2020 Minor League Transaction Thread

[Mass Haas]

The now-closed 2019 Transaction Thread can be found here.

 

***

 

Via Baseball America, we learn that the Brewers have released LHP Cam Roegner. The 26-year-old Beloit native & 22nd round pick in '16 draft out of Bradley had a stellar 2018 season with Carolina (19 starts, 2.33 ERA) but had a tougher go in Biloxi last summer (1.495 WHIP).

 

(Sorry, clancyfile, who was a big proponent.)

[82brewcrew82]

Kind of surprising I guess.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Wow Clancy is gonna be heartbroken. Not much of a future for a guy like that though.

[clancyphile]

Wow Clancy is gonna be heartbroken. Not much of a future for a guy like that though.

 

That is a shock... I'd hoped the Crew would give him a mulligan after 2019 got a bit off track with injury.

 

In one sense, though, there is such rotation talent these days that the Crew may not have the roster space to give an injured player a mulligan.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I am guessing the Brewers didn't think his stuff would play up in relief. His age might have limited his margin for error.

 

Partly he got caught up in the fact that the Brewers have a ton of fringe big league pitching right now. That said, given his ability to start I figured he would have at least made it to spring training as a hedge against injuries. His season last year wasn't that bad, it just wasn't as good as most of the others for the Brewers at the top levels. Hopefully he manages to catch on elsewhere.

[clancyphile]

I am guessing the Brewers didn't think his stuff would play up in relief. His age might have limited his margin for error.

 

Partly he got caught up in the fact that the Brewers have a ton of fringe big league pitching right now. That said, given his ability to start I figured he would have at least made it to spring training as a hedge against injuries. His season last year wasn't that bad, it just wasn't as good as most of the others for the Brewers at the top levels. Hopefully he manages to catch on elsewhere.

 

Maybe, but there was a rotation crunch, for sure:

AAA rotation: Supak, Burnes, Z. Brown, File, Jankins

AA rotation: Ashby, Bettinger, Zavolas, Francis, Webb

A+: Small, Sunitsch, Bennett, Castanada, Lazar

A: Jarvis, Olson, Lindell, Walters, Luna, Kelly

 

The AAA bullpen is also likely to be loaded with Rasmussen, Andrews, QTC, Wahl, Feyereisen, and Perdomo.

 

Roegner had injury problems, and it derailed him just enough to become a roster crunch victim. Brent Suter was lucky in that he didn't get hurt in the minors, and was able to move up enough.

[brewmann04]

You think File moves up to 3 A.

[clancyphile]

You think File moves up to 3 A.

 

I think so - he's the best of the guys in the AA rotation - 3.24 ERA, 6.18 K/BB ratio, and only 9 homers given up last year. I think that plays well, and he could probably rocket into the majors in 2020. Yeah, Bettinger has a slightly lower WHIP, but he gave up more homers and walked 50% more batters than File while pitching 2/3 of an inning less over the 2019 season.

 

File has a good four-pitch mix, and I think he could be a #2 starter.

[Mass Haas]

MUNDELL PICKED UP BY MILWAUKEE BREWERS

 

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Winnipeg Goldeyes announced Friday that the Milwaukee Brewers have purchased the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Mundell.

 

Mundell was acquired along with right-handed pitcher Garrett Harris and left-handed pitcher Dominic Mazza from the Frontier League’s les Aigles de Trois-Rivieres on January 7th in exchange for cash.

 

Mundell was the 2019 Can-Am League Relief Pitcher of the Year, posting a 2.32 ERA in 39 appearances over 42.2 innings. The Lake Forest, California native led the Can-Am League with 20 saves, which also set a Trois-Rivieres single-season record. Mundell struck out 52 batters, walked 12, and allowed just two home runs. The 26-year-old right-hander did not allow an earned run in 32 of his 39 appearances.

 

Mundell has a career 2.10 ERA in five professional seasons with a 32 percent strikeout rate in 162.2 innings of work. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Mundell was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 23rd round in 2015 out of Fresno State University and has finished with a 2.64 ERA or lower in four of his first five years as a professional.

 

Mundell is the first Goldeye to have his contract purchased in 2020. The Goldeyes have now sold the contracts of 79 players all-time to Major League organizations.

 

***

 

As you can see from the Baseball Reference link above, Mundell has never pitched above low-A ball, but as a soon-to-be 27-year-old, if he breaks spring camp in April, it would likely be with Carolina or perhaps even Biloxi.

[Mass Haas]

Our post last August 16th:

 

Two members of the DSL Brewers have been brought stateside to Maryvale's Blue Squad --

 

Only 18 years old, Panamanian RHP Ariel Vega debuted very late in 2018 with two DSL appearances.

 

***

 

Via Baseball America we learn that Vega has been released within the past month. A bit surprising after performing well in the DSL and earning a peek stateside.

 

We also learn via BA that Charlie Meyer was released, hopefully just from a paper perspective on the playing side. As the article below from last April indicated, Meyer's role in the organization was developing on the coaching side, so perhaps that's still the case.

 

Janesville native Charlie Meyer enjoying time with Brewers organization

John Barry, Janesville Gazette

[markedman5]

 

Roster moves: We've signed INF Luis Gonzalez to a minor league contract & INF Matthew Mika has retired.

[CheeseheadInQC]

From just a numbers perspective this is good. They have a shortstop shortage in the upper levels.

[Mass Haas]

From just a numbers perspective this is good. They have a shortstop shortage in the upper levels.

