Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers acquired left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel in a trade with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

The Mariners received cash considerations in return, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Keuchel is currently on a minor league deal and has accumulated a 3.93 ERA in Triple-A ball, although he's recorded an impressive 1.61 ERA in his past five starts (h/t Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

Keuchel established himself as one of the top pitchers in the majors shortly after his debut season with the Houston Astros in 2012, earning an American League Cy Young Award and winning 20 games as a starter for the Astros in 2015.

He was unable to stay in one location as he entered his 30s, suiting up in games with four separate teams since the 2021 season. His last MLB appearance was in 2023, when he played in 10 games for the Minnesota Twins while making six starts.

Keuchel struggled with the Twins, posting a 5.97 ERA and allowing 45 hits in 37.2 innings. The 36-year-old also racked up just 25 strikeouts compared to 18 walks.

While his All-Star days appear to be behind him, he may be able to provide some valuable rotation depth after stringing together some promising starts in the minors. The Brewers have dealt with several injuries to pitchers, currently ranking No. 18 among all teams with an average ERA of 4.20 among starters (via MLB.com).

Right-hander Brandon Woodruff won't pitch in 2024 after undergoing shoulder surgery in Oct. 2023, while lefty Wade Miley underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Rookie Robert Grasser's season also came to an end due to elbow surgery on Monday.

As the Brewers attempt to maintain their five-game lead in the NL Central, Keuchel could become a potential depth option.

The discipline from Tuesday's brawl between the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers has been handed down by MLB.

MLB announced Brewers reliever Abner Uribe received a six-game suspension, Brewers starter Freddy Peralta received a five-game suspension and Brewers manager Pat Murphy was suspended for two games. Rays outfielder Jose Siri was given a three-game ban.

All four of them were fined an undisclosed amount.

There were two separate incidents between that teams that culminated with a benches-clearing brawl.

Siri, who homered in the top of the third, was hit by a pitch from Peralta on a 3-0 count in the sixth inning. Rays manager Kevin Cash seemed to think it was an intentional plunking and asked the umpires to discuss the situation.

After a brief convergence, the umpires tossed Peralta. Crew chief Chris Guccione explained the decision while speaking to reporters after the game:

"So Siri hit a home run—a pretty good home run … and it was a first-pitch home run. So OK, he ran the bases, whatever, and nothing was really said that we noticed. Then you go to the sixth inning, a 3-0 count, and the pitch that hit Siri went right at him.

"You put what happened previously in the game together, and we get together as a crew and we discuss all the events, and we determined as a crew that Peralta was intentionally throwing at Siri. And with that comes an ejection."

Murphy disagreed with the decision and voiced his objection on the field, leading to him being ejected.

Things escalated in the top of the eighth when Uribe covered first on a groundout from Siri. The two exchanged words on the diamond, leading to Uribe taking a swing at Siri. Both benches cleared, and both players were ejected from the game when all the dust had settled.

The Brewers went on two win the game 8-2 to snap their three-game losing streak. The Rays have dropped six of their last eight games.

The Milwaukee Brewers will be without the services of reliever Trevor Megill while he recovers from a concussion.

Milwaukee placed Megill on the concussion list Wednesday after he fainted and hit his head in a store during a bout of food poisoning Saturday, Brewers manager Pat Murphy told reporters.

"He ended up fainting in a phone store … fainted, fell on the ground, hit his head," Murphy said. "When he came to, he called our people and let them know. We evaluated him the next morning, and it was a concussion."

"He's doing OK," Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold added. "We want to be cautious with those types of things, for sure."

Megill is in his second season with the Brewers. He has appeared in two games, recording three strikeouts in two innings.

The 30-year-old appeared in 31 games for the Brewers last season, making two starts. He posted a 3.63 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 52 strikeouts across 34.2 innings.

With Megill on the shelf, the Brewers recalled JB Bukauskas from Triple-A Nashville to take his place on the roster.

Bukauskas is in his first full season with the Brewers organization after spending 2023 split between Milwaukee and the Seattle Mariners. In six major league games last year, he posted a 1.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and seven strikeouts across seven innings.

Milwaukee's bullpen should be able to hold things down while Megill is sidelined. The team's bullpen is highlighted by Joel Payamps, Abner Uribe, Hoby Milner and Elvis Peguero.

The Brewers are off to a hot start, winning their first four games. They're in the middle of a series against the Minnesota Twins and will next play the Seattle Mariners on Friday.

A day after Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins slide into New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil resulted in both teams' benches clearing, Mets pitcher Yohan Ramírez threw a pitch behind Hoskins and was ejected.

After the game, Hoskins gave his thoughts on the pitch, which could be perceived as intentional.

"Big leaguers don't miss by eight feet," Hoskins said, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Todd Rosiak. "Whether or not it was on purpose, that's not for me to decide. I really don't care. But this game has had a way of policing itself for many, many, many years. So let's focus on doing it the right way if we're going to do that."

Hoskins, who finished the game going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI, called the move to throw behind him "bad baseball" in a close-game situation. The Brewers won the game 7-6.

"It seems to be bad baseball on their part to put a runner on second base with less than two outs in a semi-close game and you're losing," Hoskins said. "I'll take the Brewers being in a better position to win the game every single time."

After the game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza explained the pitch from his view, claiming it wasn't intentional despite how it might have seemed in the moment.

"You hate to see it. Obviously, when it first happened, I couldn't tell what the pitch was. Definitely not trying to hit him," Mendoza said. "I understand their frustration with everything that's going on, what happened yesterday and things like that. He threw behind him, and it's going to be a topic because of what happened yesterday... I know it looks really bad, but we're not trying to hit anybody here."

