Milwaukee Brewers: Could LHP Dan Jennings Possibly Return?

The Milwaukee Brewers still have several players from last year’s roster that remain on the free agent market. One of them is southpaw Dan Jennings.

When the Milwaukee Brewers non-tendered Dan Jennings back in November, that appeared to be the end of it for Jennings in America’s Dairyland. But he still remains on the free agent market, so could he come back?

After getting left off the Rays 25 man roster to start the season, the Brewers signed Jennings to a one year deal as the extra lefty in their bullpen.

Jennings In 2018

Jennings was a decent option out of the bullpen for manager Craig Counsell, pitching to a 3.22 ERA  and 1.38 WHIP over 64.1 innings. He finished with one save, two blown saves, and 11 holds.

Also, on September 24th, Jennings was the initial out-getter for the Brewers, and was able to get Matt Carpenter to ground out to start the game, and was promptly pulled, as he did his job.

That was also the end of Jennings’ season as he did not pitch again in the regular season and was not on either postseason roster. Jennings has always been a fairly reliable and effective reliever over his career, and will earn another chance with a big league club in 2019. He’s nothing special out of the bullpen, but he’s solid. So why not bring him back in 2019?

Could Jennings Return?

After the Milwaukee Brewers jettisoned both of their LOOGYs in Jennings and Xavier Cedeno at the non-tender deadline, the only healthy lefty on the Crew’s roster was Josh Hader. Since then, the Brewers have acquired reliever Alex Claudio from the Rangers to serve as the team’s situational lefty as Hader is utilized in a different way than most lefties.

The Brewers had two situational lefties in their bullpen during September last season and that seemed to work well. Perhaps Jennings and Claudio could co-exist in the same bullpen for a whole season.

It just depends on whether or not the Brewers want to bring Jennings back. There aren’t that many left handed relievers out there in free agency, and if the Brewers feel happy with just Claudio and Hader as their only lefties, then Jennings won’t be coming back.

If, for some reason, the Brewers still want another lefty option in that bullpen for this season, Jennings would be a nice option to bring back since they’re familiar with him and he pitched well last year.

The Milwaukee Brewers could be done with their bullpen group, content to head into the season with what they have. If not, Jennings is a logical option.