Brewers sign Joe Ross

[SRB]

I'm not counting him on being a huge contributor obviously, but seems better than the average scrapheap deal. Sounds like the stuff is still good and his underlying metrics were solid in 2021.

[jay87shot]

I think he is a good candidate to move to the bullpen Ala Wilson last year. If his fastball plays up a mph or 2 his fastball slider combo could work well. I am sure this is for the minimum so has to be in AAA for a bit it won't hurt. 

This move makes me think we could be moving a bullpen piece/s in the near future.

[dlk9s]

Now just sign a guy named Chandler.

(RIP Matthew Perry)

[MVP2110]

 

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 hour ago, MVP2110 said:

 

Odds of Ross performing better than Lance Lynn are really good at about 1/10th the price for 2024.  Interesting signing if he stays healthy, and if not it's just a flyer that isnt wlexpensive enough to worry about.

[Thurston Fluff]

13 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I think he is a good candidate to move to the bullpen Ala Wilson last year. If his fastball plays up a mph or 2 his fastball slider combo could work well. I am sure this is for the minimum so has to be in AAA for a bit it won't hurt. 

This move makes me think we could be moving a bullpen piece/s in the near future.

I don't believe he can be sent down without going through waivers. Also not sure if he has to accept a demotion or if he can opt for free agency. Either way I doubt they signed him to with the idea he can send time in AAA.

[jerichoholicninja]

Has to be as a reliever. Even if he is healthy all season you can't expect much more than 50-ish innings out of him.

[monty57]

27 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Has to be as a reliever. Even if he is healthy all season you can't expect much more than 50-ish innings out of him.

That's probably the plan. From MLBtr:

"The Brewers probably can’t rely on Ross to suddenly take on a full stater’s workload. With his injuries and opting out of 2020, he’s only twice reached the 80-inning plateau in a major league season, in 2016 and 2021. Even in those two seasons, he was barely over the century mark. Perhaps the Brewers will end up deploying him in something of a swing role or as a multi-inning pitcher out of the bullpen, but that could depend on how he looks in Spring Training or what other moves the club makes before then."

Multi-innings relievers are valuable in today's game. For $1.75M this seems to be a decent bet by the Brewers.

[iKezims]

19 minutes ago, monty57 said:

That's probably the plan. From MLBtr:

"The Brewers probably can’t rely on Ross to suddenly take on a full stater’s workload. With his injuries and opting out of 2020, he’s only twice reached the 80-inning plateau in a major league season, in 2016 and 2021. Even in those two seasons, he was barely over the century mark. Perhaps the Brewers will end up deploying him in something of a swing role or as a multi-inning pitcher out of the bullpen, but that could depend on how he looks in Spring Training or what other moves the club makes before then."

Multi-innings relievers are valuable in today's game. For $1.75M this seems to be a decent bet by the Brewers.

Unlikely, but maybe Milwaukee will transition Bryse Wilson into a starter role and Ross will take his swing spot? 

Wilson only went 3+ innings five times in '23, but I was surprised to see he only allowed one total run over those five games. Of course it's a ridiculously small sample size, but never know since he made 41 starts between 21-22. 

[Thurston Fluff]

2 minutes ago, iKezims said:

Unlikely, but maybe Milwaukee will transition Bryse Wilson into a starter role and Ross will take his swing spot? 

Wilson only went 3+ innings five times in '23, but I was surprised to see he only allowed one total run over those five games. Of course it's a ridiculously small sample size, but never know since he made 41 starts between 21-22. 

Why move a failed starter who found success in the bullpen back to where he failed? It looks to me like they want to have more than one multiple inning reliever and he's one of them. Honestly I think having Wilson, Ross and Rea all in the pen means they can fill out the starting rotation with five inning types. Our rotation looks to have at least three who are either coming off injury, a rookie and Miley who is old and not very durable. It'd make sense to have a lot of long/swing men this season. If one steps up as a legitimate starter, all the better. I just doubt they're planning on relying on any of the three to lock down a rotation spot.

[DR28]

Ross could be a nice swingman with that power sinker.

Our rotation could be set anyway with Burnes, Peralta, Miley, Houser, Rea... It's not a championship type rotation but its pretty damn solid.

[iKezims]

55 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Why move a failed starter who found success in the bullpen back to where he failed? It looks to me like they want to have more than one multiple inning reliever and he's one of them. Honestly I think having Wilson, Ross and Rea all in the pen means they can fill out the starting rotation with five inning types. Our rotation looks to have at least three who are either coming off injury, a rookie and Miley who is old and not very durable. It'd make sense to have a lot of long/swing men this season. If one steps up as a legitimate starter, all the better. I just doubt they're planning on relying on any of the three to lock down a rotation spot.

Yeah definitely don't disagree, just spit-balling ideas on how to use Ross/Wilson. I don't necessarily think because Wilson failed as a starter elsewhere correlates to him 100% failing as a starter in Milwaukee. But I do agree it probably isn't worth it to find out or ruin a now good thing. No qualms here about more guys who can go more innings. Good insurance on the backend of the rotation. 

[monty57]

17 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Why move a failed starter who found success in the bullpen back to where he failed? It looks to me like they want to have more than one multiple inning reliever and he's one of them. Honestly I think having Wilson, Ross and Rea all in the pen means they can fill out the starting rotation with five inning types. Our rotation looks to have at least three who are either coming off injury, a rookie and Miley who is old and not very durable. It'd make sense to have a lot of long/swing men this season. If one steps up as a legitimate starter, all the better. I just doubt they're planning on relying on any of the three to lock down a rotation spot.

For the most part I agree, although at this point I think Rea is in position for a rotation spot (Burnes, Peralta, Miley, Houser, Rea). Burnes is likely to be traded, and I hope they bring a good, young starter back in that trade, but that still leaves Rea in the rotation. They'd either need to sign a better FA, or trade (probably an OF) for a starter in order to knock Rea to the 'pen. Gasser and Misiorowski are waiting in the wings. It's possible they open the season with Gasser in the rotation, but I think he'll come up a little later this year, both for service time reasons and to keep his innings down. 

This showcases why having a couple multi-inning guys makes sense. They're going from Burnes/Woodruff/Peralta at the top of the rotation to Peralta/Miley/Houser. They're going to need some guys in the 'pen who can step in and pick up innings when we have short starts.

Honestly, if Burnes is traded, the only real safe spots in the rotation are Peralta and Miley, and you pretty much have to expect Miley will spend some time on the injured list through the season. Ross and Wilson will get plenty of work, and I'd expect Gasser and Misiorowski to make their debuts. It will be interesting to see what % of the Brewers' starts this season will go to our current depth chart rotation (Burnes, Peralta, Miley, Houser and Rea). The over/under is probably 50%.

[MVP2110]

Ross being looked at as a Starter, atleast initially

 

 

[Underachiever]

Ross and Miley can equal one starter. Can't imagine Ross has more than 80-100 innings in that arm, max, for this season.

[Underachiever]

Joe and Wade combine to win a Cy Young, and are jointly known as the Wrecking Ball, by Miley Cy Ross.

 

I'm sorry.