Brewers: 3 Non-Tendered Relievers Who Are Worth Targeting

The Brewers could possibly use a couple arms in the bullpen now that MLB’s non-tender deadline has come and gone.

As many have tried to project what positions the Brewers will target this offseason, one area that had generally been left out to this point was the bullpen. That is largely because they were arguably the team’s best-performing unit in 2020.

But then MLB’s non-tender deadline passed and things changed a little bit. Long time Brewers righty reliever Corey Knebel ended up getting traded to the Dodgers right before the deadline and lefty reliever Alex Claudio ended up being non-tendered by the team for the second straight year.

As a result, Milwaukee now has a couple holes to fill in the bullpen. And though the team could fill those spots internally, there aren’t a ton of obvious options to fill the bullpen who aren’t already up in the majors.

Relievers like Drew Rasmussen and Justin Topa found themselves in the majors for the first time in 2020 and finished the season on the roster. They will almost certainly be contributors in 2021.

There are also players like Bobby Wahl, Ray Black, Phil Bickford, or Angel Perdomo on the 40-man roster who will be looking to bounce back from injury, poor performance, or both from last season. But they are no locks to get bullpen spots for next season.

Outside of that, you could be looking at players outside the 40-man roster like Zack Brown or Quintin Torres-Costa. But not only would they be dark horses to make the roster, they may not even be around anymore after MLB’s Rule 5 draft takes place.

So while there is a chance that the open bullpen spots could be filled internally, it’s more likely that the solution comes from outside the organization. And president of baseball operations David Stearns generally likes to add a veteran reliever or two every offseason anyway.

Assuming Stearns does in fact add to the bullpen externally once again, there are several relievers who were non-tendered last week from which to consider. Here are three who would be worth targeting by the Brewers.

RHP Matt Wisler

If you want the best combination of 2020 performance and potential contract amount, this just might be it.

Matt Wisler was acquired by the Minnesota Twins last offseason after he had been placed on waivers by the Seattle Mariners. He wound up having the best season of his career so far, albeit in a small sample size of a shortened season.

In 18 games last season, Wisler compiled a 1.07 ERA (3.35 FIP) and a 1.145 WHIP, both career low marks, over 25 1/3 innings. He was a bit multi-functional as well as he was used as an opener in four games, pitching no more than two innings in any outing, and picked up one save as well.

Wisler also set a career high mark in strikeouts per nine (12.4) as well as career low marks in hits per nine (5.3) and home runs per nine (0.7).

The one problem is that all of this came with a sharp rise in walks per nine. His 5.0 BB/9 in 2020 was by far a career high and well above his career average of 3.0.

It’s possible that this was a result of using a new pitch mix in 2020. Having used four to five pitches in past seasons, Wisler condensed his mix to just two pitches last season, a slider and a four-seam fastball. His primary pitch was actually the low-80’s slider, which he used a career high 83.4% of the time last season. The fastball he pairs with it runs in the low 90’s.

Despite the rise in walks, his approach in 2020 made him somewhat of a Statcast darling. Wisler found himself ranking in the top 10% of the league in several statistical categories including hard hit rate (28.6%), barrel rate (3.6%), and XBA (.146).

Still 28-years-old, Wisler was reaching his second year of arbitration this offseason and was projected a raise in the range of just $1.1MM to $1.8MM per projections at MLB Trade Rumors. Yet the Twins still decided to non-tender.

That’s exactly the type of price range where if Wisler’s 2020 proved to be a fluke, it wouldn’t hurt to cut bait and move on. It’s also why Stearns should give him a strong look.

RHP Nick Tropeano

It was an even smaller sample size in 2020 for right-handed reliever Nick Tropeano. But his performance was such that it still warrants a look from Stearns and the Brewers.

Tropeano was a bit of a journeyman last season. After being signed to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training by the Yankees and then being added to the major league roster on August 6th, he was designated for assignment by them just two days later without appearing in a game.

The Pirates decided to take a chance on him, claiming him off waivers and adding him to their Alternate Training Site. On August 23rd, he was added to Pittsburgh’s main roster.

Tropeano only ended up getting 15 2/3 innings in on the season and gave up just two earned runs over them for a 1.15 ERA (2.55 FIP) while putting together a 1.149 WHIP.

Unlike Wisler, Tropeano was not susceptible to giving up the walk. He had a ratio of 19 strikeouts to just four walks, good for a 10.9 K/9 and a 2.3 BB/9. He held batters to a .233 batting average on the season.

One might have thought that those results, which came in his first decent amount of action as a full-time reliever after coming up as a starter with the Angels, would be enough for a second look in 2021 with the Pirates.

Instead, he was placed on waivers by Pittsburgh, claimed by the New York Mets in late October, and then ultimately non-tendered by them last week.

Tropeano comes with a diverse pitch mix from his days as a starter. In his first big year as a reliever in 2020, though, he mostly relied on a slider, splitter, and four-seamer. His slider and splitter ran in the high 70s to low 80s while his four-seamer sat in the low 90s.

MLB Trade Rumors did not have an arbitration projection for Tropeano, but he pitched on the minimum $575k contract last season. He can likely be gotten for cheap, which, combined with his untapped potential as a reliever, makes it worth giving him a shot.