Some things to read while counting baseballs.
One of the Milwaukee Brewers’ greatest opportunities to improve their roster this offseason has to be at first base, where they’ve had easily the worst offensive production of any team in baseball over the last two seasons. Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball has a look at the ugly numbers put up by players like Yuniesky Betancourt, Juan Francisco and Mark Reynolds in recent years, and a turn in the other direction to look at the organization’s lack of apparent internal or external options at the position.
This might be both the greatest opportunity and challenge facing Doug Melvin this offseason. The Brewers’ need to improve at first base is clear but the free agent options to do so largely revolve around one aging player, Adam LaRoche of the Nationals, who is likely to have multiple other teams interested in his services. LaRoche turns 35 in November, so overpaying in years or dollars to beat out other suitors could strongly impair the team’s financial flexibility in the coming years as his production declines.
It’s also worth noting again that the Brewers have already spent a large portion of the money available for 2015. Last week, Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball estimated the Brewers would have an $86.15 million payroll already committed with three roster spots open if the team exercises Yovani Gallardo’s contract option and offers arbitration to all of their eligible players, and that’s without Aramis Ramirez’s mutual option. Mark Attanasio has shown a willingness to expand the payroll in the past if the right opportunity presents itself, but one has to assume there’s a limit somewhere.
A little bit of the 2014 payroll will be freed up when Tom Gorzelanny’s two-year, $5.7 million contract expires after the World Series. Despite posting a 0.86 ERA, Gorzelanny never really settled back into a prominent role in the Brewers bullpen this season after coming back from offseason shoulder surgery. Bill Berg of Reviewing the Brew has a preview of his free agency.
In less expensive but still important transactions, the Brewers have begun the search to fill two positions on their coaching staff vacated when hitting coach Johnny Narron and first base coach Garth Iorg were let go last week. @BrewerNation heard Ron Roenicke say on the radio that he, Gord Ash and Craig Counsell will interview three candidates for those jobs today.
The new Brewers hitting coach will face a tough task in finding a way to consistently score runs against a division with rapidly improving pitching. Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker notes that NL Central pitchers allowed 84 fewer runs in 2014 than 2013, and has a look at some of the changes that led to offense being down.
Mike Fiers was part of that division-wide improvement in 2014, posting a 2.13 ERA over his 14 appearances. Nick Doran of Fake Teams asks if his short-term big league success was a fluke.
In a division that’s getting better on the mound, it’s perhaps not surprising that Brewers batters struggled to make solid contact in 2014. Timothy Finnegan of Fake Teams has a list of baseball’s top 50 hitters by “hard hit rate” for this season, and the top Brewer on the list is Khris Davis at No. 38. Jonathan Lucroy (No. 46) was the only other Brewer mentioned.
As a team, the Brewers had a .311 on-base percentage in 2014, tied for their lowest since they posted a .309 mark in 1974. Chris Mitchell of The Hardball Times has a look at relatively-rare improvements in plate discipline across baseball.
In the minors:
- I fell behind a bit on Baseball America’s league-by-league top 20 prospect lists, but wanted to congratulate Brevard County shortstop Orlando Arcia (No. 9) and outfielder Tyrone Taylor (No. 16) for making the Florida State League list, and Nashville pitcher Jimmy Nelson (No. 8) for making the Pacific Coast League list. No members of the Huntsville Stars were named in the Southern League rankings.
- First baseman Nick Ramirez went 1-for-5 with a double, RBI and run scored and Tyler Wagner pitched two scoreless innings in Glendale’s 9-0 win over Peoria in the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday (box score). The four Brewers pitchers who have appeared in a game for Glendale (Wagner, Brooks Hall, Wei-Chung Wang and Michael Strong) have combined to allow just one earned run over 10 innings.
Around baseball:
Astros: Have reportedly hired former Royals manager Trey Hillman as their new bench coach.
Dodgers: Hired former Rays general manager Andrew Friedman as their new president of baseball operations.
The coolest part of the Dodgers story listed above might be that Friedman took a moment on his way out to send a thank you note to Rays blog DRaysBay.
Meanwhile, the drama of the 2014 postseason continued on Tuesday afternoon as the Giants ran out to a 4-0 lead on a Travis Ishikawa three-run double, surrendered that advantage, but eventually beat the Cardinals 5-4 in 10 innings on a walkoff error by St. Louis reliever Randy Choate. The Giants now lead the series 2-1 and have six postseason wins overall, but that was the first time they’ve scored more than four runs in a game (h/t Baseball Musings).
Tuesday’s late game was also a nail-biter, as the Royals fell behind early but scored single runs in the fourth and sixth innings and held on for a 2-1 win over the Orioles to take a 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series. They’re now just one win away from clinching a berth in the World Series.
They’ll get their first opportunity to get that win at 3 p.m. today when Jason Vargas takes on Miguel Gonzalez in Game 4. The NLCS game is the night game tonight at 7 p.m. with Shelby Miller and the Cardinals facing Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants in San Francisco. The ALCS game will be televised on TBS, while the National League game will be seen on Fox Sports 1.
Today in former Brewers:
- Michael Trzinski of Reviewing the Brew continued his five-part series on Brewers history with a look at the 2000’s.
- Ian Riccaboni of Phillies Nation asks if Philadelphia should re-sign or release catcher Wil Nieves.
We don’t have any Brewers birthdays to share today, but today is the anniversary of noted knuckleballers Tom Candiotti and Steve Sparks leaving the Brewers as free agents in 1985 and 1997, respectively, and the 46th anniversary of the Seattle Pilots selecting speedster Tommy Harper and several others in the expansion draft in 1968. Follow the links for those events’ respective entries in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find somewhere else to park.
Drink up.
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