Brewers Sign Eric Sogard to 1 Year Deal

[Bombers]

I am surprised he signed a 1 year deal - good for the Crew

[wildcat2237]

Low risk. High reward. Works for me.

[patrickgpe]

more good news today, probably means the end of the Walker era in Milwaukee though. (Unless Villar is traded)

[bjkrautk]

Surprised there are 2 deals in place before the WS is even over. I'm sure Sogard received a raise, based on what may well have been a career year. For a utility guy, it's tough to argue with a 1-year deal.

 

Would be curious to know if there were any promises made about the second base job....but I doubt we'll ever hear those kinds of details.

[MillerParkSouth]

I'm guessing the dollars won't preclude us from bringing in Walker or trading for Kinsler if the price is right, just a nice safeguard.

[Warning Track Power]

more good news today, probably means the end of the Walker era in Milwaukee though. (Unless Villar is traded)

I hope not (to the end of the Walker era). While I would prefer the athleticism of Villar to Walker, Walker sure does bring a lot to the table in terms of a major league bat. Would love to see him back with a 3 year $30 million deal as I think that is the extent of his worth at this point.

 

Sogard is more of an insurance policy if the Brewers deal Villar or Walker isn't resigned. Sogard also can remain the backup at SS. My real question will be what happens to Hernan Perez?

[OnaBadger58]

Surprised there are 2 deals in place before the WS is even over. I'm sure Sogard received a raise, based on what may well have been a career year. For a utility guy, it's tough to argue with a 1-year deal.

 

Would be curious to know if there were any promises made about the second base job....but I doubt we'll ever hear those kinds of details.

Tom‏

@Haudricourt

 

Sogard said no guarantees were made about playing time at 2B or anywhere else but is confident he will still be a factor on team.

 

3:17 PM - 26 Oct 2017

[markedman5]

2.4 million

 

[pacopete4]

Woof. Briggs has every right to complain now. $2.4 for this guy? At least Scooter could hit.

 

Good for Sogard though. Talk about making bank off one hot month your entire career.

[jerichoholicninja]

Woof. Briggs has every right to complain now. $2.4 for this guy? At least Scooter could hit.

 

Good for Sogard though. Talk about making bank off one hot month your entire career.

 

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. Scooter made $2.5M last year and will make much more than that in 2018. MLBTradeRumors projects him at $6.1M. Ya, I'll willing to bet 2017 was a career year for Sogard but it was for Scooter too. Sogard not only doesn't suck defensively but he can also play other positions.

[pacopete4]

Woof. Briggs has every right to complain now. $2.4 for this guy? At least Scooter could hit.

 

Good for Sogard though. Talk about making bank off one hot month your entire career.

 

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. Scooter made $2.5M last year and will make much more than that in 2018. MLBTradeRumors projects him at $6.1M. Ya, I'll willing to bet 2017 was a career year for Sogard but it was for Scooter too. Sogard not only doesn't suck defensively but he can also play other positions.

 

 

To me, Sogard sucks. I respect him because of his hard work, good attitude type of guy but he’s a wet noodle hitter that hopes for a walk. I guess that’s fine since the rest of our team swings for the fences but just not buying that he is of any real value and most likely be played way too much because Counsell loves these types of guys. He’s a AAA bat that is solid at 2B and just okay everywhere else. Was really hoping Stearns wasn’t drinking the koolaid on this one.

[mrn1ceguy]

Woof. Briggs has every right to complain now. $2.4 for this guy? At least Scooter could hit.

 

Good for Sogard though. Talk about making bank off one hot month your entire career.

 

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. Scooter made $2.5M last year and will make much more than that in 2018. MLBTradeRumors projects him at $6.1M. Ya, I'll willing to bet 2017 was a career year for Sogard but it was for Scooter too. Sogard not only doesn't suck defensively but he can also play other positions.

 

If Sogard could not play SS and was stuck at 2B, this would be a terrible contract. Considering he can play SS at least halfway decent, I'm perfectly happy with this contract based on last years production. Could it be a waste and he hits <700 OPS letting to get let go before the end of the year, possibly. But overall we got a good defensive player with experience, can PH and potentially play starting quality SS/2b as needed. Sounds good to me.

