Zach Plesac

[brewers888]

He was just DFA'd by Cleveland and I think we should be interested. 

[wiguy94]

We have the 4th best record in the NL, so Plesac would need to clear through the entire AL and all of the NL except LAD, ATL, and ARI for us to pick him up. Considering he still has options, I doubt he makes it to us.

[brewers888]

3 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

We have the 4th best record in the NL, so Plesac would need to clear through the entire AL and all of the NL except LAD, ATL, and ARI for us to pick him up. Considering he still has options, I doubt he makes it to us.

They have 10 days to trade him before he is exposed on waivers.

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

They have 10 days to trade him before he is exposed on waivers.

Why would we trade for him with Miley and Lauer both set to return soon? Teheran and Rea have been great filling the depth through the injuries. 

[brewers888]

2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Why would we trade for him with Miley and Lauer both set to return soon? Teheran and Rea have been great filling the depth through the injuries. 

We could use the depth and he's had success not too long ago. For now he can work as the long man and if we can straighten him out we will have a long term starting pitcher. The cost to acquire Plesac will be extremely cheap and the upside is there for him to be a long term solution.

[wiguy94]

13 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

We could use the depth and he's had success not too long ago. For now he can work as the long man and if we can straighten him out we will have a long term starting pitcher. The cost to acquire Plesac will be extremely cheap and the upside is there for him to be a long term solution.

2019: 82 ERA-, 109 FIP-, 110 xFIP-, 5.48 xERA

2020: 51 ERA-, 76 FIP-, 78 xFIP-, 3.50 xERA

2021: 108 ERA-, 110 FIP-, 111 xFIP-, 4.51 xERA

2022: 111 ERA-, 113 FIP-, 112 xFIP-, 5.28 xERA

2023: 179 ERA-, 106 FIP-, 105 xFIP-, 5.23 xERA

Outside of the shortened pandemic 2020 season, He's never had a season with good peripheral numbers. You're so vocal about Ruf being terrible because 2 teams DFA'd him but now you want to trade for a player who got DFA'd despite having options available? 

 

[Redd Vencher]

He's still got options, so he can be stashed for depth.

[nate82]

He is only marginally better than Rea and the way he has been trending I am not sure how long he will be just marginally better than Rea.  Yes he is a more known name than Rea but other than that they are the same pitcher. 

Also I think the Phillies or the Cardinals will try and get him.  I would rather not overpay for someone that has an xERA of 5.23. 

[brewmann04]

 Ever have enough pitching 

[MadThinker88]

Considering MKE still owes CLE a PTBNL/ cash for the Owen Miller trade in Dec '22, MKE could upgrade the return and make it a 2 for 1 deal (with MKE getting the 2 pieces over an extended timeframe)... 

Plesac still has a very good pickoff move to 1st & many fans on CLE chat boards were surprised Plesac was never really given a chance in a relief role (as limiting his pitch mix & expected limiting of pitches to be thrown should help his fastball play up). He also has options available & multiple years of team control.

Personally I feel he needs a change of scenery & new coaching voices might make a positive difference for him.

Make an offer.  Worst that happens is it is turned down.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Unless he'd come much cheaper than I expect, no thanks. That's not to say I think Cleveland would demand a lot in return. Just that I'd want it to be next to nothing.

[Outlander]

Some starters should be coming back soon so not necessary, if this was a couple of weeks ago it would have been a different story. It would be nice to have more depth but that is fairly expensive depth and I also agree it would require losing another asset in trade.

[Playing Catch]

The Brewers definitely like guys with options. I think the challenge would be rostering him on the 40-man. Presumably, if some team decides to trade for him, they think they can "fix" him.

If his name was Joe Smith and had no prospect pedigree, would the Brewers be interested?

[jerichoholicninja]

Like Tampa Bay, if Cleveland is getting rid of a pitcher I would probably stay clear. They generally know what they're doing on that front.

[MadThinker88]

6 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Like Tampa Bay, if Cleveland is getting rid of a pitcher I would probably stay clear. They generally know what they're doing on that front.

Thanks for the compliment but CLE still has its share of mistakes.

The one thing that cannot be controlled by the CLE FO (or any FO) is how the player accepts/ responds to coaching.  There are always players that resist/ move to a different drummer.  Sometimes it takes a change of scenery (or 2 or 3) before a player wakes up/ accepts/ adjusts.   Sometimes the player never changes.  Look at MadBum.  He went to his own drum & for a while earlier in his career it worked.  Then by this season in Arizona he was so bad & such a problem behind the scenes, they just dropped him.  After reading what was going on, I doubt any other club doing its due diligence would give him another chance.

Remember: Zach was the same guy that broke COVID protocols for a night out in Chicago with Mike Clevinger during the 2020 season & he had a teammate in the clubhouse that had been fighting leukemia the year before (Carassco)..  Zach has missed time each of the last 2 season for injuries.  In 2021 it was from aggressively removing his shirt in the clubhouse & injuring his hand,  In 2022 he broke his hand punching the mound on the field after a play was not made behind him.

There are reasons for another team to give Plesac a chance & to try to acquire him.  There are also reasons to pass & look for another option.

Edited June 5, 2023 by MadThinker88
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[jerichoholicninja]

Looking at his career he's been nothing special outside of the covid season and has been trending downward since. I don't think an attitude adjustment is going to make him much better than what we already have.

[MadThinker88]

To bring this to a close:

Mandy Bell (CLE beat reporter)

@MandyBell02

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Zach Plesac cleared waivers and was outrighted to Columbus.

4:14 PM · Jun 11, 2023