Brewers sign C Wil Nieves to a non-guaranteed $775K deal

[trwi7]

Major league deal

 

He's 32 and has a career .570 OPS. This deal is horrid.

[bando1234]

I dont get this one. I thought between Lucroy and Kotteras they were OK. My only thought is that Kotteras will be shipped somewhere.

[sbrylski]

His 23.9% CS rate isn't very impressive either. This is a head-scratcher.

[JoeHova]

Inexcusable, if it comes to fruition. I would be upset even if this was a minor league deal. Oh well, why bother caring, I guess. Somehow Doug Melvin is making me more frustrated than Sal Bando or Dean Taylor ever did. Probably because those guys never did anything positive and were saddled with the worst ownership in sports while Doug has assembled a few talented players and is now busy wasting their careers. Melvin's tenure has been like on Christmas when you get a present from a distant relative and you unwrap it and it's a Walkman or something really cool but then you realize with a sinking feeling, "wait, this doesn't fit in with the lame presents they've given me in the past" and then you open the box and it's a pair of socks inside of the Walkman box.

[jjkoestler]

I really hope that we can move this transaction to the minor league forum.

[And That]

Assuming he'll be making about what he's been making the past few years, i.e. well under a million bucks, I don't have a big problem with this.

[dlk9s]

Assuming he'll be making about what he's been making the past few years, i.e. well under a million bucks, I don't have a big problem with this.

This.

 

He's going to be the backup. As long as he's not making some outlandish sum, it's no big whoop.

[danzig6767]

I may have asked this before and if i have and forgot, forgive me.

 

How can it be that in a country with 300 plus million people and the

countless number of people around the world who play baseball, why

can't there be even just be 30 good catchers in the world each year,

much less 60 to fill the starting and backup jobs?

 

I was a

catcher all through little league and briefly in high school until the

coach threatened cave my face in, it's such a fun position to play.

You're in on every play and when you look at MLB, if you have just

decent catching skills and can hit .265, you'll be rich and have a job

into your 30's.

 

I just don't get it and how scrubs like Nieves could have managed to keep a job in the majors for seven seasons? Scrubs like Jason Kendall are still deemed good enough to get a starting catcher job even though he can't hit at all?

 

A quick glance showed me that 7 backup catchers last year got between 200-300 at bats and posted a sub-.600 OPS number. Someone explain to me why so few catchers can be competent behind the plate and also hit at least somewhat decently because i don't get it?

[And That]

My only thought is that Kotteras will be shipped somewhere.

The more likely thing is that he's just DFA'd. I hope they keep him around at least through spring training, and they don't need the 40-man space at the moment, but few teams keep more than 3 catchers on the 40-man (six clubs have four or more at the moment, not counting the Brewers).

[sbrylski]

Assuming he'll be making about what he's been making the past few years, i.e. well under a million bucks, I don't have a big problem with this.

The bad part is they are going to sign a terrible player to a major league contract, likely indicating serious interest in giving him at-bats.

[And That]

The Brewers have the most interest in giving Lucroy the lion's share of ABs, which I assume will happen next year barring injury.

 

No doubt that Nieves sucks, however he probably took slightly over the minimum to suck. I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. Except that I'm typing this at quarter of two in the morning, so maybe I am.

 

Kottaras, as much as I love the guy, is horrific on defense. I'm going to assume that Nieves is at least modestly better, which is probably what the Brewers are looking for out of a backup catcher. That's all.

[pretendastronaut]

McCalvy just tweeted that it looks like a done dieal. No specifics though.

 

Also, McCalvy posted this earlier today, which helps understand the "why" of it, at the very least;

 

Roenicke said he sees Lucroy catching 100-120 games next season.

 

"The other guy, whoever his backup is going to be, is going to get some playing time," Roenicke said.

 

Having a veteran "will just help that young guy understand what it takes to be that total package catcher," Roenicke said. "It's not just blocking balls. It's not just throwing out runners, but it is about game calling and it is the communication that you have with a pitcher and when he's struggling and in between innings you walk over to talk to him about what's going on and try to get him back on the right track.

 

"That takes a lot of experience. But when you have an experienced guy out there helping you with it, it makes it a lot easier."

[thablingster]

Well, when Roenicke pinch hits with a pitcher instead of his backup catcher in extra innings, at least statistically speaking the move won't look as awful now, lol.

