Brewers sign Brett Lawrie? [Latest: Brewers Release Lawrie]

[FVBrewerFan]

He has a kid coming soon. He wouldn't be the first young punk athlete BF.net poster to turn himself around after becoming a parent. So there's that.

 

Fixed

[SandyTolan]

I think this has all the makings of a great sleeper signing. To me the apparent humility and gratitude implicit in his Instagram post is a far, far cry from the behavior of an arrogant 21-year old who refused an assignment to the AFL, posted all those stupid pictures and dissed teammates. He seems to have learned something from his two-year trip to the wilderness, and seems genuinely grateful that the Brewers are giving him another chance. If he has stayed in baseball shape - look out. He's still only 29.

[MNBrew]

Will he be moving back to catcher?

 

I totally forgot he was drafted as a catcher.

IIRC, it was he who told the organization he was changing positions.

[clancyphile]

I think this has all the makings of a great sleeper signing. To me the apparent humility and gratitude implicit in his Instagram post is a far, far cry from the behavior of an arrogant 21-year old who refused an assignment to the AFL, posted all those stupid pictures and dissed teammates. He seems to have learned something from his two-year trip to the wilderness, and seems genuinely grateful that the Brewers are giving him another chance. If he has stayed in baseball shape - look out. He's still only 29.

 

I think he'll be a surprise.

 

Maybe not Jeffress-level, but anyone remember how Cirillo turned it around after some down years? I think he'll be at least as useful as Cirillo was in his second stint.

[brewmann04]

This is a no lose signing and could turn out very well for the Crew

[JosephC]

Interesting looking at some of the defensive metrics.

 

2B = 1421 2/3 innings, -7 DRS, -9.0 UZR/150

3B = 3674 2/3 innings, +32 DRS, +0.7 UZR/150

 

The +32 DRS is skewed as he was a +31 in 2011/2012 and then posted a +4, 0, -3 in 2013, 2014 and 2015. So he kept getting worse. Apparently he did not play any 3B with the White Sox in 2016, only 2B.

 

Definitely looks like a better 3B than 2B.

[jerichoholicninja]

I believe the 3B numbers are skewed because he was playing short RF on the shift and the computers didn't know how to adjust for that. At least that was the story at the time.

[Jenkins5]

Will he be moving back to catcher?

 

I totally forgot he was drafted as a catcher.

IIRC, it was he who told the organization he was changing positions.

 

His fastest path was at 2nd, he saw that, & young 17 year old told Crew that was route he was taking. There is zero doubt outside of maybe Braun, he had maybe biggest ego of any Brewer pick. Like Sheffield status. He wasn’t most fan friendly or team friendly. Attitude was poor with him swearing & overacting a lot that turned many off of him. Bat speed was electric and explosive though.

 

Love the signing. Hurts none. He is still younger at 29. I have little doubt he has grown up a lot since he was a 19-20 year old kid down in Wisconsin. He was having a solid career up until the weird mystery body injury/ feeling not right thing. He left in the beginning of his prime as well. Let’s see what happens. Erceg needs to click finally so competition will be welcomed. Enjoy seeing him find it again & help out the club down the road. Like Jeffress, you never know what can happen.

[JosephC]

Did Lawrie "leave" or did no team want him, even on a minor league deal, for two seasons? I've been under the impression that it wasn't his choice that he's been out of baseball for the last two years.

 

He's a talented guy but has been out of baseball for two seasons. The three seasons prior to that he was a below average offensive player (.253/.303/.412/.715, 97 OPS+) that played below average defense and from all sorts of reports it sounds he was disliked by most of his teammates. I don't mind the signing because the guy has talent, but if the last five years are any indication, Brett Lawrie is little more than a waste of time for a major league team. There was a third base opening in the minors with Lucas Erceg and Dallas Carroll both having disappointing seasons with the bat last year, but it's still really hard to see Lawrie getting significant playing time with the major league team.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Did Lawrie "leave" or did no team want him, even on a minor league deal, for two seasons? I've been under the impression that it wasn't his choice that he's been out of baseball for the last two years.

 

He's a talented guy but has been out of baseball for two seasons. The three seasons prior to that he was a below average offensive player (.253/.303/.412/.715, 97 OPS+) that played below average defense and from all sorts of reports it sounds he was disliked by most of his teammates. I don't mind the signing because the guy has talent, but if the last five years are any indication, Brett Lawrie is little more than a waste of time for a major league team. There was a third base opening in the minors with Lucas Erceg and Dallas Carroll both having disappointing seasons with the bat last year, but it's still really hard to see Lawrie getting significant playing time with the major league team.

 

I don't think this is correct at all. Perhaps earlier in his career with Toronto and Oakland, but he was known as quite the opposite in his final year with the White Sox. Known as a solid, supportive teammate and energetic clubhouse presence. Pretty well documented that they cut ties due to his multiple injuries and lack of availability. His production just didn't justify waiting out the injuries.

 

Perhaps two years away has allowed him to get his body and mind completely right. It's a low/no risk deal, and I am very excited to see how he does, as should all Brewer fans. The guy is a high-level talent. Perhaps he will never make an impact as a Brewer, but if his mind is in the right place, and his body holds out, it wouldn't surprise me to see him make an impact. And what a cool story that would be.

[cesser000]

Bring back Shaun Marcum as well to make the circle complete!

[NievesNoNO]

I don't see anything to love or hate this deal. Even on his best days he was league average-ish. If not for being a former Brewers prospect I don't suppose most anybody would find much to this signing. I guess somebody has to play infield at AAA when Hiura and Dubon are on the MLB roster.

