Brewers claim Lyles from the Padres
With three major acquisitions already having joined the team via trade in the past 10 days or so, the Milwaukee Brewers turned to the waiver wire on Sunday to make yet another addition to their roster.
The team announced prior to its game with the Colorado Rockies that it had claimed right-hander Jordan Lyles off waivers from the San Diego Padres.
Lyles, 27, is 2-4 with a 4.29 earned run average and WHIP of 1.26 in 24 appearances for the Padres this season. He’s also struck out 62 in 71⁄3 1 innings.
Eight of his 24 outings have come as a starter, and he’s 2-4 with a 4.79 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 47 innings in that role. As a reliever his numbers are better, with a 3.33 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 24 1 ⁄3 innings.
“He’s a guy I’m actually familiar with from my time in Houston when he was there,” said general manager David
Stearns, who was in his first year as assistant GM with the Astros in 2013, which was Lyles’s final year with the organization.
“He’s always had a really good arm, he’s proven he has some versatility being able to throw out of the ’pen, and he’s made some starts this year and he’s made a number of starts throughout his career.
“We think he adds to our overall level of depth in our pitching staff right now. He’ll come here and he’ll pitch out of our ’pen to begin with, and we think we’re adding another quality arm.”
In 206 career appearances over eight major-league seasons with Houston, Colorado and San Diego, Lyles is 30-52 with a 5.32 ERA and a WHIP of 1.46.
He’s made 115 starts, with 97 of those coming in his first five years.
“If you look at his performance this year, he had one really bad start where he gave up eight runs. Otherwise, he’s been pretty effective,” Stearns said. “We like what he’s done out of the bullpen. The velocity’s ticked up out of the bullpen. He’s changed the usage of his secondary stuff a little bit that we think has had some positive results.”
The Brewers had two open spots on their 40-man roster, so adding Lyles to the organization wasn’t an issue. Stearns said he expected to activate him on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Lyles is playing on a one-year, $750,000 deal that includes a 2019 team option for $3.5 million with a $250,000 buyout. The Padres also lost right-hander
Tyson Ross on waivers to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday as they continue to dump salary and rebuild.
“In both those situations, it’s an opportunity for us to look at our younger guys now,” Padres manager Andy Green told reporters in Chicago, where San Diego split a four-game series against the Cubs before heading to Milwaukee to open a three-game series Tuesday against the Brewers.
“It’s where we’re headed towards. It’s going to give another guy an opportunity to be in the rotation. When you’ve invested into guys, you believe in guys, it’s tough watching them walking out that door and go to other places. But both of them are going to good opportunities.
“In Jordan’s case, he made some real fundamental changes this year with our pitching coaches and pitched himself into a situation where he’s wanted at this time of year.”
That the Padres let Lyles go without trying to work some sort of deal with the Brewers didn’t necessarily surprise Stearns.
“You never know,” said Stearns. “On August trade waivers, whenever you make a claim on the player you have to do so assuming that you’re going to get the player. In this case it didn’t shock me that we were awarded the claim.”
Major-league moment: A routine trip for Mike Moustakas to a local Target to pick up some diapers and household items on Saturday turned out to be quite a big deal for a local youngster.
Moustakas was making his way through the store when he was noticed by a young fan wearing both a Brewers hat and shirt.
He and his sister asked for an autograph but when they couldn’t produce a pen, Moustakas simply grabbed a Sharpie off a nearby display, opened it up and signed. Moustakas then bought the pen along with the rest of his items.
The moment was caught on camera by another shopper who tweeted out a picture, and it quickly went viral.
When asked about it Sunday, Moustakas didn’t want to make a big deal of the moment.
“He had his hat on and a shirt and was really excited to see me,” he said. “It’s really cool. To be here a week and to have him want my autograph is pretty awesome.”
Manager Craig Counsell was amused by the story.
“I’ll be sure to get him a gift card on his birthday,” he said of Moustakas. “Apparently Mike likes to walk around Target so for fans who want to see Mike Moustakas, you can find him at your local Target.”
Moustakas hit his first Brewers home run to spark a three-run, game-tying rally in the ninth inning Sunday and also made another terrific defensive play, continuing his strong play at third base.