Brewers claim 1B Andy Wilkins from Rangers

[patrickgpe]

Others too...

 

Milwaukee Brewers ‏@Brewers · 1m1 minute ago

OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis (NYM), C Josmil Pinto (SD) and 1B Andy Wilkins (TEX) have been claimed off waivers. The 40-man roster is at capacity.

 

I am officially confused on what they are doing here. There has to be a trade on the horizon. They have no 1st baseman. I can get the Pinto and Nieuwenhuis claims i guess, but I can't see bringing in a 1st baseman that isn't going to start for your team.

[Mass Haas]

Andy Wilkins is on his seventh organization since March. Hit 30 homers at the Triple-A level in 2014, 17 in 2015 (h/t Adam McCalvy).

 

He has two minor league options remaining.

 

Here's the Rotoworld waiver wire joyride history.

[JohnBriggs12]

Figures to battle Cecchini for AAA first base job in spring with the other being let go. Can't see him in mix in Milwaukee.

[Mass Haas]

Wilkins has two minor league options remaining.

 

Just updated that, earlier it said one, my apology. It is indeed two.

[Jenkins5]

Another AAAA guy who you never know what can do without a chance. He has a loud bat that many teams are very interested in. He is in a weird and crappy position that all these teams like like but just don't like him enough. Could be a guy who tanks and plays AAA ball until he retires or be a guy who hits the floor running. He has been a .270 hitter with a .340 OPS and .820 OPS in his minor league career.....very similar to that of Nieuwenhuis actually

[MadScientist]

So he was a round-about throw-in from Seattle as part of the Lind trade.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

I don't understand the complaints. These waiver claims don't mean anything. If someone better comes along, they can be dropped immediately. No loss. The time to find FA on 1 yearcontracts is not now, it will be closer to spring. In the meantime these guys are just insurance.

[patrickgpe]

I don't understand the complaints. These waiver claims don't mean anything. If someone better comes along, they can be dropped immediately. No loss. The time to find FA on 1 yearcontracts is not now, it will be closer to spring. In the meantime these guys are just insurance.

I think the posters understand this, we are trying to figure out what this means in term of future plans this offseason. I expected the team to bring in a veteran not Andy Wilkins at 1st. Now that the 40 is full, another move must be made to add Alvarez etc

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Not sure you understand me. These pickups have no bearing on future plans. When we pick up a real 1b, we can just drop Wilkins. It's just good roster management. Why keep 40 man spots open. May as well add some filler until someone else better comes along. Wilkins actually does not look too bad. May be worth a chance, but I doubt he will be our 1b come spring. Just too early to start worrying about how bad this team will be. Long time between now and opening day. Way things are going, roster may be very different.

[MNBrew]

It's pretty obvious Stearns is as willing to drop fringe-40-man guys as readily as he'll pick 'em up. This is a huge contrast to Doug Melvin's approach, which obviously has the majority of regulars on this board well-conditioned (thanks, Dr. Pavlov) after 12-13-whatever years.

 

That's not necessarily good or bad, but it surely is very different!

 

It sure seems -- and Haudricourt's tweets this afternoon corroborate -- that these moves are most likely for AAA depth.

[JohnBriggs12]

Not sure you understand me. These pickups have no bearing on future plans. When we pick up a real 1b, we can just drop Wilkins. It's just good roster management. Why keep 40 man spots open. May as well add some filler until someone else better comes along. Wilkins actually does not look too bad. May be worth a chance, but I doubt he will be our 1b come spring. Just too early to start worrying about how bad this team will be. Long time between now and opening day. Way things are going, roster may be very different.

 

All true, but with at least part of the fan base not all in on total rebuilds and 3.5 million seats to sell in 2016, when all you get for news on the team is fringe player waiver claims, they're not great PR.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Not sure you understand me. These pickups have no bearing on future plans. When we pick up a real 1b, we can just drop Wilkins. It's just good roster management. Why keep 40 man spots open. May as well add some filler until someone else better comes along. Wilkins actually does not look too bad. May be worth a chance, but I doubt he will be our 1b come spring. Just too early to start worrying about how bad this team will be. Long time between now and opening day. Way things are going, roster may be very different.

 

All true, but with at least part of the fan base not all in on total rebuilds and 3.5 million seats to sell in 2016, when all you get for news on the team is fringe player waiver claims, they're not great PR.

 

 

Selling seats in 2016 is not Stearns job. His job is building the best long term team he can. Spending money on fringe middling-free agents so he can win 74 games instead of 64 is not the way he wants to do that. Worrying about seating is not his problem. That's Rich Schlesinger's job. That's what bobbleheads and t-shirt giveaways are for.

[And That]

These pickups have no bearing on future plans. When we pick up a real 1b, we can just drop Wilkins. It's just good roster management. Why keep 40 man spots open.

Exactly.

 

None of the guys claimed yesterday mean that the Brewers are now definitely going to trade player x or definitely not going to sign player y. They are just filling roster spots. If/when something better comes along, Wilkins or Nieuwenhuis or Peterson or whomever is going to get dropped.

 

The only surprising thing to me was that it took them so long to fill the three open spots on the 40-man. I wonder if they were planning a trade for 40-man talent that they thought would come to fruition by now. Or maybe they were just waiting for guys they liked. Who knows? And it doesn't really matter.

[monty57]

Not sure you understand me. These pickups have no bearing on future plans. When we pick up a real 1b, we can just drop Wilkins. It's just good roster management. Why keep 40 man spots open. May as well add some filler until someone else better comes along. Wilkins actually does not look too bad. May be worth a chance, but I doubt he will be our 1b come spring. Just too early to start worrying about how bad this team will be. Long time between now and opening day. Way things are going, roster may be very different.

 

All true, but with at least part of the fan base not all in on total rebuilds and 3.5 million seats to sell in 2016, when all you get for news on the team is fringe player waiver claims, they're not great PR.

 

This has been about the busiest offseason I can remember. I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part. We've made lots of moves. We just haven't repeated the past offseasons' mistakes of spending 10-15% of payroll on muti-year deals for second/third tier free agents.

[pacopete4]

 

This has been about the busiest offseason I can remember. I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part. We've made lots of moves. We just haven't repeated the past offseasons' mistakes of spending 10-15% of payroll on muti-year deals for second/third tier free agents.

 

Exactly. We are throwing as many things against the wall as possible and hoping a bunch stick. This is a great way to go about our situation especially when trying to trade big pieces off the current roster.

[Mass Haas]

Wilkins added a new fan to his team. Wife, Charity, gave birth to Canyon Wilkins three weeks ago.

 

Andy described his pro baseball experience as "pretty wild. You get to see the business side of the game and it keeps you humble."

 

Wilkins added he likes his chances with the Brewers.

 

That's the extent of the quotes from this article, but congratulations to the young family.