Jeffress Comes Home Again; Tayler Scott's home is now with the Rangers

[dacbrewers]

Living in the Midwest, I have the opportunity to see quite of bit of Feliz. His last 14 innings have been good but most of his appearances for KC have been in non save situations. Maybe the pressure of closing was too much for him.

[Brewcrewin07]

What a fantastic trade this is. DS clearly won the trade deadline...this certainly sets the Brewers up to not only make the playoffs this year, but also contend for the next few years. Blown away by his mastery of the trade deadline when it comes to buying. Absolutely giddy with excitement over this one! I hope the brewers reclaim the division again in a week or so, and see how everyone reacts here. I'll have my popcorn ready for that one.

[JohnBriggs12]

Rangers would have DFA'd Jeffress if they didn't find a deal. I'll be shocked if he's tendered this winter.

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't know if it's 20 / 20 hindsight to say that David Stearns built the bullpen out of a bunch of guys with limited long term value, reclamation projects, and limited upside. Some of it was bad luck, but it's not that surprising that the bullpen has been a problem.

 

Frankly, Stearns has done more good than bad, but I think his lack of urgency about the bullpen is a hole in his strategy. After all, bullpen arms are the easiest commodity to trade at the deadline. And if you believe you are acquiring guys with potential it's not a bad idea to be prepared for that potential to emerge.

 

I'm willing to give him a pass on the pen this season for a few reasons. Even good relievers are hard to gauge year to year so it made sense to mine for nuggets in what was supposed to be a non competitive year. Low risk, high reward was the right call to make IMHO. It failed this season. We found ourselves in a pennant race due to other teams being ineffective more than anything so I can't even blame Stearns for not predicting how competitive we would be.

More than that though, bullpens are high risk for every team every season. No matter how much you invest in them, bullpens are always in flux. Had we not traded Thornburgh, Smith and Jefferess last season the pen wouldn't be in any better position today for example. Yet nobody could have blamed the GM for that based on their history. It's just such a crap shoot that I am not going to judge a GM on a single season of failure. If this becomes a regular occurrence then it may be time to worry about his judgement.

[dlk9s]

So yeah, I think we won the Lucroy trade.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JBppl.gif

[dacbrewers]

Anyone know how long of a contract Stearns got?

[agent39]

I'm assuming (if no other moves made today), that they will DFA Kirk when Jeffress is added, and then option WCW and recall Phillips (if the 10 day window has passed yet).

phillips won't be eligible for recall yet, but keon broxton will.

 

i'm predicting dfa-ing nieuwenhuis and carlos torres, and recalling broxton and activating jeffress.

if jeffress isn't able to report to milwaukee by tuesday night, the brewers can hold off on activating him. thus, there would be an opening on the 25-man roster that could allow the brewers to recall keon broxton, and then make a roster move after tuesday's game to activate jeffress.

 

Hell be in uniform tomorrow

[bork]

Outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis was designated for assignment to make room for Jeffress on the 40-man roster.

 

So we swapped Peralta for Jeffress.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2017/07/31/brewers-re-acquire-ex-closer-jeremy-jeffress/524637001/

[Humans Need Water]

If its built to give guys opportunities, they why don't they continue to bring up more guys from AA or AAA and see what they do? A change of scenery doesn't automatically mean success, look at Milone. Bottom line is...its another guy Counsell knows and is comfortable with.

 

blazek, peralta, milone, feliz, espino, marinez, drake, barnes, torres, scahill, hughes, knebel, suter, hader… lesser extent for webb, jungmann, wang, goforth, lopez

 

I would argue the 2017 Brewers have been the epitome of bringing guys in to offer them a chance to prove they have value as a bullpen arm.

As noted above it was the year of opportunity for the Brewers pen. But when you can get someone like Jeffress, with 2yrs of control left, who has greatly enjoyed his time in this city and performed very well for a 25yr old AA pitcher who might never even reach the MLB level why would you not take that opportunity to see if Jeffress can get back to his old self in a place he's comfortable? Guys like Derby, T.Williams, Ramsey most likely aren't ready for different reasons. Their time is coming, maybe by the end of this year otherwise most likely next year. Being in AA or AAA doesn't mean you have the potential to be a quality MLB pen arm.

