Brewers sign Mark Reynolds (Minor League Deal)

[Warning Track Power]

Honestly....I think Hunter Morris would put up better overall numbers than Reynolds or Francisco. He might not have the OBP of Reynolds but I doubt he strikes out 200+ times like Reynolds will. I'd rather have traded anything reasonable (not Thornburg) for Ike. This signing is a RH batted version of Francisco.

[hawing]

After Corey fled to the Pacific Northwest, I got cynical (for me, at least) about 1B and figured since they're likely to field crap there again, they should at least make it rock-bottom bargain crap. This signing isn't likely to be as inexpensive as plugging in Halton or Morris, but it ought not be as costly as Ike Davis or any acquisition that requires giving up a youngun.

 

Also, more randomly: Mark Reynolds bears just enough resemblance to someone I once had a crush on that his signing has a bit of personal appeal for me. Just one of those things.

 

Does he walk ever, or is he more of a 2TO guy? I almost want to get seats in Toyota Territory or the Dew Deck just because of the slightly increased odds of snaring a HR ball there.

[SoupTown]

I will bet the Brewers 1st base will out OPS Seattle this year.

 

Ike has the much, much higher upside. He could have been our first baseman for years if he became the original Ike. But I like the signing. He is indeed a real MLBer.

 

Juan Fran I think hurt himself with his terrible D at first. How can one have terrible D at first. At least Reynolds is very 'average-ish' there.

 

Now, we only need to sign K-Rod and our off season is done, and we are ready to rock and roll.

[MNBrew]

...I am strongly upset with Doug Melvin and Mark A this offseason. They held their hand too much on Cory Hart and that blew up in their face. By doing so, they left themselves with absolutely no options....

 

Let's hope that a 30 year old Reynolds can produce enough at the 7 hole. Go Crew.

Do you really think they should've thrown the money toward Hart that Seattle did? That's what it would've taken to keep him. And I think that approach would've been patently absurd. They already gave him $10M last year and got ZILCH for it! Seattle's signing of Hart could be good, but given Hart's injuries last year and no MLB playing time since then, like your comment about the Brewers' approach to Hart, it stands to blow up in their face as badly or worse as what you believe was the Brewers' approach could do on the Brewers.

 

I totally agree that the other FA options out there weren't great, or at least not worth the money or term some of them got. Getting "in" on a "name" for the familiarity of the name has every chance of backfiring. Besides, from Hart's standpoint, he likely would've been only a 1-year signing in MIL before the Brewers moved on to one of their young guys, and I'm guessing Hart knows he could be back in Seattle with a decent year, but if he'd re-signed in MIL, he likely would've been in the same FA boat next winter for the 2nd year in a row.

 

I'm not in love with the Mark Reynolds idea, but it's a classic Melvin buy-low/low-risk move and at least they've got a lot less invested, which gives them a) flexibility for additional offseason moves, and b) less at stake if he turns out to be this year's version of the Brewers' earlier signings of Todd Ritchie or Brant Brown or (who was that outfielder somewhere about 5-8 years ago who had once been decent but had nothing left and the Brewers let him go well before ST was over?).

 

If Reynolds' defense is only sub-par, it's still notches above JF21's, whose D at either 3B or 1B could be described optimistically as "pure crap" at best.

 

Whoever mention Taylor Green as a LH backup or platoon partner with Reynolds . . . I like that idea a whole lot better than JF21, especially if he's healthy and able to be productive again. Since we now have a slightly better, RH version of JF21, we certainly don't need a matched set. I sure do like the flexibility of Green & Bianchi as the two IF backups. Of course there's the small matter of Weeks still being on the roster (rooting for a great Melvin move upcoming....).

[bill hAll Star]

I know there is more "unknown" with Morris and Halton but both (especially Halton) do not do it for me. I can't imagine Halton doing well even in a platoon scenario. I think the fact that Doug had minimal interest in bringing up Morris tells us what they think. Power guys don't struggle to get .800 OPS in the PCL and light the world on fire in the majors. Those guys tend to underwhelm.

 

Conversely, there is more "known" about Reynolds. He's on the decline and a player that angers most baseball fans. That said, I think there's a snowflake's chance in you-know-where that he finds his old bat. Maybe he doesn't but he comes for nothing and if he fails we were likely rebuilding anyways. He's not blocking any future mainstay at 1B or 3B.

[MVP2110]

To be honest, the more this signing sinks in the more I like it. Average OBP guy with great power, should be a perfect fit in the 6 hole or lower in our lineup. and if Morris proves he's ready I can't see them keeping him down for the likes of Mark Reynolds. Plus we now have a premier power hitter on the bench in Francisco

[brewers4eric]

Since we weren't able to clone Russell Branyan, the next best thing must be a Reynolds/Francisco platoon. This should give us something to talk about for a couple of months anyway.

[Eye Black]

Below is Mark Reynolds player card on BrooksBaseball.net using data from pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system in 2013:

 

Against All Fastballs (1,253 seen), he had a good eye (1.19 d'; 74% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 29% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and an aggressive approach at the plate (-0.04 c) with a disastrously high likelihood to swing and miss (31% whiff/swing).

 

Against Breaking Pitches (644 seen), he had a good eye (0.88 d'; 67% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 33% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.00 c) with a high likelihood to swing and miss (41% whiff/swing).

