Kyle Lohse to the Milwaukee Brewers: For Real This Time

Its all but done, guys.

Reports have been confirmed that the Milwaukee Brewers have inked a deal with veteran pitcher Kyle Lohse, after months of churning rumors that seemed all but dead.

Kyle Lohse helped pitched the Cardinals deep into the playoffs two years in a row – can we expect the same for Milwaukee? (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

According to reports coming in from Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Jerry Crasnik at ESPN, the deal will be worth $33 million over three years, with a possible $1 million in bonuses. Obviously the three years should surprise some Brewers fans who have been keeping close tabs on the off season here in Milwaukee, but the front office finally caved on the demands of the veteran pitcher.

Also, as part of the deal, the Milwaukee Brewers will surrender their 17th pick in this year’s draft, while the St Louis Cardinals – Lohse’s former team – will gain pick number 28.

Last season, Kyle Lohse posted a 16-3 record with a 2.86 ERA – the fifth best in the National League. His WHIP of 1.09 was fourth best in the league, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was 3.76. If his last two seasons are any indication, the Milwaukee Brewers should have locked up a dependable and effective pitcher through 2016.

So why did it take so long?

In a word: Scott Boras. The word on the street was that when Boras and Kyle Lohse declined the Cardinals’ $13.3 million qualifying offer for the right hander that the price and the demands from the Lohse camp was already too high. Though e obviously weren’t privy to the talks that happened between Boras and Brewers front office staff, we can speculate that it had something to do with the young pitchers currently making up the starting rotation in comparison to the rotations at the presumed top of the division.

While Lohse still has to pass his physical today and get into Major League form, questions are already arising as to how the rotation will shift again. With Mark Rogers out of the picture with a dead arm, either Wily Peralta or (more likely) Mike Fiers are the likely candidates to shifted out of the rotation due to their lack of experience. The guess is that once Lohse gets up to speed (he hasn’t pitched beyond simulated games yet as he did not have a team to call home) he will be pegged  just under Yovani Gallardo as the number two pitcher in the rotation.

There is no word yet on when Lohse will be in real-game action for the Milwaukee Brewers.

We’ll try to keep you updated throughout the day as the details of the signing unfold.