 

You're right, a change of scenery doesn't automatically mean success. But if we're talking about Jeffress he's a different story than someone like Milone. There's clear evidence he pitches very well in Milwaukee while not being as effective elsewhere.

[AJOHNSON104]

I don't have any problem with this deal. Those who do seem to more upset that we didn't target someone better. The biggest problem I have with this deal is that I now have to listen to people repeatedly call him Jeffries again.

[MrTPlush]

Rangers would have DFA'd Jeffress if they didn't find a deal. I'll be shocked if he's tendered this winter.

 

They gave Neftali Feliz 5.5mil...wouldn't shock me. Think he is back regardless.

[Thurston Fluff]

Rangers would have DFA'd Jeffress if they didn't find a deal. I'll be shocked if he's tendered this winter.

 

I think what is shows is how much they thought of Scott and Nieuwenhuis. But if you think what you said then you must agree that this is just back of a roster adjustment. Every team makes that over the course of the year. That means this isn't an actual deadline move and the timing was incidental. If the timing was incidental then judge the move itself based on the value of the players involved. If you are just angry that they are not making a major move I understand. But I don't think that has a lot to do with this trade. At least not if you think Jefferess would have been available for nothing anyway.

[Jenkins5]

I think Jeffress will be right back to himself & it was a great trade! He is a guy who needs support & for whatever reason, Brewers are only ounces who really can help him way he needs. Every stint here he's been outstanding. Everywhere, lost.

 

If only the Brewers could have got through to Braddock the way they are able to with Jeffress. It really can't fully be explained but he is just comfortable & confident here.

[torts]

Theres a reason he keeps heading home.

 

Good! Welcome back!

[LouisEly]

Huge fan of the Jeffress trade. Some guys are just much more comfortable in certain places and that's been the case with Jeffress in Milwaukee. Small things like this can have a huge impact on one's mentality. A place of comfort is needed for some guys to hit their potential.

Nice to know that there is someone else on this forum that understands that there is an emotional and psychological effect on performance.

 

It's also pretty darned impressive that within an hour of the trade being made, Jeffress' agent is on this forum posting in this thread. We are so, so lucky.

[brewmann04]

Good move he has done well here and think you see that once he takes the mound

[pacopete4]

Maybe Agent39 could speak to the velocity dip/trend we have had posted?

[Jenkins5]

I think it doesn't matter the career, there is always an emotional or psychological aspect to performance. Sometimes, no matter how good you are, the environment for whatever reason can kind of throw you off. Some places you are just comfortable & confident as can be and others just don't feel right to you. Think most of us have experienced that in our own careers. I know I have with teaching & coaching. For him, that home is Milwaukee. Just where he feels most comfortable.

[JosephC]

I absolutely love this move because I don't see any real downside to it. The player the Brewers gave up seems to be the longest of long shots. I don't care how anyone attributes this acquisition to who got bumped off the 25- or 40-man roster...if it was really a swap with Peralta or Nieuwenhuis...in the end a bad Jeffress will not be any worse than the player that would be occupying that spot. I do think this is more of a move for 2018 and 2019 but the potential is there for a real payoff. Hopefully he can hold his own for the rest of this season and rebound next year.

[SRB]

The velocity thing is overblown. Look at the velocity graphs here:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxo.aspx?playerid=9490&position=P&pitch=SI&data=pi

 

His velocity was really far down at the start of this season, for whatever reason (maybe he was hiding an injury), but more recently he's much closer to his career averages.

[MrTPlush]

So velocity is still down as are his results. Doesn't sound overblown. Sounds like a big problem.

[shanedog19]

Would be nice if Jeffress/Swarzak/Knebel becomes a lights out 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

[HighHeat19]

I for one am not counting on Jeffress to do well. If he does, then great. But I wouldn't get too excited.

[Jenkins5]

Would be nice if Jeffress/Swarzak/Knebel becomes a lights out 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

 

Don't forget Hader in there as well. He can be our Will Smith Lefty in the 7th & 8th. If he is throwing strikes, he is nearly untouchable

[Ennder]

How many millions have been spent on relievers only to be released or hurt and still get paid? It really is comical. Could of paid a top tier reliever for all they spent.

 

 

Not really all that much and they were all 1 year deals. Not enough to sign the 2nd best RP on most teams in MLB much less a single top reliever. The bullpen is usually where you go when everything else is in place, it should not be the strength of a team not expected to compete.