 

Against Offspeed Pitches (225 seen), he had a good eye (1.17 d'; 78% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 35% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (-0.19 c) with an above average likelihood to swing and miss (40% whiff/swing).

[torts]

he has hit .275/.373/.569 in 15 career games in Miller Park, against brewers pitching, but I like the chances of him matching up with equal or worse pitchers at home and being productive

[torts]

Mark Reynolds produced 0.4 fWAR in 2013, or exactly 5.0 WAR more than all 2013 Brewers 1B.

 

— Jack Moore (@jh_moore) January 17, 2014

[fondybrewfan]

He put up a 700 OPS last year but in the not to distant past he was also above 800. The hope here is that getting out of the AL East and getting to play in MIL have the time should improve those numbers. He also walks at a decent clip which is nice.

 

Minor League contract so no huge risk here. No one should expect that he will hit 250 with 40 homers or anything like that but 230 BA, 320 OBP and 25 homers sounds realistic. If you can get that out of your 6/7 spot in the lineup you have to be pretty happy.

[RobDeer 45]

 

Minor League contract so no huge risk here. No one should expect that he will hit 250 with 40 homers or anything like that but 230 BA, 320 OBP and 25 homers sounds realistic. If you can get that out of your 6/7 spot in the lineup you have to be pretty happy.

 

Pretty much what I was going to say. I like the signing. It's a smart move, doesn't block our prospects who we need to give a shot to soon. Plus if Aram breaks down, we can get some use out of Mark at 3b. To me, Melvin is thinking more long term, not sacrificing prospects, not giving a two year deal, and not blocking guys for next year.

[Dollarbill13]

Mark Reynolds career vs LHP:

 

.238/.359/.475

 

Juan Francisco career vs RHP:

 

.252/.312/.464

 

Seems like an okay platoon on the cheap. I would imagine the Brewers will start the season with this platoon and Morris in AAA. If Morris is successful, they can call him up midseason.

[bjkrautk]

A replacement level player who has shown potential to be better than that if he has a bounce-back year....and who could also slide over to 3b if A-Ram gets injured or dealt. Pretty much exactly the type of signing the team needed to make.

 

The more it keeps Francisco off the field, the more I will appreciate the pick-up.

[JackNicholson1974]

Adam McCalvy ‏@AdamMcCalvy

The transaction was made official after the Brewers faxed contract information to MLB and a picture of Melvin's middle finger to Hunter Morris.

[fondybrewfan]

Yeah if this doesn't put a nail in Morris' coffin then I don't know what would. Melvin obviously doesn't think much of him. Maybe he can start out hot in 2014 and we could trade him for someone we actually want.

[Outlander]

This is not a nail for Morris, I don't know why people continue to say that. He has one year in AAA, if he does well this year in AAA he probably gets the job after the all star break and into the 2015 season. He doesn't deserve to start at the major league level right now and by not giving him the job he is with the Brewers through 2020 if they so choose. I like the signing of Reynolds because it is for just one year at minimal cost, let's them keep Thornburg and let's Morris develop in AAA.

[JohnBriggs12]

He'll get $2 million base with $500K in incentives that basically all he'll have to do is stay on the team. That's not a terrible gamble nor is he getting so much that if he is really bad (and Morris and Halton are ripping it up on the farm), that they couldn't make an in season change. Last year they paid Alex Gonzalez $1.5 million and he was gone by June.

 

But if I'm Morris or Halton, I'm disappointed that management has so little faith in their abilities. Reynolds is not a very high bar for them to be able to at least match but Melvin sees more upside in Reynolds apparently.

 

I guess Melvin thinks with Weeks out of the lineup, his strikeouts need to be replaced somehow! After all with no A/C in Miller Park those fans in the expensive seats need to be kept cool.

[homer]

Beats trading prospects for Ike Davis......or Ike Turner for that matter.

[torts]

nail in morris' coffin? over-reacting much? its a one year deal!

[pogokat]

Hunter Morris had an OBP .004 points higher than Reynolds did last year...and he was in AAA the whole season. I would have been much more disappointed in the offseason if he had been handed the starting job. He did NOT prove he was ready to play in the majors by any stretch in 2013.

 

Hopefully he has a monster season this year and proves me wrong, but the outlier in his career was 2012, when he played the whole year in his backyard in Huntsville.

[RobDeer 45]

Isn't the Reynolds contract a minor league one? So doesn't that mean that first base is still open to be won if Morris has a great spring? Doesn't this also look like a move to give Morris a little more seasoning? I agree, if he starts out well at AAA, he'll be up and Reynolds can become the backup 1B/3B. I think this is the perfect type of move!

[fondybrewfan]

I don't see any scenario other than Morris hitting like .500 in Spring Training that he beats out a "proven veteran" like Reynolds. Maybe I overreacted a bit on the nail in the coffin bit but by not even giving Morris a cup of coffee in September and talking about the likes of Ike Davis and Mark Reynolds it appears obvious that Melvin has no interest in putting his cards with Morris.

[logan82]

Melvin did state that he shuold have brought Morris up last September.

[sveumrules]

Hunter Morris OPS by season.

 

2010 : 742

2011 : 770

2012 : 920

2013 : 766

 

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong.