With free-agent relief prices soaring, the Brewers are willing to wait to make additions

Tom Haudricourt
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Anthony Swarzak, who enjoyed the best season of his career in 2017 with the Brewers, signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets for $14 million.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns has keen interest in adding bullpen depth this off-season.

Just not at these prices.

The free-agent relief market continued to be aggressive at the winter meetings Wednesday. The going rate was $7 million to $9 million per season, with every deal going two or three years.

One such deal went to Anthony Swarzak, the midseason addition who pitched so well for the Brewers (2.48 ERA in 29 games, 39 strikeouts in 29 innings) in 2017. Swarzak, who had his best season while turning 32 in September, signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets for $14 million.

Stearns confirmed he made a two-year offer to Swarzak but didn’t want to guarantee that much money.

“Anthony did a tremendous job for us this year and we wanted to bring him back,” Stearns said. “He found a better situation elsewhere. Anthony’s desire to be here was genuine and our desire to bring him back was genuine. He had a really good year and because of that, the market rewarded him handsomely.”

Asked if Swarzak was tough to evaluate because he pitched so much better at this latter stage of his career, Stearns said, “I think relievers in general are tricky to evaluate. The fluctuation of performance from year to year is pretty great, even for really talented relief pitchers. We have to take that into account as we’re looking at these guys.

“That challenge is probably accentuated a little bit with someone like Anthony who had a career that didn’t necessarily predict what he did last year. At the same time, you can’t take away what he did last year. He had a tremendous year. He was a big part of our run down the stretch.”

Some teams have shown no reluctance to pay the going rate. The Rockies, for example, gave lefty Jake McGee and right-hander Bryan Shaw similar deals that will pay them about $27 million over three years. But Stearns was not ready to jump into the deep end of the relief pool at this stage.

“We’ve explored a number of different pitchers, starters and relievers, and ultimately we determined the prices these guys were getting at this stage of the off-season were more than we felt comfortable paying,” he said.

“That happens a lot this early, at the winter meetings. Things can go very fast and you can get into a little bit of a bidding war. We try to avoid that.”

It’s no secret that baseball has become a bullpen game, as the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers showed again in the World Series. Managers pull starters earlier to keep opponents from getting to them in the middle to later innings, making a reliable bullpen more important than ever. Thus, the soaring prices to acquire established relievers.

“They certainly are being valued higher than ever on the free-agent market,” Stearns said. “That’s clear over the past couple of days. Certain teams are paying relievers at a higher rate than we’ve ever seen before. There are benefits to that and risks associated with that. Each team is weighing those risks and benefits and making the best decisions they can.

“We know relief pitching is important. Getting outs is important. We talk about that all the time. You can pile together 27 outs in a variety of ways. We proved that last year. That’s our goal, to pile together 27 outs each night.”

Asked if the reluctance to pay current prices will leave the Brewers to pick through nothing but scraps, Stearns said, “I’m confident that over the course of the off-season we’re going to be able to meet our objectives. There are still a lot of really talented players out there – relievers, starters, position players – both (through) trades and free agency.”

There can be no question that the Brewers need bullpen help. They turned loose two of their most heavily used relievers – Jared Hughes (67 games) and Carlos Torres (67) -- after the season. The 35-year-old Torres lost effectiveness (4.21 ERA) with the heavy workload but Hughes performed well (3.02 ERA) before being non-tendered.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if Jared gets a very nice contract," Stearns said. "But we felt like we could devote resources elsewhere and fill our pen needs elsewhere.”

Corey Knebel had a breakthrough season as the new closer (1.76 ERA in 76 games, 39 saves, 126 strikeouts in 76 innings), but Jacob Barnes wore down under heavy usage (4.00 ERA in 73 games) and Oliver Drake (4.44 in 61 games) also showed slippage. Jeremy Jeffress performed well (3.65 ERA in 22 games) after being reacquired at midseason but signed a non-guaranteed $1.7 million deal with two club options to avoid being non-tendered.

“We’ve got internal options and there are external options as well,” Stearns said. “Between those different avenues of player acquisition, I think we’re going to be able to put together a pen that does a nice job for us.”

So, why aren’t the Brewers willing to spend money at this point, some fans wonder? They operated with the lowest payroll in the majors (less than $60 million) in 2017 and should have plenty of financial flexibility with the game’s revenues skyrocketing.

“We have the support to spend when we think it’s prudent,” Stearns said. “Not only prudent for now but for the future as well. We understand the constraints we have and we need to manage accordingly."

“We have spending power this off-season. I’m confident we’re going to find places to use that effectively. Just because we haven’t found it quite yet doesn’t mean that we won’t.”

Quinn leaving: Executive vice president Bob Quinn is leaving the Brewers after 15 years to work for John Canning, one of the team’s minority owners and a member of its board of directors. Canning is the founder and chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago private equity firm.

Quinn was the point man on the Brewers’ recently approved Maryvale Baseball Park spring training renovation project and held many duties, including chief financial officer, human resources, information systems, Miller Park operations and business administration. He oversaw the team’s $20 million overhaul of the ballpark concession areas last winter.

“Bob and I worked side-by-side for 15 years and was an integral part of everything we have done in the business operations of the Brewers,” chief operating officer Rick Schlesinger said. “We did not know each other before we started with the Brewers but we have become close friends and great partners.

“I know Bob is excited about his new opportunity but he will always have a connection to the club.”