Brewers sign Jackie Bradley Jr. (2-year/$24M with player option after first year.)

[timpep]

I think the switching league thing might have been slightly relevant in the past but with umpires moving between leagues the strike zones changes based on ump not league. I don't buy the different pitchers thing either. If that was the case all interleague games would be 1-1 snooze fests.

[HiAndTight]

Not just the Wilpon’s. I believe Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (who last pitched in 1988) gets a 9.1 million dollar balloon payment this year as the last of the deferred money owed him for the contract he signed in 1985.

 

Right, I didn't know that, but I was just going with Mets players in particular.

 

Funny how the Bonilla deferred payments are seen as this terrible move for the team, but I just found an article that argued...pretty effectively that it was a great deal for both sides. The Mets were able to trade for Mike Hampton with the money freed up from their payroll, and he led the staff as they made a trip to the WS. While they tried to sign him the following season, he did eventually leave and they selected...with the 38th pick, David Wright.

 

So they deferred ~5 million and they pay him 1.3 per...seems likely they made money off the deal and had quite a bit of success(and wouldn't have given it a second thought if not for Bernie's lil scam).

[HiAndTight]

Seems like he struggles big-time against breaking stuff. Ala Pedro Cerrano.

 

 

So he just needs to give his bat(and god) a good talking to and he should be good to go!

[SeaBass]

Seems like he struggles big-time against breaking stuff. Ala Pedro Cerrano.

 

 

So he just needs to give his bat(and god) a good talking to and he should be good to go!

A bucket of KFC couldn't hurt.

[djoctagone]

in 41 plate appearances, jackie bradley, jr. has yet to draw a walk. he also leads the club with 16 strikeouts.

took until his 81st plate appearance to draw that first walk. has cut down slightly on strikeouts, but still leads the club with 27. (to be fair, he does lead the club in plate appearances.)

[brewmann04]

He struggling just like most of the offense.

[Sixtofan]

He is tough to watch at this point. Watching the Cubs broadcast Deshaies just kept saying - you know he is going to swing so no need to throw him strikes.

[djoctagone]

I'm still a little baffled by the JBJ player option. If he opts out, he gets $6.5million? So wouldn't he want to opt out, collect the money, and go somewhere else where hopefully he can land a $5-7 million deal and come out ahead?

$3.5mm of that buyout is deferred. he can exercise his option and guarantee $9.5mm with $3mm deferred.

 

and bear in mind that spring training had already started this year before a club finally signed him.

[djoctagone]

I'm still a little baffled by the JBJ player option. If he opts out, he gets $6.5million? So wouldn't he want to opt out, collect the money, and go somewhere else where hopefully he can land a $5-7 million deal and come out ahead?

JBJ is going to be 32 years old and will amass 350+ PAs of an OPS waaaay under .600 and a .170ish average.

 

I appreciate the optimism, but there is a 100% chance JBJ accepts his option. Who would even want him? And if they do why would he get more than near league minimum.

yep, jackie bradley, jr. will accept his option. the brewers knew that if he tanked, putting the option in his hands was protection for his interests.

[nate82]

I could see JBJ turning down his option if he thinks he can get more playing time on another team.

 

I don't believe he will do this but it is a possibility.

[sveumrules]

I could see JBJ turning down his option if he thinks he can get more playing time on another team.

 

I don't believe he will do this but it is a possibility.

 

JBJ has played the 36th most innings in the outfield this season & would lose 11 million dollars by turning down his option.

 

Possible is anything, but any team that for some reason would want to offer even more playing time to JBJ will likely have to acquire him via trade after he picks up his option.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

All I know is we are on pace for the best record in franchise history. The 50 Jackie Bradley-less teams didn’t win to this clip.

[sveumrules]

All I know is we are on pace for the best record in franchise history. The 50 Jackie Bradley-less teams didn’t win to this clip.

 

For sure. Pretty amazing all around what this team has accomplished thus far with league average Yelich, injured Cain, abysmal Hiura, JBJ at the plate, 450 PAs of 60-ish wRC+ from Shaw/McKinney/Robertson/Reyes, etc.

 

Even with everything that has turned out less than ideally, FanGraphs has the Brewers CF at 12th in WAR currently, with their positive baserunning (+4.6) & fielding (+9.5) outweighing their negative performance (-11.9) in the batter's box.

[monty57]

I could see JBJ turning down his option if he thinks he can get more playing time on another team.

 

I don't believe he will do this but it is a possibility.

 

Earlier in the season, I was trying to think of ways the Brewers could convince him to not exercise the option, but then I just resigned myself to the fact that he and Cain will both be Brewers next year, Garcia will not, and our outfield will make (I believe) $55M, making it difficult for the Brewers to sign any free agents this offseason.

[sveumrules]

I could see JBJ turning down his option if he thinks he can get more playing time on another team.

 

I don't believe he will do this but it is a possibility.

 

Earlier in the season, I was trying to think of ways the Brewers could convince him to not exercise the option, but then I just resigned myself to the fact that he and Cain will both be Brewers next year, Garcia will not, and our outfield will make (I believe) $55M, making it difficult for the Brewers to sign any free agents this offseason.

