Choi sent down, Jennings added
SAN DIEGO – Here today, gone tomorrow.
That’s the way it went for Ji-Man Choi, who helped the Milwaukee Brewers beat San Diego on opening day with a pinch-hit double in the 12th inning and was optioned to Class AAA Colorado Springs on Friday to make room on the roster for new reliever Dan Jennings.
Choi had been told it might be a oneday stay, and news of the Jennings signing broke before the opener Thursday, but general manager David Stearns said it was tough news to deliver nevertheless.
“He had an inkling that it might be coming, but he was probably hoping it was a little farther away,” said Stearns, who broke the news to Choi when he arrived at Petco Park. “He was disappointed, but I would be disappointed too.
“I would expect our players to be disappointed when they are being sent down to the minor leagues. But he’s a professional. He’s going to go hit down there and he’ll be back.
“Look, he knows he’s a major leaguecaliber player. We’ve made that clear to him on a variety of fronts, and he’s going to be back here.”
The Brewers entered the season with
only six true relievers, knowing they expected to sign Jennings. The 30-yearold lefty was released near the end of camp by Tampa Bay in what was primarily a financial decision (he had a $2.375 million salary).
Jennings flew 3,000 miles from Florida, arrived Thursday night and passed his physical exam Friday morning. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Brewers moved right-hander Jimmy Nelson (shoulder surgery) to the 60-day disabled list.
Asked if he saw the move coming, Jennings said, “(Reporters) started to write about it toward the end. They’re doing some interesting things there, with the four-man rotation. I’ve always taken pride in my career in throwing in any situation. That hasn’t changed. I’m just looking forward to being here now.
“That’s something I take pride in, taking the ball every day. I think I was third in the league in appearances last year (77 between the White Sox and Rays), and I wanted to be first. I love taking the ball; I love pitching. I made sure (manager Craig) Counsell knew that. You don’t have to ask me if I’m ready, if I’m available that day. I’m always going to be available.”
Jennings said he had a few teams interested but the Brewers were an even choice for a couple of reasons, including geography. He lives with his wife and two young children in West Des Moines, Iowa.
“I couldn’t be happier to be closer to home,” he said. “I’m always happy having a job. I get to play a game for a living. As far as being that close to home, being in the Midwest, it couldn’t work out any better for my family. I’m from there and we just recently moved back.
“We had a few teams call. This one made absolute sense. There are certain teams that are really going for it and certain teams that don’t seem to be. That’s not my place to talk about. But it’s affecting the way players are choosing teams.”
Jennings’ splits vs. lefties and righties is basically even for his career but that changed dramatically in recent seasons and the Brewers consider him primarily a lefty specialist. Over the past two seasons, left-handed hitters batted only .215 against him, far worse than previous years.
Jennings attributed the improvement against lefties to the development of a sinker, with the help of others.
“I never had a sinker before,” he said. “In 2015, it was the first time in my life I threw a sinker. I think now I’m like 90% sinkers. If that’s not an adjustment, I don’t know what is.
“I play catch with Steve Cishek in the off-season every year, and he’s notorious for being a side-arm sinker guy. That’s where it started. Then I played (in Miami) with Brad Penny, who taught me my refined sinker. I went out and got three ground balls that didn’t make it three feet in front of the plate, and that was enough to sell me. It’s been that way ever since.”
This marks the third consecutive year under Stearns the Brewers have added a reliever from the outside at the outset of the season. In 2016, it was Carlos Torres. Last year, Jared Hughes was signed.
“We think he complements our roster well,” Stearns said. “He’s obviously a guy who’s had success in the big leagues. He can take the ball every single day, and that’s something we talked about that’s important to us. He prides himself on doing that.
“And then having that extra option from the left side is helpful to us right now. He is a guy who had proven he can get both righties and lefties out; we are primarily going to use him against lefties, but certainly we’re going to ask him to do a little bit more. He is going to be able to help us.”
The Brewers lost veteran left-handed reliever Boone Logan near the end of camp with a triceps strain, but Stearns said he would have explored adding bullpen help in any event.
“This time of year, there are a lot of players out there, so we would have been looking,” he said. “With Boone’s injury, it probably focused our attention on some guys on the left side. But regardless, to be able to being in an arm like Dan at this stage to complement the rest of our group probably made sense for us regardless.”
Franklin to catch: Utility player Nick Franklin, who re-signed with the Brewers after playing in 53 games for them last year, has been sent to Class AA Biloxi to embark on a new endeavor: catching. Franklin did some catching in minor-league games this spring and wants to see if he can increase his versatility by showing he can play that position.
“It’s something, when he was with us last year, was playing with in bullpens and between innings of games, when he was on the bench,” Counsell said. “We all thought he was really good at it
“We’re going to transition him in to it, maybe two games a week the first week and three games a week the second week, and see how it goes from there. It’s something we think Nick has a chance to be good at. It wouldn’t prevent us from calling him up if we had an infield need.”