[dacbrewers]

I would rather have Nate Orf play 2nd at league minimum and yes he played multiple positions at AAA.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yet I would bet Orf wouldn't even be passable playing SS in MLB. I don't know that for a fact. Maybe he will get a shot, who knows? $2.4MM is nothing, especially in 2018. It's an insurance policy, and a cheap one. And yea, people gloss over the fact he can play SS like it's nothing.

[MrTPlush]

Whatever. Could easily end up like Scooter Gennett come spring. P This doesnt stop us from making another move.

[Lathund]

It's hard to really evaluate this move before we know what the rest of the infield and 25-man roster will look like, but for now I'm fine with it. He's the only LHB among the utility man candidates already at the club which gives him an edge. Plays 2B well, is OK at SS, and can at least not embarrass himself at 3B. As for offense, he produced a 108 wRC+ for the season. Or to put it in other words: A cheap, versatile backup playing premium defensive positions, producing 8% more offense than the league average. And it's not all about that ridiculous month of May, after all that's just ~1/6 of his total PAs. It's true that it's pretty much all about the walks, but you know what, I don't really care. He'll mostly be hitting leadoff I would think, and to me by far the most important skill there is getting on base. Power, BA, steals etc are quite some way behind. And he does get on base. Among players with 250+ PA his .393 OBP ranks 15th. Ahead of him? Votto, Trout, Judge, Turner, Harper, Pham, Altuve, Bryant, Barnes, Goldschmidt, Rendon, Posey, Freeman, Blackmon. While he's clearly not a match for any of those guys, that's quite good company, and says something about how rare that on base ability is. And on base skills, unlike power, was something that was consistently there. The 29 PAs in an injury-hit July aside, the worst month OBP-wise was .364.

 

Now the elephant in the room after all that is of course that in all offensive categories, this is by far his best season, so how real is it? I expect regression, no doubt about it. But at the same time, something clearly has changed for him, so I don't think you should expect his Oakland numbers either. Will be interesting to see where he lands. What I like, especially in a cheap, versatile and seemingly good teammate, is that he offers a different skillset to most of our guys; Elite plate discipline. Most of the time I imagine Sogard will be hitting in front of some combination of Santana, Braun, Shaw and Thames, all he needs to do is to get on base.

 

So again, remains to be seen what happens with the other moves, only then will we really know. But it's a 1-year deal for $2.4m in a year where there's a ton of salary room. If it doesn't work, the downside is small.

[Devinep]

Well they’re not gonna have all 3 of Villar, Perez and Sogard on the bench next year. I’m hoping for at least one of them to be in a trade rather than rolling with any. Combo of that threesome as the regular 2B. Not when there are plenty of options on the trade and FA market for 2B and all 3 of those showed they’re better as bench players

[wildcat2237]

It's hard to really evaluate this move before we know what the rest of the infield and 25-man roster will look like, but for now I'm fine with it. He's the only LHB among the utility man candidates already at the club which gives him an edge. Plays 2B well, is OK at SS, and can at least not embarrass himself at 3B. As for offense, he produced a 108 wRC+ for the season. Or to put it in other words: A cheap, versatile backup playing premium defensive positions, producing 8% more offense than the league average. And it's not all about that ridiculous month of May, after all that's just ~1/6 of his total PAs. It's true that it's pretty much all about the walks, but you know what, I don't really care. He'll mostly be hitting leadoff I would think, and to me by far the most important skill there is getting on base. Power, BA, steals etc are quite some way behind. And he does get on base. Among players with 250+ PA his .393 OBP ranks 15th. Ahead of him? Votto, Trout, Judge, Turner, Harper, Pham, Altuve, Bryant, Barnes, Goldschmidt, Rendon, Posey, Freeman, Blackmon. While he's clearly not a match for any of those guys, that's quite good company, and says something about how rare that on base ability is. And on base skills, unlike power, was something that was consistently there. The 29 PAs in an injury-hit July aside, the worst month OBP-wise was .364.

