Brewers To Sign Former All-Star, Gold Glover To Minors Contract

The Milwaukee Brewers remain active on the player acquisition front. Following the trade of Orlando Arcia, the Brewers have now signed infielder Dee Strange-Gordon to a minor league contract.

Apparently the infield depth wasn’t as strong as we may have previously thought. With Luis Urias cemented as the Crew’s starting shortstop, the only other infielder capable of handling shortstop at the big league level that’s healthy right now is Daniel Robertson.

Should anything happen to either one of those, the next closest shortstop to the big leagues is Brice Turang, but he’s not ready yet.

So Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns made an addition.

After getting released by the Cincinnati Reds at the end of spring training, Dee Strange-Gordon has found a new home with the Brewers. He comes in on a minor league contract.

Strange-Gordon will turn 33 in a few weeks and is far from the player he once was when he was in his prime with the Miami Marlins, but he can still be a solid player with some speed and can play in various parts of the field.

Strange-Gordon was an All-Star in 2014 and 2015, and won a Gold Glove at second base in 2015.

He doesn’t provide much in terms of home run power, but he’s a prolific base-stealer, swiping 60 bags in a season twice in his career and leading the league three different times.

In 2020, Strange-Gordon only played in 33 games and hit just .200 with a 39 OPS+, far below his usual offensive production.

He failed to latch on with the Reds in camp.

Strange-Gordon has played a lot of second base in his career, but he also can play some shortstop and centerfield. The Brewers need a Triple-A shortstop, and Gordon is likely to fill that role. Mark Mathias is out for several months with a shoulder injury and Turang is likely going to start in Double-A.

He might get an opportunity to come up to the big league squad this season, but that’ll likely be dependent on an injury happening at the big league roster.

As a veteran player with versatility, Strange-Gordon could add some value to the Brewers organization in the clubhouse and off the field more so than he likely will on the field at this point. Strange-Gordon was a teammate of Christian Yelich‘s down in Miami and now the two are in the same organization again.

This is a depth move by Stearns to backfill the middle infield after the Orlando Arcia trade.