Brewers claim OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis from Mets

[sauveb]

Jon Morosi is reporting that the Brewers have claimed Kirk Nieuwenhuis on waivers.

[And That]

If memory serves, he's a pretty well regarded defender. Possible soft platoon-mate with Broxton?

[Point Beer Is Best]

He's another lefty at the plate, who apparently can play CF pretty well. Agree that he's another possible candidate for our starting CF this year, perhaps in a platoon situation.

[Jim Goulart]

Career numbers, minors and majors, on one page

 

LH bat, no minor league options remaining, most of 2016 at age 28 (29 in August)

[JohnBriggs12]

He's Schafer with slightly and I mean slightly more pop. All you need to know is Mets top priority was a CF and they settled on a less than stellar De Aza instead. But if the season starts tomorrow and they were facing a RHP, he'd likely be in the lineup. Sigh.

 

Really they can't get a Venable or any kind of guy with some record of major league success to play CF for a year?

[JohnBriggs12]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

[greeg35]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

Good. The worse the better.

[JohnBriggs12]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

Good. The worse the better.

 

That's not how you treat paying customers greeg35.

[ctmyers]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

 

I would hope he does the opposite and keeps scouring waiver drops. Phillips is a year away from taking CF (hopefully) permanently. There's no reason to commit money to free agents who want multi-year deals for marginal gains in the short term, especially when your future - again, hopefully - is already in house.

[Point Beer Is Best]

The goal is to win a World Championship, and the path for the Brewers to get there is for them to attain as many young, cost-controlled high-upside players as they can. In order to do this with their limited resources, they have to a) trade off the assets they have now that will yield a better return in the future than the current assets; and b) exploit their main avenue of talent acquisition - the amateur draft.

 

Signing placeholders to add a few more wins is counterproductive to the overall strategy. I'd rather they stick the extra money in scouting & international talent acquisition than signing guys like Pedro Alvares and Venerable.

[502 to Right]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

Good. The worse the better.

 

That's not how you treat paying customers greeg35.

 

The way to treat paying customers is to give them a championship. Not sign middling FA's in an effort to win 80 games.

[Jenkins5]

Stearns might want to think about a moratorium on these waiver claims and actually make a move that at least has the appearance of making the 2016 team watchable. These transactions just remind fans how bad it's going to be.

Good. The worse the better.

 

That's not how you treat paying customers greeg35.

 

Didn't see too many Brewer Fans crying when we hit on useless waiver claims in CF like Brady Clark & Scotty Po.....I honestly am a Brewer fan through and through and don't care much if we win or not....I am not going anywhere. As long as we have a plan & hope for the future (which we do) the rebuild doesn't effect me. It could be the teacher and coach in me but I actually much more prefer the process and watching younger (or sometimes older) guys get and chance and see what they do with it. That is exciting for me to watch. Winning is great and fun but I love baseball & Brewers and will deal with losing to get better. Same situation as the Bucks. Its not like Stearns is the 76ers who have zero plans and just lose so they can pick only centers to fill their team and trade off anyone who shows any promise.

 

Honestly, who cares and give these guys a chance to show if they have it or not. Kirk was a top 10 prospect for the Mets for 2-3 years but never really got consistent playing time or at bats in his 4 year career. He is a big guy with pop who has shown ability to get on base most of his MiLB career. He plays good defense and was twice rated top defensive OF in Mets system by BA. He does K a lot but overall he was a .830 OPS minor league hitter who hits .275 and got on base at a .350 clip.

 

One thing that makes losing easier to watch is when you have a whole team who plays hard and very good defense. These guys they are bringing in will play hard with the opportunity they are give. Most are at least consider average to good defenders....that is a plus

[FVBrewerFan]

Waste of time. I don't like this trend of signing 28-29 year olds. I would rather go with Reed and any other YOUNG player than these ST invites that are old and well... not very good.

[monty57]

Really they can't get a Venable or any kind of guy with some record of major league success to play CF for a year?

 

Nieuwenheis is probably going to be a 4th outfielder filler until the better prospects are ready, but I'm interested in seeing what Broxton can do. I think he could be an exciting player to watch, and the only reason he doesn't have an MLB track record is because Pittsburgh's OF is stacked, so he was blocked.

 

I would have had nothing against signing Venable for a year (assuming he would have done a one-year deal to play for a bottom feeder), but I wouldn't sign him to play over Broxton who is ready and could be fun to watch. He'll play good defense and steal bases... he just has to prove he can get on base enough. The future in CF is Phillips, who is nearly ready and may even be up this year, so there's no reason to go overboard on a CF signing.