 

Mika, undrafted in 2019 from the University of Central Florida, acquitted himself well, but had just turned 23 when play began and spent the summer in Maryvale only.

 

Here's Luis Gonzalez' MiLB Player page, 25-year-old had spent his entire pro career in Reds' system (Baseball Reference page). Went down last May with a shoulder issue in his right arm and missed the rest of the season. Not nearly the speedster Luis Aviles was, but in effect, replaces the Brewers' long-time farmhand who became a minor league free agent himself.

 

Also, there are now two Luis Gonzalez' active in the system, the other the 2018 8th round pitcher out of Puerto Rico who missed all of 2019 with an unspecified injury (MiLB page). We'll learn more on that when the 2020 Media Guide arrives.

[Eye Black]

Brewers announce the signing of 36 year old infielder Andrés Blanco via Twitter (Link).

 

Here is the MLB Trade Rumors article on the signing:

 

The Brewers announced that they’ve signed veteran infielder Andres Blanco to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training.

 

Blanco will turn 36 in April and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2017, but he’s had a pair of productive Triple-A campaigns in 2018 and 2019 — the former actually coming with the Brewers organization. Blanco hit .271/.362/.435 (111 wRC+) in 357 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs that season. Last year, with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, he put together a nearly identical .262/.364/.443 slash (109 wRC+) in a larger sample of 530 plate appearances.

 

The veteran Blanco has played in parts of 10 MLB seasons, logging time at each infield position and batting a combined .256/.310/.378 in 1321 trips to the plate. His signing comes just days after the Brewers found out projected shortstop Luis Urias will need six to eight weeks to recover from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone — an injury he sustained while playing in the Mexican Pacific Winter League. Blanco will head to Spring Training and vie to join a currently fluid infield mix that includes Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, Orlando Arcia, Ryon Healy and Justin Smoak, among others.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

For anyone interested in following along closely with Brewers prospect rankings, transactions, stats, and awards give BrewersFarm a follow on instagram. There will be posts regarding Brewers prospects past and present, such as the recent Taylor Jungmann signing, from the DSL all the way up to Milwaukee. We already have 15+ Brewers prospects themselves following the account as I have reached out and spoke with a number of individuals including Payton Henry, Andre Nnebe, and former farmhand Dillon Thomas. Each and every follow is greatly appreciated and the Top 100 Brewers Prospects countdown begins on Friday!!!

[ARobsBrewCrew]

For anyone interested in following along closely with Brewers prospect rankings, transactions, stats, and awards give BrewersFarm a follow on instagram. There will be posts regarding Brewers prospects past and present, such as the recent Taylor Jungmann signing, from the DSL all the way up to Milwaukee. We already have 15+ Brewers prospects themselves following the account as I have reached out and spoke with a number of individuals including Payton Henry, Andre Nnebe, and former farmhand Dillon Thomas. Each and every follow is greatly appreciated and the Top 100 Brewers Prospects countdown begins on Friday!!!

[DHonks]

give BrewersFarm a follow on instagram

 

What if I'm not a teenage girl?

[DHonks]

give BrewersFarm a follow on instagram

 

What if I'm not a teenage girl?

[ARobsBrewCrew]

I think you mean “what if I don’t have an account on the app that nearly every single Brewers (major and minor league) player has and is a useful tool in players announcements (especially injuries and retirements) straight from the players themselves?”. Then I suggested you download the app, create an account, and give BrewersFarm a follow to stay up to date with the latest Brewers farm system news. I have already had three members of this forum create an account simply for this purpose. Thank you again for your interest!

[ARobsBrewCrew]

I think you mean “what if I don’t have an account on the app that nearly every single Brewers (major and minor league) player has and is a useful tool in players announcements (especially injuries and retirements) straight from the players themselves?”. Then I suggested you download the app, create an account, and give BrewersFarm a follow to stay up to date with the latest Brewers farm system news. I have already had three members of this forum create an account simply for this purpose. Thank you again for your interest!

[Mass Haas]

Brewers signed LH-hitting OF Jack Meggs to a minor league deal, as per the camp roster Brewers Player Development posted this week. Meggs turns 25 in April.

 

Undrafted after his junior year at the University of Washington (good article here), Meggs was a senior 10th round pick of the A's in 2017. Draft followers may know that the 10th round senior sign at minimum bonus money is a common thing given the way the slotting system works in MLB.

 

The Timber Rattlers saw Meggs with Beloit in 2018. He was released in spring training last year by Oakland, and landed with the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League, where he stole 22 bases in 32 attempts but did not impress statistically otherwise. Evansville released him January 20th, and he was recently picked up by the Crew (too recent to net a spot in the 2020 Media Guide).

 

Given his age, perhaps the Brewers have him pegged as the 4th/5th outfielder in Carolina for 2020.

 

If you really want to dig deeper into this signing, the videos below are from 2017 as he wrapped up his college career and last August as the indy ball regular season was winding down.

 

 

[clancyphile]

How does one get the media guide?

 

Can't find it on the team store page.

[Mass Haas]

How does one get the media guide?

 

Can't find it on the team store page.

 

You can pre-order by calling the team store at Miller Park and providing name/address info. Once they arrive there, they will ship one to you. Will likely be early March.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Former Brewers farmhand note, Taylor Brennan has officially retired. He showed some promise with the Milwaukee organization specifically in 2014 with the Timber Rattlers and was quite successful in independent ball. I have a full write up on my Brewers Farm Instagram account for those interested that like to keep up on former Brewers minor league players.

[Mass Haas]

Brief Twitter thread on indy league signing RHP John LaRossa