 

Kind of depends on how Brewers accounting handles deferrals relative to yearly payroll.

 

Cot's has Yelich at 26 million (4 deferred), Cain at 18 million (1 deferred) and JBJ at 9.5 million (6.5 deferred) for 2022 so that would only be 42 million "on the books".

 

JBJ also has an 8 million buyout on his 2023 option, but most of that (7 million) isn't actually due to be paid until 2025.

[nate82]

 

JBJ has played the 36th most innings in the outfield this season & would lose 11 million dollars by turning down his option.

 

Possible is anything, but any team that for some reason would want to offer even more playing time to JBJ will likely have to acquire him via trade after he picks up his option.

 

I didn't say it was a financially smart decision just that it is a possibility he could do that. I fully expect JBJ to be back but it is one scenario that is possible for him even with him losing $11m by turning down the option.

[umphrey]

New Dodgers-Brewers rivalry - who can be worse, JBJ or Bellinger

 

They have identical avg and obp bright now

[PeaveyFury]

The implosion of Yelich and Bellinger are absolutely astounding. At least Yelich is showing recent signs of life.

[Greenleaf1]

The implosion of Yelich and Bellinger are absolutely astounding. At least Yelich is showing recent signs of life.

 

This made me curious.

 

In 17 games (15 starts) since Bellinger had a 2 homer game (and actually had 4 homers in 4 games): 62 PA, .133/.145/.183, 3 2B, 0 HR, 18:1 K:BB, .186 BAbip, 27.9 Hard-Hit%

 

In 7 games (7 starts) since Yelich had a 2 homer game: 30 PA, .375/.433/.500, 3 2B, 0 HR, 4:4 K:BB, .409 BAbip, 40.9 Hard-Hit%

 

 

Larger sample size for Bellinger but Yelich already has more hits in his time period than Bellinger in his (9 to 8). Certainly some luck in the small samples but Yelich is hitting the ball hard, and the difference in the K/BB numbers are staggering.

 

To bring it back on topic, Bradley in the month of August:

 

40 PA, .167/.250/.250, 3 2B, 0 HR, 13:3 K:BB, .261 BAbip, 39.1 Hard-Hit%

 

If you told me JBJ was having a better August than Cody Bellinger and hitting the ball a lot harder than him I'd be pretty happy......

 

There's probably 0% chance the Brewers just cut bait on Bradley given his defense has been stellar and maybe he bounces back like Narvaez/Garcia did, but a Taylor/Bradley RF has potential to be a real problem for our team next year.

[monty57]

There's probably 0% chance the Brewers just cut bait on Bradley given his defense has been stellar and maybe he bounces back like Narvaez/Garcia did, but a Taylor/Bradley RF has potential to be a real problem for our team next year.

 

Yeah, especially if it's a strict platoon with Bradley getting about 3/4 of the starts.

 

I'm sure Stearns will do something completely unexpected, but with what we can see about next year's lineup right now, I'd put Yelich in LF, Cain in CF, Taylor in RF, with Bradley as the 4th OF, giving Cain and Taylor some regular days off and potentially coming in late in games for Yelich sometimes to give us a really good defensive OF.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Yeah, especially if it's a strict platoon with Bradley getting about 3/4 of the starts.

 

I'm sure Stearns will do something completely unexpected, but with what we can see about next year's lineup right now, I'd put Yelich in LF, Cain in CF, Taylor in RF, with Bradley as the 4th OF, giving Cain and Taylor some regular days off and potentially coming in late in games for Yelich sometimes to give us a really good defensive OF.

What, like signing a 3rd basemen to play RF? That would be a Stearns move.

[monty57]

Yeah, especially if it's a strict platoon with Bradley getting about 3/4 of the starts.

 

I'm sure Stearns will do something completely unexpected, but with what we can see about next year's lineup right now, I'd put Yelich in LF, Cain in CF, Taylor in RF, with Bradley as the 4th OF, giving Cain and Taylor some regular days off and potentially coming in late in games for Yelich sometimes to give us a really good defensive OF.

What, like signing a 3rd basemen to play RF? That would be a Stearns move.

 

I don't think they can fit Bryant into the payroll, but I like that idea :-)

[tmwiese55]

Popped into my head on if they leave JBJ off the playoff roster? Sure late game D could be used but he's a disaster at the plate, still. And it's not like Taylor (assuming he's back and looks fine to finish the year) is bad at D or anything. I'd guess they would do it since Taylor and Peterson can backup OF just fine.

[PeaveyFury]

Defensive replacements and PR only-type guys DO have playoff roster value. I'd think JBJ is on the roster as a result, especially with Avi continuing to suggest that a close-and-late defensive replacement might be smart....

[tmwiese55]

Right, that's the question and if they feel it 'disrespects' him. Though I'd say we might be treating Avi like he's worse at D than he really is based on two plays. I'd be curious what the advanced stats say but he seems fine to me and possibly above average, good arm too. Sure he botched that one last night but remember a week ago he made two great D plays in the same game too.

 

when I thought of the disrespect thing, it made me think maybe they should do it on the hopes he gets mad at it and declines his option (I know, wishful thinking).