 

If you are looking for someone with an MLB track record, that's probably what we'll get at first base. To some extent, I get what you are saying. There needs to be some entertainment value on the MLB field for the fans. I personally like to see what the young guys will do, but signing someone like Alvarez could give the fans who are excited by shiny things some "oohs" and "aahs" with monster home runs.

 

To those who keep saying "the goal is to lose as much as possible":

 

I have been as big a proponent as any to stockpile young talent, and I like what Stearns is doing, but we have decent pitchers who are already at the MLB level. They are going to cause us to win some games... possibly more than some other MLB teams, and I'm fine with that. We also have some bats, and even if Braun or Davis is traded, they will be replaced by Santana, who is a capable MLB player. We are going to take some lumps, and are not going to be a good MLB team, but the young talent is already starting to form at the MLB level. I don't think we're a 100-loss team, even if/when Lucroy is traded and replaced with Josmil Pinto, who I have never heard of until I saw his name in brwrsfan's post.

[Thurston Fluff]

The goal is to win a World Championship, and the path for the Brewers to get there is for them to attain as many young, cost-controlled high-upside players as they can. In order to do this with their limited resources, they have to a) trade off the assets they have now that will yield a better return in the future than the current assets; and b) exploit their main avenue of talent acquisition - the amateur draft.

 

Don't forget c) but low on veteran players in the hope they up their stock enough to land a prospect. I'm all for adding players like Nieuwenhuis but part of me wonders what makes him a better bet than Schafer was. Seems like six of one half dozen of the other to me. That said Stearns knows more than I do about it so I'll trust him until further notice.

[Jenkins5]

Waste of time. I don't like this trend of signing 28-29 year olds. I would rather go with Reed and any other YOUNG player than these ST invites that are old and well... not very good.

 

Scott Podsednik was 27-28 with the Brewers

Brady Clark was 30-33 with Brewers

Casey McGehee was 26/27 I believe

 

Some guys take awhile to get there opportunity to establish themselves. If Reed is so good anyway, he will beat these guys out for the job. If he can't, why should the Brewers just give him the job without earning it or proving it? DS is creating competition. If Nieuwenhuis comes out and proves that he is the best option you go with him. If not, you lose nothing by bringing him in.

[And That]

It may well be a waste of time, but the 2016 roster is shaping up to more or less be a waste of time, so really the move fits in.

[burnzy24]

It may well be a waste of time, but the 2016 roster is shaping up to more or less be a waste of time, so really the move fits in.

 

That seems like a great slogan for the Brewers marketing department.

 

Your 2016 Milwaukee Brewers: a complete waste of time

[Boomer5]

Guys this team the next 2-3 years is going to be the 2011 to 2013 Astros. How hard is this to figure out?

 

This board needs to be all about the minor league development and the next three drafts.

 

The MLB roster is going to be a disaster.

[gregmag]

One or two of these faded prospect reclamation projects will probably establish themselves as something much more useful than they've been before now. Being far from contention this year gives us the luxury of time to audition them. Why wouldn't we take advantage if that? The ones that don't show anything will be gone, because we haven't made long-term commitments.

 

This isn't about tanking. It's about using roster spots as a resource to find guys who can help.

[Boomer5]

This is only about tanking and tanking hard. This is going to be a 100 loss team for a few years and will have a great Minor league system ready for 2019.

[SRB]

He's Schafer with slightly and I mean slightly more pop. All you need to know is Mets top priority was a CF and they settled on a less than stellar De Aza instead. But if the season starts tomorrow and they were facing a RHP, he'd likely be in the lineup. Sigh.

 

Really they can't get a Venable or any kind of guy with some record of major league success to play CF for a year?

 

Nieuwenhuis has 2.5 fWAR in 693 PA, Schafer has 0.0 fWAR (I'm surprised it's not negative to be honest) in 646 PA. Nieuwenhuis is not very good, but he is at least a MLB caliber hitter and somewhat plausible low-end starter. Logan Schafer is not, he's strictly a defensive sub.

[folly412]

Aiming for this generation's 2002 team I see.

[Jenkins5]

Amazing how we make some no risk waiver claims so now Brewers are going to lose 100 games for a few seasons. They have plenty a pretty good amount of talent in upper levels and could still add to it if they feel like it with Lucroy, Davis, W. Smith, Braun, Peralta, Segura, Gennett trades. We brought in a bunch of guy who were once high end talents who either had a bad year or two or have never really never got the at bats to prove themselves. If you are waiting until 2019-2020, you are really going to close your window with Arcia & Phillips if they come up this season. That gives you only around 3 years before they walk

[StearnsFTW]

Yeah the 300 losses in 3 years is going too far imo. If we keep Peralta and Nelson we won't lose 100 in any season, I suppose if both Lucroy and Davis go we could lose 100 this year but that'll be the only 100 loss season.