What is going on with this team? - Situation later clarified by player

[craigharmann]

The timing of this is…..interesting. 

https://twitter.com/Luke_Barker17/status/1555407086040731648 

[trwi7]

Last 72 hours this franchise looks like a garbage clown show.

[craigharmann]

1 minute ago, trwi7 said:

Last 72 hours this franchise looks like a garbage clown show.

I just don’t get it. Is what they did within the bounds of the rules? Sure. But the optics of it are extremely sketchy. 

[Never Outhustled]

15 minutes ago, craigharmann said:

The timing of this is…..interesting. 

 

https://twitter.com/Luke_Barker17/status/1555407086040731648?s=20&t=AnZslimIXFYSNmNGYhjUsA

They've always crapped on Barker, likely because he fought for livable minor league wages.

Attanasio and Stearns have really revealed themselves this week, and what we're seeing isn't pretty.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stearns quit after the season. Being Attanasio's puppet has to be wearing thin. 

[Playing Catch]

Hmmm...

It definitely doesn't look good, and I don't want this post to be interpreted as some kind of blind support of the organization, but I wonder if this was mostly due to the timing of the trade deadline/40 man roster shuffle. The post suggests that the org is still paying for the procedure/rehab. 

("... outsourced to the facility of my choosing,..")

As far as the labor-issues side of things, it is not surprising that someone that has a history of trying to win public support for the plight of his labor group would use this as an opportunity to throw shade at MLB and the MLBPA.

Again, I'm not sure I don't agree with him with his concerns, but I'm not sure this is as dastardly as meets the eye, either.

[torts]

9 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Hmmm...

It definitely doesn't look good, and I don't want this post to be interpreted as some kind of blind support of the organization, but I wonder if this was mostly due to the timing of the trade deadline/40 man roster shuffle. The post suggests that the org is still paying for the procedure/rehab. 

("... outsourced to the facility of my choosing,..")

As far as the labor-issues side of things, it is not surprising that someone that has a history of trying to win public support for the plight of his labor group would use this as an opportunity to throw shade at MLB and the MLBPA.

Again, I'm not sure I don't agree with him with his concerns, but I'm not sure this is as dastardly as meets the eye, either.

100%.  

[craigharmann]

28 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Hmmm...

It definitely doesn't look good, and I don't want this post to be interpreted as some kind of blind support of the organization, but I wonder if this was mostly due to the timing of the trade deadline/40 man roster shuffle. The post suggests that the org is still paying for the procedure/rehab. 

("... outsourced to the facility of my choosing,..")

As far as the labor-issues side of things, it is not surprising that someone that has a history of trying to win public support for the plight of his labor group would use this as an opportunity to throw shade at MLB and the MLBPA.

Again, I'm not sure I don't agree with him with his concerns, but I'm not sure this is as dastardly as meets the eye, either.

The option is there to put him on the 60 day IL, right? Not just outright release him. I can’t think of a pitcher that needed TJ surgery that was outright released because of it. I’m in Houston, and a few years ago, the Astros traded for Aaron Sanchez. He pitched 2 games (I think) and had arm issues and couldn’t pitch the rest of the year. The Astros didn’t release him, just kept him on the 60 day IL and he left in free agency. Again, it’s totally within the Brewers’ rights to do it, but it doesn’t seem like the ethical or correct thing to do when it comes to how you treat people. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

10 minutes ago, craigharmann said:

The option is there to put him on the 60 day IL, right? Not just outright release him. I can’t think of a pitcher that needed TJ surgery that was outright released because of it. I’m in Houston, and a few years ago, the Astros traded for Aaron Sanchez. He pitched 2 games (I think) and had arm issues and couldn’t pitch the rest of the year. The Astros didn’t release him, just kept him on the 60 day IL and he left in free agency. Again, it’s totally within the Brewers’ rights to do it, but it doesn’t seem like the ethical or correct thing to do when it comes to how you treat people. 

The problem is that guys on the 60-day IL revert to the active 40-man roster following the season, so Barker would have been clogging a spot there all offseason before they could place him back on the 60-day IL next spring. All the while he'd be drawing a major league salary and service time, while it is likely he won't even be able to competitively pitch again until 2024, when he'd be a 32-year-old rookie. Just really disastrous timing for this injury, as he'd been pitching well and looked to be a guy who was going to be yo-yoing back and forth between AAA and the MLB roster this year. 

Teams will stand with guys through this sort of rehab process if they feel there is enough upside to be had. But Barker is a guy who maxes out in the low 90s with his FB, and while he has been extremely effective in the upper minors, his upside is as a low-end middle relief arm at the MLB level at best. It's a tough, sometimes pretty crappy business, especially for the guys on the fringe. 

[Outlander]

The Brewers didn't want to pay Barker a major league salary the rest of the season so imagine that is why he wasn't put on the 60 day IL. Don't see him in  their future plans so released him. If they just signed him back to a minor league deal would not be story but they made a decision based on the bottom line and didn't realize this could blow up in their face.

[Jopal78]

Luke Barker apparently does t realize professional sports are a cut throat business. 

[NBBrewFan]

53 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

The problem is that guys on the 60-day IL revert to the active 40-man roster following the season, so Barker would have been clogging a spot there all offseason before they could place him back on the 60-day IL next spring.

