Notes: Left-hander Wade Miley ready to make adjustments and turn the page with Brewers
PHOENIX – Wade Miley reported to the Milwaukee Brewers’ spring camp Friday ready to turn the page.
Actually, the veteran left-hander already had begun to turn pages.
After a rough 2017 season with Baltimore, Miley returned home to Louisiana and linked up with a former summer pitching coach, Chris Westcott. The two made some immediate adjustments in Miley’s delivery and he went right to work with mound sessions to incorporate the changes.
“I’m an open book. Obviously, the last couple of years have been pretty rough,” said Miley, 31, who went 8-15 with a 5.61 ERA in 32 starts for the Orioles last year while leading the American League with 93 walks.
“We picked up a few things and went at it. I had lost my release point. Last year was absurd. You lose confidence in your stuff. I worked my tail off this off-season to try to get back mechanically where I want to be. I’ve been throwing a lot. We’ll see if it pays off.”
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In an off-season in which even successful free-agent pitchers in 2017 were hearing mostly crickets, Miley simply was happy to get any kind of offer. He signed a minor-league deal with the Brewers on Thursday that will pay him a salary of $2.5 million if he makes the club, with another $3.2 million available in incentives.
“I’m just excited to get an opportunity,” said Miley, who will get a shot to make the starting rotation. “It wasn’t like I had a bunch of guys beating down my door. It was definitely a weird off-season.
"Spring training was starting and I was wondering if anybody was going to call. I think this will be a good place to come. Chase Anderson (a former teammate in Arizona) texted me right away and said I’ll love it here.
“When (the Orioles) came to Milwaukee last year, the fun the Brewers were having in the dugout stood out to me. They were having fun. You could see the energy. And it’s a good ballclub. I hope I can help out any way I can. I feel good about it.”
Because Miley had been throwing on his own, he was able to join right in with the Brewers’ group that threw bullpen sessions during the morning workout. Miley said he was looking forward to working with pitching coach Derek Johnson to pick his brain about the changes he made to his delivery.
Manager Craig Counsell said Miley’s openness to ideas and the team’s advance research made a match that led to a deal being struck.
“He had a tough year last year, so you want to try to help him, figure out different things he can do,” Counsell said. “There’s a similar story to Yovani (Gallardo, a teammate of Miley's in Baltimore in 2016). He’s a guy who’s had a lot of success in the league but has struggled a bit lately. He understands he has to make some changes for the next step of his career.
“We're trying to get out in front of things. David (Stearns) and his group have done a great job of presenting plans and actionable items that we can attack. Sometimes, you go down a path and say, 'No, that's not the right path.’ Or you go down a path and it opens up something else. But we're going to start down a path with these guys and see where it takes us.”
Creating culture: The National League Central-rival Pittsburgh Pirates made headlines Friday and for all the wrong reasons, as third baseman David Freese publicly ripped the organization – from management to manager Clint Hurdle to the players themselves – for not doing more to win games in recent years.
The Pirates made the playoffs in 2013, ’14 and ’15 only to win a total of two games over that span. They didn’t advance past the wild card in 2014 or ’15 despite playing both games at home, and the organization failed to make any big moves to try to bolster its chances before the trading deadline.
Since then, Pittsburgh went 78-83 in 2016 and 75-87 in 2017.
The team traded two of its best players in the off-season in pitcher Gerrit Cole and outfielder Andrew McCutchen, earning more venom from an already riled-up fan base. But it was fairly eye-opening to see a respected veteran player like Freese popping off at the outset of spring training.
It’s safe to say there won’t be similar outbursts in Maryvale. Already building a winning culture, the Brewers shifted from an all-out rebuild to go-for-it mode this season with the additions of outfielders Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, and the players are excited about where the club is headed.
Counsell, a former longtime player, has spent a good deal of time since becoming manager trying to instill a competitive, winning and open atmosphere in the clubhouse. On Friday morning, he again touched on those topics with his team in his daily briefing.
“We talked about it a little bit today in our meeting, where can we find edges in the game,” he said. “We have to search out every possible edge we can find. That's a place you can try to make a little bit of a difference. We try to make a little bit of a difference with how the pitchers and catchers communicate.
“We try to find ways to make progress in areas that don't necessarily require physical talent. It does require talent, though. Communication isn't easy. You have to open yourself up to some things, you have to be a little vulnerable to some things.
“I think the guys have done a good job with that.”
Lean to the left: Counsell should have an advantage he seldom has had – two left-handed pitchers in the bullpen for an entire season. Josh Hader returns from a brilliant rookie season and veteran Boone Logan signed on as a free agent to provide an experienced lefty.
“The difference is going to be how Josh and Boone Logan relate to each other,” Counsell said. “We haven’t had two left-handers in the bullpen. That’s where my head goes right now and that’s how I think our bullpen is different from a management perspective.
“As long as you get outs, I don't care what hand you throw with. One thing we've never been really able to figure out is how much that means. We all want balance. But you don't need the perfect balance. In my experience so far, it's uncovered some good things for us. It's unearthed some positive things and forced us to do some good things.”
