Bradley to debut with Brewers on Saturday
PHOENIX – With spring training already past the midpoint, Craig Counsell won’t wait too long to get Jackie Bradley Jr. into his first game in a Milwaukee uniform.
“The plan for Jackie Bradley is Saturday will be his first Cactus League game,” the Brewers manager said Tuesday morning. “Friday we’re going to probably try to do an intrasquad game here. He’ll play in that game, but Saturday will be the first Cactus League game.”
Bradley Jr. reported for duty Monday morning after completing a physical exam and clearing coronavirus intake procedures in the wake of signing a twoyear, $24 million free-agent deal with the Brewers. The Gold Glove centerfielder remained on yet another slow market much longer than expected before choosing Milwaukee over other interested parties such as the Mets, Astros, Phillies and Cubs.
“I was just relaxing and waiting for the opportunity,” Bradley Jr. said Monday. “I was continuously staying ready and working hard.”
Staying in shape and staying in game shape are two different things, as incumbent centerfielder Lorenzo Cain discovered after arriving in camp. Cain, who opted out of the ’20 season after one week, tried ramping up his running too soon and suffered a right quadriceps strain that still has him sidelined.
Counsell said he does not consider it rushing Bradley Jr. to play in an intrasquad Friday and exhibition game the next day, however.
“Playing in a game Saturday is kind of the same schedule we did with the other players,” he said. “As position players reported to camp, they had four days here and then started playing games.
“He’s behind in terms of he reported on March 9 and everyone else reported on Feb. 25, or whatever. But, otherwise, no, he’s not behind. Not from a physical standpoint, I guess.”
Bradley Jr.’s arrival in camp provides insurance in the event Cain is unable to get ready by opening day but Counsell said that would not change the team’s approach in the latter’s return to action.
“They’re independent,” Counsell said. “Lorenzo’s case is just getting Lorenzo better, and when he’s ready to play, then he’s ready to play. I would consider them independent; not related at all really.”
Assuming Cain is on the active roster at the outset of the season, Counsell sees no problem getting playing time for four “starting” outfielders, including Christian Yelich and Avisaíl García.
“The whole business is we’ve got four guys who are (hopefully) playing really well and that makes some tough decisions, but also that we’re able to put these guys in positions to be really, really successful,” Counsell said. “The hope is that this is a challenge, right, because they’re all playing really well and they’re all healthy.
“There’s tough choices every single day. That’s the hope. I think we’ll be sitting in a pretty good place from a team perspective if that’s the case and that becomes the issue. We have four really good outfielders and I don’t think playing time is going to be an issue.
“Like I said, if they’re all four healthy and producing to a point where there’s no off days needed in there, we’ll have some tough decisions. But the team’s also going to be in a really good spot. That’s what the season’s going to look like to me. For most stretches of the season, we’ll be very fortunate to have these four really good choices every day.”
Brewers have contract flexibility
Details of Bradley Jr.’s deal with the Brewers were reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, revealing great flexibility for the club and a previously undisclosed mutual option in 2023 that includes $8 million of the $24 million guaranteed to the player.
The Brewers are paying Bradley Jr. a salary of $6.5 million this year, with $3 million deferred. In 2022, there is a player option for $9.5 million with $3 million deferred or a $6.5 million buyout with $3.5 million deferred. Thus, the Brewers could be out of the deal after one year and $13 million.
If Bradley Jr. stays in the deal for two years, there is a mutual option for $12 million in 2023 with an $8 million buyout ($7 million deferred). That $8 million would complete the $24 million the team owes Bradley Jr. if he stays in for a second year.
So, how do you sign Bradley for $24 million and Kolten Wong for $18 million in an offseason after suffering massive financial losses during a pandemic? You only commit to paying $6.5 million in 2021 ($3.5 million to Bradley and $3 million to Wong).
Black injured again
Hard-throwing reliever Ray Black, whose professional career has been marred by injuries, has been shut down from throwing for a few days because of elbow inflammation. Black, 30, who is out of minor-league options, missed all but three games with the Brewers last season while recovering from a strained rotator cuff suffered during camp.
“He will not throw for a couple of days here and we’ll kind of check him at the end of the week and see if it’s time to start throwing,” Counsell said. “It happened out of his last outing and he just hasn’t recovered well from it.”
As for Black’s ongoing issues with staying healthy and available, Counsell said, “I don’t think that’s a question we have an answer to. We’ve had trouble there. It’s obviously a key to him being able to be consistent and develop some momentum to being successful.
“We’ve just got to keep trying to get him healthy and get him in the best place we can. The first two outings were very encouraging (1 2/3 innings, no hits, two walks, three strikeouts). The velocity was excellent. The command was good. Those were encouraging signs. We’ll just try to get him back to that place and back on the right track.”
Counsell said pitching prospect Alec Bettinger also was shut down by some elbow soreness but is back throwing again.
Bending the rules
On a windy day when the ball was carrying, the Brewers and San Francisco Giants took full advantage of the special rules in play this spring to save pitching and help moves games along. For the first time, the Brewers used the re-entry rule with a starting pitcher, sitting down Adrian Houser after facing five batters in the first inning and bringing him back out for the second inning.
The teams also rolled five innings – moving on to the next half-inning without three outs recorded. That happened twice with lefty Eric Lauer, who was credited with two innings pitched in the box score despite retiring only two of the nine batters he faced with five walks.
“I think Eric just struggled with misses (out of the strike zone) today,” Counsell said. “He had too many misses that didn’t challenge the hitters. There was some good things. The swings and misses on his fastball is something that he gets, and we did see a little bit of that.
“It’s just you get to counts and the misses were big enough that they ended up being walks and letting guys back into counts. It wasn’t characteristic.”
Omar Narváez smacked an oppositefield homer in the second inning and Avisaíl García and Christian Yelich went back-to-back in the fifth. After trailing, 5-2, the Brewers rolled late to a 13-7 victory in a game everyone seemed please to move past.
“I’m done with the wind,” Counsell said. “We saw it today – this was, all around, not a great baseball game. It was not a good baseball game, that’s for sure. The wind takes away so many outs. It just makes it difficult to get outs.”