Brewers Sign Blaine Boyer to Minor League Deal

[wildcat2237]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/brewers-sign-blaine-boyer.html

 

Today (Friday 2/12) the Brewers added Blaine Boyer on a minor league deal. Nice add since this guy has some big league experience.

[patrickgpe]

i honestly don't understand the reasoning of signing the likes of boyer and cappy, UNLESS its for triple a fodder, which i have no problem with then.

[JohnBriggs12]

i honestly don't understand the reasoning of signing the likes of boyer and cappy, UNLESS its for triple a fodder, which i have no problem with then.

 

Boyer's splits vs. LH batters in 2015 are likely the reason he was signed: .169/.231/.205. He's much more effective vs. LH hitters than RH hitters. He gives them some fall back if they deal Smith, and he's better than Cesar Jimenez. With Boyer they wouldn't need a 2nd lefty in the pen.

 

I don't think Boyer signed with Brewers to be AAA fodder coming off a year where he pitched effectively (albeit with few strikeouts) for 65 major league innings out of the pen. He saw opportunity. He and the Brewers expect him to make the team. He adds veteran presence to the pen, a guy young guys can learn from. Capuano's likely got some sort of deal that allows an opt out by June 1. He's simply insurance. He might not even make the AAA roster.

[patrickgpe]

i understand that they only have 1 lefty on their 40 man and this provides some insurance. my point was that in rebuilding, i'd rather let younger people play rather than sign guys in their mid 30's

[ClosetBrewerFan]

My guess is that there will be plenty of opportunities between veterans and young guys. I would not sweat it.

[JohnBriggs12]

i understand that they only have 1 lefty on their 40 man and this provides some insurance. my point was that in rebuilding, i'd rather let younger people play rather than sign guys in their mid 30's

 

There's still a 162 game schedule to play rebuilding or no and there's no reason to wear out young arms filling innings. They'll all still be likely to show what they have and there's no young lefty relievers he'll take innings from if that indeed is his role. Boyer's a guy that could attract some interest later on too.

[igor67]

There are a variety of situations that happen in most seasons where you might very well want to have a veteran or two around to prevent harm to the development of a young player. The most common is the short 2-3 week DL stint for a back-up player. Sitting around with no regular playing time is not usually very good for most young guys.

[CheezWizHed]

Are there really any young lefty BP pitchers at AAA that Boyer will be competing with? Bradley is the only one I can think of and he isn't really looking like MLB material at this point. Who knows... maybe Boyer will help Bradley get over that hump?

[jerichoholicninja]

Are there really any young lefty BP pitchers at AAA that Boyer will be competing with? Bradley is the only one I can think of and he isn't really looking like MLB material at this point. Who knows... maybe Boyer will help Bradley get over that hump?

 

Boyer is actually a righty who is just really good at getting lefties out. I'm not sure what advice he could offer or if you could say he's even competing against other lefties.

[CheezWizHed]

Bad assumption based the vs. Lefty stats.

 

But getting anyone out would be helpful to Bradford.

[gregmag]

I think Briggs is right about this one. Boyer is kind of a, what, ROOGY? He's situational, and developing young guys for specialized situational roles isn't really a big developmental priority. That role is more where somewhat disappointing prospects end up; it isn't much of a springboard. Anyway, we're probably talking about 60 innings, and Boyer's expendable.

[djoctagone]

when boyer is added to the 25-man roster, he will have a base salary of $950,000.

[DHonks]

Was at the game yesterday, and every ball off him was hard. It could be an interesting competition for Designate Fan Stooge for 2016--Boyer and Hill seem the frontrunners

[jerichoholicninja]

i honestly don't understand the reasoning of signing the likes of boyer and cappy, UNLESS its for triple a fodder, which i have no problem with then.

 

Second post in this thread and both of them made the big league team.

[jerichoholicninja]

Was at the game yesterday, and every ball off him was hard. It could be an interesting competition for Designate Fan Stooge for 2016--Boyer and Hill seem the frontrunners

 

Same as I posted in the Cappy thread. Once Jones and Nolin are healthy, Boyer and Cappy are the first guys gone. So while I see no real good reason for these guys to be on the team in the first place, they are just place holders until a few other guys get healthy.

[Outlander]

That is a lot of money to spend to just get rid of them when some guys get healthy. They could have just chosen a couple of more minimum wage guys with options so I think Capuano and Boyer are here for the long haul.

[DHonks]

jericho, might want to tweak that Jones isn't back for a while, and it's appearing as though Nolin may be out for much of the season--if not all season. MLB.com's McCalvy is reporting that he has a substantial UCL injury. So I'm counting him out.

[yfinn6]

Was at the game yesterday, and every ball off him was hard. It could be an interesting competition for Designate Fan Stooge for 2016--Boyer and Hill seem the frontrunners

 

My money is on Villar.