Brewers sign Matt Albers - 2 year deal

[NOMAAM]

Does this mean the end of Drake?

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

This doesn't fit with the every other year plan that Doug Melvin espoused. Cheap arm. They needed one more. In Stearns We Trust.

[bork]

Nice to have a bullpen guy who won't walk everyone, similar to Swarzak last year.

[KeithStone53151]

Does this mean the end of Drake?

 

I think Drake was likely to be gone before we made a single move for a reliever.

[JohnBriggs12]

 

I like the signing. My guess is 2/$5 million type deal.

 

My guess is a little more than that. He's a slight upgrade over Jared Hughes. He was awful for the White Sox in 2016 but rebounded well in 2017 and other than that season, he's been good since 2012. His name did come up in a thread somewhere when all the relievers had been getting gobbled up for big bucks.

Rosenthal confirmed that it's 2/$5M

 

 

I edited the orginal post. Hughes got $4.5 million over 2 from the Reds, so Albers got slightly more. Solid move at that price.

[hawing]

at the 2012 non-waiver trade deadline, matt albers and scott podsednik were traded from boston to arizona for craig breslow.

Circle of life!

[JohnBriggs12]

Does this mean the end of Drake?

 

I think Drake was likely to be gone before we made a single move for a reliever.

 

It's time it's made official now.

[pacopete4]

Albers' LOB%

 

2015 Albers: 95.1%

2016 Albers: 60.0%

2017 Albers: 92.4%

2015-2017 MLB avg = 74%

 

Well, here's hoping it's not an every other type thing.

[KeithStone53151]

I edited the orginal post. Hughes got $4.5 million over 2 from the Reds, so Albers got slightly more. Solid move at that price.

 

Albers also has incentives of $1m/year, so could be worth 7 total. I think Albers is likely the better pitcher in 2018, I'm glad we went with him over Hughes.

[KeithStone53151]

Albers' LOB%

 

2015 Albers: 95.1%

2016 Albers: 60.0%

2017 Albers: 92.4%

2015-2017 MLB avg = 74%

 

Well, here's hoping it's not an every other type thing.

 

LOB number will inevitably be high when you're rocking a .85 WHIP.

[adambr2]

This is a really good signing. He was awesome situationallly in Washington and will likely be used in similar fashion here. It will be nice to be able to pick and choose options like him and Hader late based on matchup.

 

Very under the radar move and no one will expect him to have a 1.62 ERA next year, but this is low risk with potentially great reward.

[anglotiger]

Great 2015, horrible 2016, great 2017.

 

How weird.

 

I assume that you're referring to 2016. He's been really good since the 2012 season. His poor 2106 is the clear outlier. This is a really good signing - especially considering the low cost.

 

What's interesting to me though is that the Brewers will be his 7th different club in as many years... (traded twice)

[jerichoholicninja]

No issues with signing Albers per say, but I'd have rather spent twice that on Reed or any of the other much better RP's that signed already. Wouldn't be surprised if Albers is dumped by the trade deadline.

[Montezuma]

Fat, short, skinny, or too tall. As long as he gets batters out, I could care less.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

No issues with signing Albers per say, but I'd have rather spent twice that on Reed or any of the other much better RP's that signed already. Wouldn't be surprised if Albers is dumped by the trade deadline.

 

Well, Reed signed for 2 years at $16.75 million guaranteed. Even if you doubled Albers's money, that's 2 years at $10 million, not counting incentives.

[bill hAll Star]

No issues with signing Albers per say, but I'd have rather spent twice that on Reed or any of the other much better RP's that signed already. Wouldn't be surprised if Albers is dumped by the trade deadline.

 

Well, several of those guys would've been 4x the cost of Albers. Reed was 3x.

[brewmann04]

low risk and should be a solid addition now will they sign that Fa pitcher ??????

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

low risk and should be a solid addition now will they sign that Fa pitcher ??????

 

Dude, it's January. There's still time.

[NYChez]

Hopefully it will be more of a mix and match in the bullpen this year so we have fewer instances of following up a 2-game winning streak with our three best relievers being unavailable. That happened too much last year.

[pacopete4]

Hopefully it will be more of a mix and match in the bullpen this year so we have fewer instances of following up a 2-game winning streak with our three best relievers being unavailable. That happened too much last year.

This is a really good thing to point out. This happens to every team but the more depth Stearns creates, the fewer chances for this to occur.

[wallus]

Low risk move, I like it. These are the kind of deals you get when you are patient.

[SRB]

An impressive (and cheap) two-headed beast:

 

2014-2017 Boone Logan vs. LHB: 73.0 IP, 12.7 K/9, .208 AVG, 2.91 xFIP

2014-2017 Matt Albers vs. RHB: 101.1 IP, 8.1 K/9, .233 AVG, 3.42 xFIP (even including Albers' outlier 2016)

[adambr2]

Yep, I love the mixing and matching we're going to be able to do in the pen this year. It's clear we are looking to use a situational bullpen in 2018 and have numerous guys to cover those situations.

 

I don't understand how anyone could not love this. How often do you get the best reliever out of someone's pen and a guy coming off a 1.62 ERA season for 2.5M bucks?

 

Swarzek had a pretty poor track record before last season and everyone points to the changes he made being responsible. Well, Albers clearly made changes after 2011 too, and 2016 has been his only outlier.

 

If you wanted Swarzek at 2/14 you should be thrilled with Albers at 2/5.

[Roderick]

Awesome move!

 

This completes our bullpen now...

 

Knebel

Hader

Albers

Logan

Barnes

Jeffress

Suter/Gallardo

 

This would seem to be locked in. So what happens if Guerra (as an example, not a prediction) looks unhittable in the spring?

 

80% of the time they have 8 relievers in the pen, but not to start the season.

[3and2Fastball]

This move doesn't at all "complete" our bullpen if we are truly contending for a title, unless you believe

 

1) Albers can repeat a 1.65 ERA 0.85 WHIP season

2) You can depend on Barnes/Jeffress in high leverage situations

3) Knebel won't regress

 

To me, the bullpen remains our biggest question mark and biggest weakness.

 

If everything goes well, this bullpen could maybe get us through to the Trade Deadline, but we're gonna need a lot more help to shine in the playoffs. Don't get me wrong, I like the signing, but we are far from done....

 

Maybe in August/Sept someone like Burnes comes up from MiLB to help in the bullpen? I guess I could see that....maybe?