[owbc]

Bring back Shaun Marcum as well to make the circle complete!

 

[sarcasm]Rickie Weeks is only 36 and put up a .777 OPS in 2016![/sarcasm]

[cesser000]

Bring back Shaun Marcum as well to make the circle complete!

 

[sarcasm]Rickie Weeks is only 36 and put up a .777 OPS in 2016![/sarcasm]

I hear Willie Mays is still unsigned too. He had a decent season or two a while back - I'd take a flyer on him.

[clancyphile]

[sarcasm]Hey, Prince Fielder is a free agent... maybe he could make a comeback, too.[/sarcasm]

[brewmann04]

Its a minor league deal no big deal here if it works out great like it did for Miley

[MNBrew]

The Lawrie/Marcum trade has long been known as one of the two that "gutted the farm system" before the 2011 season -- a convenient "quick glance" reaction that just wasn't true. Along with the Greinke trade, yes, it skimmed the best prospects off the top of the system. But it was only 4 prospects total since Escobar had already been in the bigs for a year-plus, and of those 4, Cain had already gotten over 100 major league ABs.

 

What those two trades revealed was that behind those 4 guys, the cupboard was pretty much void of high-end/blue-chip talent anywhere above the low minors. Lawrie went on to show some good glimpses of promise, but he never came terribly close to living up to his "star prospect" billing.

 

All that said, what a great story a comeback to the majors with the Brewers would be -- and even better if he were actually to contribute!

[HarveysWBs]

This has the feeling of the kind of signing that ends up with a post-season series MVP-type finish. Player takes a strange road to get here, nobody expects much out of him, then boom, guy drops a .380/.450/1.000 line in a World Series with a few huge home runs out of the seven-hole while he's "just so thankful to be here." Or maybe that's just me...

[Fear The Chorizo]

The Lawrie/Marcum trade has long been known as one of the two that "gutted the farm system" before the 2011 season -- a convenient "quick glance" reaction that just wasn't true. Along with the Greinke trade, yes, it skimmed the best prospects off the top of the system. But it was only 4 prospects total since Escobar had already been in the bigs for a year-plus, and of those 4, Cain had already gotten over 100 major league ABs.

 

What those two trades revealed was that behind those 4 guys, the cupboard was pretty much void of high-end/blue-chip talent anywhere above the low minors. Lawrie went on to show some good glimpses of promise, but he never came terribly close to living up to his "star prospect" billing.

 

All that said, what a great story a comeback to the majors with the Brewers would be -- and even better if he were actually to contribute!

 

Correct - it was the atrocious run of 1st round draft picks that gutted quality in the system post 2008 (Lawrie, Odorizzi, and Fredericksen were all picked in the top 40 in 2008)

 

2009 - Arnett and Heckathorn (year Trout went 1 pick before the Brewers' spot)

2010 - Covey - his health issues cost the Brewers a top 15 pick that season since he didn't sign (same year Harper, Machado, Sale, Grandal, Harvey, and Pomeranz were drafted ahead of the Brewers' spot, and guys like Yelich, Foltynewicz, Aaron Sanchez, and Syndergaard were available at #14)

2011 - Jungmann and Bradley - extra 1st rounder for not signing Covey amounted to squat

2012 - Coulter, Roache, and Haniger

2013 - no 1st rounder

2014 - Modeiros

2015 - Grisham & Kirby

 

7 drafts, 11 selections, 0 prospects who even sniffed a top 50 prospect ranking at any point in their development.

[BrewFan130]

I’m completely fine with the Brewers offering him a deal, especially since it’s a highly performance oriented deal. My only concern is his past injury that cost him 2 seasons. I’ve read several interviews with Lawrie and he never explains what was actually wrong or the doctors diagnosis. He spends a lot of time talking around the injury. He had said he went to a lot of doctors, but would only give each doctor a month to fix the problem. That’s not a lot of time especially when he couldn’t definitively tell the doc what was wrong. Hopefully it’s not a reoccurring injury and that it’s all in his past.

[DHonks]

The Lawrie/Marcum trade has long been known as one of the two that "gutted the farm system" before the 2011 season -- a convenient "quick glance" reaction that just wasn't true. Along with the Greinke trade, yes, it skimmed the best prospects off the top of the system. /quote]

 

Not on Brewerfan. Most were pleased to get a very solid pitcher given that reports were rather frequently emerging about Lawrie’s challenges

[Warning Track Power]

The Lawrie/Marcum trade has long been known as one of the two that "gutted the farm system" before the 2011 season -- a convenient "quick glance" reaction that just wasn't true. Along with the Greinke trade, yes, it skimmed the best prospects off the top of the system.

 

Not on Brewerfan. Most were pleased to get a very solid pitcher given that reports were rather frequently emerging about Lawrie’s challenges

 

Eh...I don't remember it quite this way. As I recall, yes, Lawrie and his challenges were becoming known. However, there was a significant amount of consternation that Lawrie was dealt for Marcum because he was an older pitcher (29 at time of acquisition) with only 2 years of team control remaining. A good number of posters wanted Lawrie dealt for a controlled, young pitcher.

[MNBrew]

As the Brewers' system showed its lack of quality depth (lots of bottom-end prospect pool & system rankings) in the first few post-2011 years, there was a ton of grousing on BF.net that they traded away a great young talent for only 2 years (at most) of Marcum and Greinke.

[Eye Black]

The Brewers Player Development Twitter account officially announces the Brett Lawrie minor league deal. He will wear #15 in minor league camp.

[DHonks]

And he won’t play in games or do baseball drills as per jsonline and mlb.com. Brewers are looking at this for Aug-Sept and 2020