretty great, even for really talented relief pitchers.
“That challenge is probably accentuated a little bit with someone like Anthony who had a career that didn’t necessarily predict what he did last year. At the same time, you can’t take away what he did last year.”
Some teams have shown no reluctance to pay the going rate. The Rockies, for example, gave lefty Jake McGee and right-hander Bryan Shaw similar deals that will pay them about $27 million over three years. But Stearns was not ready to jump into the deep end of the relief pool at this stage.
“That happens a lot this early, at the winter meetings,” he said. “Things can go very fast and you can get into a little bit of a bidding war. We try to avoid that.”
It’s no secret that baseball has become a bullpen game. Managers pull starters earlier than ever to keep opponents from getting to them in the middle to later innings, making a reliable bullpen more important than ever. Thus, the soaring prices to acquire established relievers.
“There are benefits to that and risks associated with that,” Stearns said. “Each team is weighing those risks and benefits and making the best decisions they can.
“We know relief pitching is important. Getting outs is important. We talk about that all the time. You can pile together 27 outs in a variety of ways. We proved that last year.”
Asked if the reluctance to pay current prices will leave the Brewers to pick through nothing but scraps, Stearns said, “I’m confident that over the course of the offseason we’re going to be able to meet our objectives. There are still a lot of really talented players out there – relievers, starters, position players – both (through) trades and free agency.”
The Brewers turned loose two of their most heavily used relievers – Jared Hughes (67 games) and Carlos Torres (67) -- after the season. The 35-year-old Torres lost effectiveness (4.21 ERA) with the heavy workload but Hughes performed well (3.02 ERA) before being non-tendered.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if Jared gets a very nice contract,” Stearns said. “But we felt like we could devote resources elsewhere and fill our pen needs elsewhere.”
Corey Knebel had a breakthrough season as the new closer (1.76 ERA in 76 games, 39 saves, 126 strikeouts in 76 innings), but Jacob Barnes wore down under heavy usage (4.00 ERA in 73 games) and Oliver Drake (4.44 in 61 games) also showed slippage. Jeremy Jeffress performed well (3.65 ERA in 22 games) after being reacquired at midseason but signed a non-guaranteed $1.7 million deal with two club options to avoid being non-tendered.
“We’ve got internal options and there are external options as well,” Stearns said. “Between those different avenues of player acquisition, I think we’re going to be able to put together a pen that does a nice job for us.”
So, why aren’t the Brewers willing to spend money at this point, some fans wonder? They operated with the lowest payroll in the majors (less than $60 million) in 2017 and should have plenty of financial flexibility with the game’s revenues skyrocketing.
“We have the support to spend when we think it’s prudent,” Stearns said. “Not only prudent for now but for the future as well. We understand the constraints we have and we need to manage accordingly.”