 

Now the elephant in the room after all that is of course that in all offensive categories, this is by far his best season, so how real is it? I expect regression, no doubt about it. But at the same time, something clearly has changed for him, so I don't think you should expect his Oakland numbers either. Will be interesting to see where he lands. What I like, especially in a cheap, versatile and seemingly good teammate, is that he offers a different skillset to most of our guys; Elite plate discipline. Most of the time I imagine Sogard will be hitting in front of some combination of Santana, Braun, Shaw and Thames, all he needs to do is to get on base.

 

So again, remains to be seen what happens with the other moves, only then will we really know. But it's a 1-year deal for $2.4m in a year where there's a ton of salary room. If it doesn't work, the downside is small.

 

Excellent post, Lathund.

 

Bottom line, versatility + high OBP = Value.

[Warning Track Power]

To me, Sogard sucks. I respect him because of his hard work, good attitude type of guy but he’s a wet noodle hitter that hopes for a walk. I guess that’s fine since the rest of our team swings for the fences but just not buying that he is of any real value and most likely be played way too much because Counsell loves these types of guys. He’s a AAA bat that is solid at 2B and just okay everywhere else. Was really hoping Stearns wasn’t drinking the koolaid on this one.

CAREER 162 GAME AVERAGE

Player #1: .245/.313/.638, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 10 SB, OPS+ 78

Player #2: .255/.342/.686, 4 HR, 39 RBI, 10 SB, OPS+ 79

 

Player #1 is Sogard. Player #2 is Counsell. Perhaps Craig sees a lot of himself in Nerd Power.

[folly412]

Sure. Decent bench bat, or ride him if he gets hot again. If we had the position covered it would be unnecessary, but not sure it's time to put Dubon on the roster without insurance when we don't even know if the everyday 2B job is covered yet.

[JohnBriggs12]

Woof. Briggs has every right to complain now. $2.4 for this guy? At least Scooter could hit.

 

Good for Sogard though. Talk about making bank off one hot month your entire career.

 

Might I remind you that the current manager was once paid $5.6 million over 2 seasons by the Brewers at age 36 to essentially fill the same role as Sogard? The good news is I'm relatively confident they aren't paying Sogard $2.4 million and also planning on tendering Villar. Sogard plays both 2B and SS competently. Whether it's Walker, a Perez-Sogard platoon at 2B, or Kinsler or another veteran, my feeling is Villar is gone. That doesn't undue the boneheaded release of Gennett in favor of Villar, but it's an admission it was a mistake.

[JohnBriggs12]

Well they’re not gonna have all 3 of Villar, Perez and Sogard on the bench next year. I’m hoping for at least one of them to be in a trade rather than rolling with any. Combo of that threesome as the regular 2B. Not when there are plenty of options on the trade and FA market for 2B and all 3 of those showed they’re better as bench players

 

If they can't trade Villar, and considering they couldn't trade Gennett last offseason that's more likely scenario than you think, my guess is they just non-tender him.

[pacopete4]

If they non-tender Villar and hand a guy like Sogard $2+ million, they are a bunch of buffoons.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Well they’re not gonna have all 3 of Villar, Perez and Sogard on the bench next year. I’m hoping for at least one of them to be in a trade rather than rolling with any. Combo of that threesome as the regular 2B. Not when there are plenty of options on the trade and FA market for 2B and all 3 of those showed they’re better as bench players

 

If they can't trade Villar, and considering they couldn't trade Gennett last offseason that's more likely scenario than you think, my guess is they just non-tender him.

 

Your guess would be wrong. They aren't going to non-tender a 26-year-old who just a year ago hit .285 with decent power and 60 SBs. Regardless of how much you seem to hate Villar, he is going to be given every opportunity to win the 2B job against next spring. The only way he's gone is if he perhaps is part of a trade.

[dlk9s]

blah blah blah Gennett blah blah blah

 

Nobody saw this season coming from him. Talk about hindsight being 20/20.