Whether the pitch was intentional is up for interpretation, but the first two matchups between the Brewers and Mets indicate there could be a rivalry forming this season. The Brewers won both of the first two games and will be looking to close out the series with another win on Sunday.

The Milwaukee Brewers will reportedly be without one of their key pieces for the first few months of the 2024 season.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, closer Devin Williams suffered two stress fractures in his back. The injury is expected to sideline him for approximately three months, and the plan is to rehab it ahead of a potential midseason return.

Passan noted Williams visited a back specialist Wednesday. The back specialist diagnosed the injury as two stress fractures and said a full recovery is expected following six weeks of inactivity and six weeks of rehab.

There were already some question marks about Milwaukee coming into the 2024 campaign.

Manager Craig Counsell left for the division-rival Chicago Cubs, and the team also traded 2021 National League Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles. The reigning National League Central champions likely would have relied on Williams a number of times to get through some of that uncertainty in the early going.

Alas, that is no longer an option.

Williams has been with the Brewers his entire career, and he has largely been excellent. He won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year during the shortened campaign and was a back-to-back All-Star during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

He posted a 1.53 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 87 strikeouts in 58.2 innings last year after finishing with a 1.93 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 96 strikeouts in 60.2 innings in 2022.

Milwaukee will likely turn toward the combination of Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps and Abner Uribe at the backend of games with Williams sidelined as it attempts to tread water without the leader of its bullpen.

The Brewers start the regular season on March 28 against the New York Mets.

The Milwaukee Brewers and starter Brandon Woodruff reportedly agreed to a two-year contract Monday.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the news, though financial terms were not disclosed. Woodruff spent his first seven seasons with the Brewers before hitting free agency.

The 31-year-old is expected to miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October. He was limited to just 11 starts last season, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.28 ERA and 0.82 WHIP while striking out 74 batters in 67 innings pitched.

When healthy, Woodruff has the talent to be one of the National League's best arms. He made All-Star appearances in 2019 and 2021 and has not posted an ERA above 3.62 since his rookie campaign in 2017. Overall, Woodruff is 46-26 with a 3.10 ERA over the course of his career.

The Brewers are seemingly willing to take the lumps on eating Woodruff's salary while he rehabs in order to deploy him fully healthy in 2025. Milwaukee has made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons and is coming off its second NL Central crown in three seasons in 2023.

Woodruff was originally scheduled to start Game 2 of the Brewers' Wild Card series against the Arizona Diamondbacks but was scratched due to the shoulder injury.

The benefit for Woodruff re-signing is obvious. He gets to collect a salary this season while rehabbing with an organization where he already has familiarity before returning a year from now. Should Woodruff return to form in 2025, he'll be able to re-enter the free-agent pool that winter with his value—and his arm—fully rehabbed.

The Milwaukee Brewers have a pair of coveted trade pieces, but it sounds like they are in no rush to move either of them.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, "The Brewers are unpredictable, but for now they are not shopping star closer Devin Williams or shortstop Willy Adames, who are both free agents after the year."

Williams has been a mainstay in Milwaukee's bullpen since he made his MLB debut in 2019. He quickly established himself as one of the top relief pitchers in the game, winning NL Rookie of the Year and NL Reliever of the Year in 2020 after recording a 0.33 ERA, a 0.63 WHIP and 53 strikeouts in 27.0 innings of work. His ERA was the lowest in a single season with at least 21 innings pitched since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913.

The 29-year-old transitioned to the Brewers' full-time closer this season and continued to dominate, tying for fifth in the majors with 36 saves while recording a 1.53 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP and 87 strikeouts in 58.2 innings pitched. He was named NL Reliever of the Year for the second time in his career and earned his second straight trip to the All-Star Game.

The Brewers acquired Adames from the Tampa Bay Rays in May 2021. He appeared in a team-high 149 games last season and led Milwaukee with 24 home runs and 80 RBI while hitting .217/.310/.407.

The Brewers went 92-70 last season and won their second NL Central in the last three years, so it's understandable that they wouldn't be interested in moving two of their top players. Milwaukee will surely be motivated to make a deeper postseason run next season after being eliminated in the NL Wild Card Round by the Arizona Diamondbacks last year.

Gary Sánchez has found a new home.

The veteran catcher has agreed to a one-year, $7 million contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in free agency following his stint with the San Diego Padres, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

Sánchez spent most of the 2023 season with the Padres after the franchise claimed him off waivers from the New York Mets in May.

The 31-year-old struggled mightily with the Mets. In just three games and seven plate appearances, he hit .167 with one RBI.

Sánchez revitalized his season with the Padres, hitting .218/.292/.500 with 19 home runs and 46 RBI in 72 games.

The Friars had been in discussions with Sánchez on a new contract this winter, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in December. However, they didn't necessarily have a need to retain him after acquiring Kyle Higashioka in the deal that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees.

San Diego enters 2024 with Higashioka, Luis Campusano and Brett Sullivan at the catcher position.

The Brewers, meanwhile, head into the 2024 campaign expected to enter a rebuild after trading ace Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles last week.

Sánchez joins a Brewers catching rotation that is headlined by William Contreras and also includes Eric Haase. He could be catching the likes of Freddy Peralta, Wade Miley, Joe Ross and Colin Rea.

The Dominican native put together some of the best seasons of his career as a member of the Yankees, earning two All-Star selections and a Silver Slugger award. His best season came in 2017 when he slashed .278/.345/.531 with 33 home runs and 90 RBI in 122 games.

In addition to the Yankees, Mets and Padres, Sánchez also spent time with the Minnesota Twins in 2022.