Milwaukee Brewers: Gio Gonzalez Signs One Year Deal With Crew

The Milwaukee Brewers have some cracks in their starting rotation. Reports have them close to filling one those cracks with an old friend.

Gio Gonzalez opted out of his contract with the Yankees a few days ago. Rumors had it back then the Milwaukee Brewers were interested in a reunion with the southpaw. Now things have reportedly escalated.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Brewers are the frontrunner to land Gonzalez, and have signed him to a deal.

We discussed this topic at length on the latest Reviewing the Brew podcast episode, and it appears the Brewers themselves have discussed this topic a lot as well.

Why Go After Gio Gonzalez?

To start the season, the Brewers have not gotten the desired production out of the starting rotation and the young pitchers they installed in that group have gone through some lumps. Corbin Burnes has been demoted, Freddy Peralta has gone on the IL, and Brandon Woodruff has an ERA over 5.00, and it’s still the best of those three.

As a group, Brewers starters have a 5.74 ERA through the first 25 games, which is the worst in the NL.

Gonzalez is a veteran that the team is familiar with and comfortable with after making five starts down the September stretch for the Crew last season. With Gonzalez being a lefty, he’d also add diversity to this starting group comprised entirely of right handed pitchers.

He’s also made three starts in Triple-A after missing most of spring training and is basically ready to jump into a big league rotation right now.

What Will Gio Gonzalez’s Contract Look Like?

He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in mid-March that would’ve been worth $3 million had he been added to the big league roster. There were very high incentives for each start made on that contract, which shows the Yankees never really thought he would become a member of their rotation and didn’t have any intention of paying him that.

Gonzalez will get $2 million with the Brewers, as Rosenthal pointed out, and there’s an extra $2 million in incentives he could earn.

What’s interesting is that the deal is not pro-rated, which would be a full one year deal with money taken out for the time he wasn’t with the club. It’s a straight up $2 million guarantee.

Gonzalez will immediately join the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation as he’s ready to go and the team has an immediate need.

For Brewers fans demanding the team makes a move to address the starting rotation’s issues this year, here’s the move. It’s not Dallas Keuchel, but it’s a nice stopgap with an old friend.