 

Other than the fact Nieves is a veteran catcher, this is a head scratcher. Keith Osik has to be available. They have to see something in Nieves that isn't obvious.

[Invader3K]

None of the reporters have been mentioning Kottaras' status at all, like he doesn't even exist. They must know something we don't (like the Brewers plan to DFA him or something).

[Funketown]

http://www.fangraphs.com/...playerid=1556&position=C

 

I hope this isn't serious. You know it has to be bad when I look at the free agent list and say "Aw man, we could have had Henry Blanco instead!".

 

This guy is about as close to an automatic out as you can get. Please don't let this guy get more than 25 AB's, Doug.

[crewcrazy]

McCalvy's tweet that the team will continue looking at catching options makes it sound like there will be competition for the backup job this spring, and that they're not done when it comes to the catching situation. Like others have said, there's nothing wrong with bringing him in for well under a million. It's not like this is a multi-year deal...I'm not entirely sure he'll even make it through camp, so it's hard to get too worked up about this.

 

Of course, it could be argued that he could've been offered an MiLC with an NRI, but the team still has room on the 40-man and it's not a ton of money for the club to eat if it doesn't work out.

[Hofbraunhaus]

Do not understand this move. I would much rather just have Kottaras than sign Nieves. I guess Doug thought too many people were happy after the Marcum trade so he had to regain his bad guy status. A bit off topic, but I didn't realize that catcher got credit for a CS when the pitcher picks off a runner as mentioned in TH's blog. That doesn't make much sense either.

[greeg35]

If you read the link to a recent Roenicke interview Invader3K posted in another thread (can't remember which one), he seems to feel quite strongly about having a "veteran" catcher that "knows how to call a game". I guess if you can't hit, can't throw people out, are 32 or older, and are still in the league logic dictates you MUST be able to "call a good game", right?

[endaround]

Yep this looks like a signing to please Roenicke. God 60 games of Nieves...

[JohnBriggs12]

McCalvy's tweet that the team will continue looking at catching options makes it sound like there will be competition for the backup job this spring, and that they're not done when it comes to the catching situation. Like others have said, there's nothing wrong with bringing him in for well under a million. It's not like this is a multi-year deal...I'm not entirely sure he'll even make it through camp, so it's hard to get too worked up about this.

 

Of course, it could be argued that he could've been offered an MiLC with an NRI, but the team still has room on the 40-man and it's not a ton of money for the club to eat if it doesn't work out.

It's been pretty standard for the Brewers to have 2-3 guys fighting for the backup catcher spot every spring. Names like Eric Munson, JD Closser, Matt Treanor, have all been tried in recent seasons, some of whom started on the major league roster too. In addition to Nieves, they also will have Rivera back in camp too.

 

I'm no fan of this move either but it's one of those that may mean nothing come April 1st.

[Invader3K]

Briggs is right. They probably plan to have Kottaras, Nieves, and Maldonado compete for the backup spot in Spring Training. Since none of them are that great anyway, I'm fine with that.

[And That]

Apparently the Nieves signing is official, per Haudricourt.

 

I bumped into some members of the Brewers' winter meetings party this

morning and asked them about the late-night signing of catcher Wil

Nieves.

As previously noted, Nieves hasn't exactly set the world on fire in

the major leagues, so I asked about the motivation behind the deal. The

two words I got most were "depth" and "competition."

So we don't know the details and the fact the contract is official is only tacitly stated, but I think it's safe to assume Nieves is a Brewer.

[And That]

McCalvy guesses that the deal is for 1 year/less than $1 million.

[Thurston Fluff]

I guess if you can't hit, can't throw people out, are 32 or older, and are still in the league logic dictates you MUST be able to "call a good game", right?

 

Those types of guys get a job every season on many different clubs at various times some on very good ones. One would have to think either a lot of clubs have very stupid management or those players have something of value that isn't seen in the stats. The only thing that can be is game calling.

[monty57]

I'll go along with Endaround and Briggs. This was obviously a signing to please the new skipper who publicly stated that he wanted a veteran backup to teach Lucroy the ins-and-outs of the game. Second, I hope they bring in another veteran who is better than Nieves, as it will not be much fun watching Nieves get 60 starts.