Brewers News: Luke Voit Agrees To Push Back Opt Out, Brewers 'Like' Him
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Brewers non roster invitee Luke Voit had an opt out in his minor league contract this week. If the Brewers didn't add him to the 40 man roster, he could've opted to become a free agent and sign elsewhere.
A few days later and Voit still isn't on the 40 man but yet he's still in Brewers camp.
According to Voit, he agreed to push back his opt out date to help the Brewers maintain roster flexibility with the likelihood that he'll be added to the 40 man roster soon enough.
Luke Voit told us he’s agreed to push his opt-out to Friday. He likes the fit with the Brewers and has been told they like him. But the team is trying to maintain maximum 40-man roster flexibility.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) March 18, 2023
This is good news for the Brewers and for Voit making the roster. He's performed extremely well in camp as he looks to earn a spot. Through 11 Cactus League games, Voit is hitting .357 with two doubles, two homers, and a 1.022 OPS. He's done plenty to earn himself a spot on the roster.
He likes the Brewers, the Brewers like him. It's a good fit for both sides. The Brewers just simply don't want to make the move right now.
There's still a little less than two weeks before Opening Day and the Brewers are likely to make several 40 man roster moves in the coming days. Justin Wilson needs to go on the 60 Day IL, that'll clear one spot. The Brewers need to decide if Rule 5 pick Gus Varland will stick on the roster. If not, he gets returned to the Dodgers and his 40 man spot opens up.
Then there's the roster spot that belongs to Keston Hiura, which is likely the one the Brewers are trying to deal with for Voit. Hiura and Voit have similar skillsets, yet Voit has been more successful in his career and more successful this spring. Hiura is out of minor league options. He hasn't looked measurably improved at all and he's likely coming to the end of the line in Milwaukee. But there's no reason to drop Hiura now.
The Brewers likely want to wait as long as possible before they have to cut Hiura, and are potentially trying to trade him at the moment as well. He won't be worth much in a trade, but getting something for him is better than losing him for nothing.
Voit is looking worthy of a roster spot. He knows it and the Brewers have seemingly made that clear, which convinced him to push back his opt out to make things easier on the Brewers to get the roster spot ready for him.
As we get closer to Opening Day, that roster flexibility is going to come into play and there will be moves made, and fans should expect that adding Voit to the roster will be one of them. If that isn't what the plan is, he wouldn't be sticking around past his opt out and agree to push it back.
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