Brewers sign Trot Nixon and Chris Duffy to minor league deals with invites to spring training

[jwill535]

Minor league contracts. Some more material to throw at the wall and see what sticks.

 

Nixon and Duffy

[Klements Bratwurst]

Trot Nixon to become the 2009 version of the 2008 Gabe Kapler comeback player of the year??? Any lefthanded bat with a pulse please sign up.

[crewcrazy]

I guess Nixon is okay in that he does tend to walk a bit and hits left handed. Might be a decent pinch-hit candidate but he hasn't really seen much success in the majors the past 2 years or so (small samples, though). Duffy's just kind of "meh". At least they're only minor league deals.

[PaulRigdon]

Trot Nixon=Left handed Gable Kapler but not as pretty

[Pudster13]

Trot Nixon= left-handed Kevin Mench but not quite as funny lookin'

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Only older.

[RyDogg66]

I used to be a big Trot Nixon fan. but then I went to college, got married, went to law school and had three kids. I think if he faces strictly RH pitching and he is healthy that he could be a good bet to be decent. He will probably be as good as Geoff Jenkins this year, but NOT make 5 million a year. Im not all that thrilled with Chris Duffy though.

[Pudster13]

Why does this seem like it could be the off-season of the 1999 Milwaukee Brewers?

 

R.J. Swindle

Jorge Julio

Todd Coffey (re-signed)

Mike Lamb (re-signed)

Trot Nixon

Chris Duffy

 

YUCK!

 

2009 slogan- YOUR BARGIN BIN BREWERS!

[phxMILWfan]

Is Jeremy Giambi available?

[JohnBriggs12]

If these guys are the answer, I don't want to know the question. And some of you guys were dreading Mark Kotsay?

 

Nice offseason so far Doug. I guess that new contract you got means you can take it easy.

 

We feared the Brewers would be looking only at 2nd tier guys. These two are 6th or 7th tier guys.

[Chio151]

"I used to be a big Trot Nixon fan. but then I went to college, got married, went to law school and had three kids. "

 

That was hilarious. Thank you.

 

But seriously.... Trot Nixon?

[twibnotes]

This is a good no risk move for the Brewers. If it pans out great, Melvin pulled a Ron Wolf type move. If it doesn't, no big deal, we got to bring in a couple of left handed hitters with out hurting the payroll or taking roster spots.

[Paulus88]

I always confused Kapler and Nixon when they were with Boston. A Red Sox buddy of mine could never determine whether Kapler was a righthanded Nixon or if Nixon a left handed Kapler. This signing doesn't help my confusion.

[GoudaBrew]

I always confused Kapler and Nixon when they were with Boston. A Red Sox buddy of mine could never determine whether Kapler was a righthanded Nixon or if Nixon a left handed Kapler. This signing doesn't help my confusion.

We should definitely trade Cameron and re-sign Kapler now to platoon with Nixon in Center. Let's see that'd be Nixon and Kapler, so they'd be called.....

 

Nipler!

[RyDogg66]

Better than the Gabe Grapler platoon we had last year.

[strawbossisevil]

Better living in the bargin bin then signing the next Suppan. Worst thing that happens with Nixon or Duffy is that they fail to make the team and either spend the season in AAA or get released. Duffy has some speed that could be used in a playoff race once the rosters widen (41 steals to only 7 caught stealing). Nixon carries a career OBP of .364 and while he has tailed off in limited ABs the past two seasons, may be he'll do fine and be this year's version of Gabe Kapler. The fact that he has had barely more than 300 ABs the past season makes it hard to get a read on him. We certainly should not base our opinion of him on his 35 ABs of last season.

 

There is very little risk with either of these, and there could be a solid reward, especially if Nixon can start hitting closer in line with is career numbers. FWIW Nixon's career numbers vs right handed pitchers is .288 .376 .496. While he is probably not going to put up numbers quite that high, he may be able to put up an OBP in the .350s vs righties, which would be very valuable coming off the bench.

 

Unlike Briggs, I am willing to give Melvin a bit more time this offseason. There are still a lot of people out there and trades that could be made before Spring Training starts up. Melvin got us to our first playoff game in 25 years, you think people would have learned to be a bit more trusting and patient with him by now.

[bjkrautk]

Trot Nixon = Geoff Jenkins; decent player for a bench role, and can start against most RHP.

 

His most similar player (by age 34) is Raul Ibanez, who just signed for considably more money. Seems like a good, low-risk guy.

 

Duffy, however, will most likely spend all year in AAA.

[JohnBriggs12]

This is a good no risk move for the Brewers. If it pans out great, Melvin pulled a Ron Wolf type move. If it doesn't, no big deal, we got to bring in a couple of left handed hitters with out hurting the payroll or taking roster spots.

Except these are the kind of guys you sign in February, not December. You don't build your roster by filling up your non-roster invite list first.

 

Don't mention Trot Nixon and Raul Ibanez in the same sentence. Ibanez has 338 RBI since 2006. Nixon has 84.

[And That]

I'm kind of surprised at the vitriol directed toward these signings. Most transactions an organization makes do not involve "first and second tier" guys and we're still a few months away from spring training. Writing off the offseason this early seems extremely shortsighted to me. I can guarantee that there will be at least a couple guys not in the organization that will be on the 25 man roster on Opening Day. And I apologize in advance if they are "second tier."

 

Except these are the kind of guys you sign in February, not December.

Actually, if you want to sign the NRIs you want, you sign them earlier than someone else. Are you criticizing the Brewers for not waiting a few months to sign Trot Nixon? That's a pretty small nit to pick, IMO.

[MillerParkSouth]

I can't believe people are railing Melvin on these moves. It's not like he's sigining these guys to be our everyday right fielder or something. These guys are worth taking a flier on and will be a 4th OF at best, AAA fodder at worst. I remember thinking last year that I'd be irate if Kapler made the team out of ST, since that would clearly be a sign that we're not going anywhere, and he turned out to be a great signing. These are pretty much the same kind of low risk moves.

[Tisko]

Meh, I seem to remember people getting upset over the Kapler signing last year and that was a major-league deal. Lets see how it pans out.

[And That]

Duffy is kind of a Gwynn clone... I wonder if the Brewers signed him for depth in AAA in case they lose Gwynn on waivers/trade him.

[strawbossisevil]

Saying these are February signings doesn't make sense to me. If you find a guy who might help your team, especially on a minor league deal, you do it. Be it in December or February.

[jwill535]

Duffy replaces Laynce Nix probably.

[RyDogg66]

Nixon might be washed up, he might be as good as Geoff Jenkins in 2009, he could be this years Gape Kapler. The bottom line is, this move costs the Brewers nothing, and if we can fill our bench with a productive LH bat, it might, MIGHT allow us to sign a top tier pitching FA or hitting FA.