A team can't release a player in the offseason? I would guess that they can and would have the first day they needed to add him to the 40 if they chose to go that route, but as Outlander posted, they likely wanted to save a few $100K so they could eat salary for the Padres so they could acquire Soto and Bell..

Maybe the Stearns to the Mets rumors should be changed to Stearns to the Padres.

[craigharmann]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

Luke Barker apparently does t realize professional sports are a cut throat business. 

Seriously? There’s cut throat, and there’s actually doing the right thing by people. When has another player, whether they’re in the team’s plans or not, EVER been cut because they needed Tommy John surgery? I can’t think of a time. 

[NBBrewFan]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

Luke Barker apparently does t realize professional sports are a cut throat business. 

I guess that cut to the jugular that Cain took was near lethal.

Sure, baseball CAN be cut throat, but it also can be respectful and 2 months isn't that long of a time to forget what the organization did FOR Cain when they would gain anything.  Hardly cut throat. 

[endaround]

Pretty sure there can be a grievance here if the Brewers DFA'd him due to injury. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

No matter whether they were within the rules or not, this is a really bad look for the franchise, especially after the past four days of madness.

[craigharmann]

14 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

No matter whether they were within the rules or not, this is a really bad look for the franchise, especially after the past four days of madness.

Bingo!

[Outlander]

57 minutes ago, endaround said:

Pretty sure there can be a grievance here if the Brewers DFA'd him due to injury. 

Doubt it since he was already in the minors. Injured minor league players get released all the time. That appears to be one of Barker's complaints is the union doesn't have his back either.

[ctmyers]

3 hours ago, craigharmann said:

The option is there to put him on the 60 day IL, right? Not just outright release him. I can’t think of a pitcher that needed TJ surgery that was outright released because of it. I’m in Houston, and a few years ago, the Astros traded for Aaron Sanchez. He pitched 2 games (I think) and had arm issues and couldn’t pitch the rest of the year. The Astros didn’t release him, just kept him on the 60 day IL and he left in free agency. Again, it’s totally within the Brewers’ rights to do it, but it doesn’t seem like the ethical or correct thing to do when it comes to how you treat people. 

Trying to think back...John Curtiss was non-tendered after TJ, though that was a few months post surgery.  

And, not completely similar, the Brewers released the once-promising Zach Braddock while he was dealing with personal issues.  

[Thurston Fluff]

The Brewers are paying for his surgery and rehab either way so it isn't about saving money due to injury. It is about having to pay a major league salary or lose a roster spot to keep an injured minor league player they don't think has a future here anymore. While it's a brutal thing it's the system, not the team, that determined a minor league player gets a major league salary or use a 40 man roster spot for being injured. The Brewers are playing on the short end of a rigged system as it is. Hard to blame them for using the system in one of the few ways that favors them. That said the system needs to change. But that would be the union that needs to do that. I think part of what Barker is mad about is the union didn't cover that. I tend to agree the union doesn't help the minor league players enough.

[NBBrewFan]

2 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

The Brewers are paying for his surgery and rehab either way so it isn't about saving money due to injury. It is about having to pay a major league salary or lose a roster spot to keep an injured minor league player they don't think has a future here anymore. While it's a brutal thing it's the system, not the team, that determined a minor league player gets a major league salary or use a 40 man roster spot for being injured. The Brewers are playing on the short end of a rigged system as it is. Hard to blame them for using the system in one of the few ways that favors them. That said the system needs to change. But that would be the union that needs to do that. I think part of what Barker is mad about is the union didn't cover that. I tend to agree the union doesn't help the minor league players enough.

Good comment.  What is really amazing to me (which I didn't know until the Cain DFA/retirement) is how much money the union collects and gives players for pensions.  Do they really need to give Cain that amount of money as a 10year vet after making more than $90M in his career while not having a pool to cover injured players like Barker.  Just crazy.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Not that this team doesn't deserve ridicule this week, but perhaps this particular reason was misplaced?

[nate82]

With the updated Tweet by Barker this looks like the Brewers tried to do something with Barker but he chose a different route and they DFA’d him.  It appears as though the main issue is with the MLBPA and not the team.

The optics still look bad for the Brewers though.

[Axman59]

David Stearns learning the hard way this week that he's not running a fantasy baseball team. You don't get to move pieces around the board without regard to what it's doing to actual human beings without repercussions.

I used to think Stearns was a great GM/Pres Baseball Ops. I don't think that anymore.

 

Edit - My comment was more about the Hader trade/Dinelson DFA, et al., than this issue with Barker, which appears to not be an issue at all.

[craigharmann]

28 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Not that this team doesn't deserve ridicule this week, but perhaps this particular reason was misplaced?

I think that his original anger/confusion was probably misplaced and there was miscommunication. But, as I said before, I don’t remember a team letting go of a player almost immediately after having Tommy John. The optics of it are bad. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

My guess is stuff similar to this has happened numerous times, and it wasn't run up the flagpole because the team involved hadn't just gone through a trade deadline rife with criticism while being swept by a last-place team. His surgery is being paid for, his future with the Brewers was anywhere from hanging on a thread to non-existent. Then his last tweet says his problem is more with the union than the team anyway.