Brewers opt not to keep Gallardo; Broxton, Phillips, Guerra optioned to Colorado Springs

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Yovani Gallardo goes three innings in a start for the Brewers against the Athletics on Friday, allowing just two runs -- both on a home run by former teammate Khris Davis in the first inning -- on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

PHOENIX – There will be no second time around with the Milwaukee Brewers for Yovani Gallardo.

Gallardo’s bid to rejoin the club with which he began his career ended Saturday when he was told he would not make the big-league roster. The 32-year-old right-hander, the Brewers’ all-time strikeout leader, was vying for a spot in the bullpen after being eliminated from the rotation competition.

The decision on Gallardo was one of many moves the Brewers made to get close to the team with which they will open the season. Barring an outside move, which always is a possibility at the end of camp, there are three spots to be filled and five players in the running – relievers Oliver Drake, Taylor Williams and J.J. Hoover, and first basemen Jesús Aguilar and Ji-Man Choi.

As expected after the additions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich gave the Brewers a glut of outfielders, Keon Broxton and Brett Phillips were optioned to Class AAA Colorado Springs. Phillips saw the handwriting on the wall and took his demotion in good spirits but Broxton was too upset to talk about it.

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Manager Craig Counsell also firmed up the starting rotation with which the Brewers will open the season. Left-hander Brent Suter, a swingman last season, will start the third game of the season in San Diego, behind Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin.

Rookie right-hander Brandon Woodruff will be the fifth starter behind Zach Davies, who will start the home opener against St. Louis. But, because the Brewers do not need a fifth starter until the eighth game of the season against the Chicago Cubs, Woodruff will be assigned to relief duty until that day.

With those decisions, right-hander Junior Guerra was optioned to Class AAA Colorado Springs to pitch in that rotation. Guerra, who had a rare fourth minor-league option, was the Brewers’ opening day starter in 2017, so it was quite a fall in one year’s time.

In moves that were expected, the Brewers also told infielders Nick Franklin and Nate Orf, outfielder Kyle Wren, catcher Christian Bethancourt and reliever Radames Liz they would not make the club. Before being reassigned to the minors, those players will accompany the team to Houston for two exhibition games.

“Every conversation today was tough,” Counsell said. “It was different than the last two years because these are players who are big leaguers. They've been big leaguers. We all think they can be big leaguers.

“It's the kind of day we were anticipating when camp started. A day of difficult decisions of players who have contributed here at the big-league level pretty substantially."

After tough seasons with Baltimore and Seattle, Gallardo signed a $2 million non-guaranteed deal with the Brewers with hopes of bouncing back with his original club. He pitched better as camp progressed and had a 4.73 ERA in eight outings with 12 hits, eight walks and 12 strikeouts over 13 1/3 innings.

General manager David Stearns said Gallardo remained on the 40-man roster because there has been some "trade chatter" involving him. If not dealt he must be released by Monday, with the club paying one-fourth of his salary.

"As we've moved through various roster constructions, we didn't see a fit for him on the team," Stearns said. "We're erring on the side of (having) flexibility a little bit as we get going.

"For someone like Yovani, if you guarantee $2 million to him, that spot's frozen, and there's no flexibility. Someone with options has a lot of flexibility. Players without options don't have as much but you're still able to take them off the roster if needed. So, there are a lot of possibilities we can work through."

Phillips, 23, who performed well in 2017 as a September call-up, had a rough camp, batting .143 with two homers and five RBI in 49 at-bats. Even with a banner spring, he wouldn’t have made the club, however, so Phillips didn’t even ask for an explanation upon being cut.

“I told them I understand,” he said. “I shook their hands and walked out. There didn’t need to be anything said. This was the result of zero to little production on my part this spring. Obviously, as a competitor it’s disappointing.

“I understand how it goes. I need to go down and get ready for the Triple-A season. That’s what I’m going to do. Hopefully, they’ll want me to help them out this year, somehow, some way, and I’ve got to be ready. It would be stupid for me to crawl in a cave and be salty about when I know I could still be a factor this year. I’ve got to go down and take care of business.”

Broxton knew his roster spot was in jeopardy as well but still took the news hard. In 143 games for the Brewers last season, he was a 20/20 man (steals, home runs) but also struck out 175 times, one of the highest totals in the majors.

Stearns said it was perfectly understandable that Broxton would not be happy about going to the minors.

"Keon is a major-league player," Stearns said. "He knows he's a major-league player. We know he's a major-league player. We've talked about that, at some point, we'd have more major-league players than we have roster spots. That's where we are."

Guerra, 33, whose 2017 season went downhill after he suffered a calf strain on opening day, threw the ball OK during camp, posting a 3.15 ERA over six outings, with 16 strikeouts over 20 innings, though opponents did bat .321 against him.

Woodruff, 25, struggled more than Guerra, with a 7.15 ERA over five outings with four home runs allowed and a .327 opponents batting average. But the decision was made to keep the younger pitcher, leaving Guerra to go down and stay ready if needed.

“To tell you the truth, I had no idea where they were going to start me at,” Guerra said. “Whether it was good news or bad news, I was just waiting for them to tell me. I’ll go down to Triple-A and keep working. The important thing for me is that I feel healthy.

“I feel like I performed decent enough but obviously it wasn’t enough to make the club. That’s part of the job. You feel down about it but at the end of the day it’s a business.”

Barring an outside move as in past seasons, there are two spots open in the bullpen. Drake is out of minor-league options, Williams has options and Hoover is on a minor-league deal and would have to be added to the 40-man roster.

Considering both Aguilar and Choi are first basemen, it is nearly impossible for both to make the roster.