Photo Credit: Bendrew V./Flickr
It came as no surprise when the Brewers made a significant series of player moves on Sunday, the first day where MLB rules allowed them to expand their roster for the stretch run. The additions, however, were overshadowed by a subtraction.
For the second time in as many weeks, the Brewers have opted to cut ties with an injured, long-tenured veteran pitcher. This time it was Jeremy Jeffress, less than a year removed from a season where he posted a 1.29 ERA across 73 appearances, recorded 15 saves, made his first All Star appearance and established himself as a dominant weapon out of the Brewers’ bullpen.
Like Jhoulys Chacin, however, Jeffress saw his on-field value quickly diminish in 2019. The troubles started when he was shut down after just one Cactus League appearance this spring, leading to a delayed beginning to his regular season. When he returned, he battled mechanical issues and changed his arsenal: A perceived change in the baseball made it difficult for him to throw a split-finger fastball, his best pitch in 2018. FanGraphs’ Pitch Info data suggests he threw the pitch about 16% of the time in each of the last two seasons but just 7% this year. He compensated with more fastballs and sinkers, but the velocity of both pitches dropped almost 2 mph.
Despite all those challenges, Jeffress remained a serviceable bullpen arm until relatively recently: On July 21, he had a 3.63 ERA, almost a full run better than the average National League reliever, and he was striking out nearly a batter per inning. He allowed two runs in a blown save on July 22, however, starting a stretch where he allowed more earned runs in a span of eleven outings (13) than he did in all of 2018 (11). His performance finally reached the point where the Brewers publicly acknowledged “we didn’t see him making an impact” for the stretch run and cut him loose.
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It’s worth noting that all of Jeffress’ struggles noted above came in a relatively small sample size. He made just 48 MLB appearances in 2019, racked up 52 innings and, as noted above, was a serviceable reliever for all but about a month of that time. Joshua Kusnick, Jeffress’ agent, posted on Twitter that Jeffress is “fine and looking forward” to pitching this month. It’s too late in the year for him to join a contending team and be eligible for their postseason roster, but he may still get an opportunity to re-establish his value before becoming a free agent this winter.
At a bare minimum, Jeffress is likely to enter the offseason as an attractive “bounce back” candidate for 2020. If some time to rest and recover allows Jeffress to recoup some of the lost velocity on his fastball or resolve the issues with his splitter, then he could be back in a prominent late inning role again quickly. Still only 31 years old, there is precedent to suggest that Jeffress could remain effective as a reliever for quite a while.
Of course, it’s worth noting that another career resurgence for Jeffress could come in Milwaukee. Kusnick said he has “nothing but wonderful things to say about how the Brewers have treated JJ since day one.” Jeffress has already found his way back to the organization after being traded twice before. The Brewers may not have been interested in exercising his contract option for 2020, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t explore the possibility of re-signing him.
If Jeffress’ tenure in Milwaukee is over, however, he leaves as the fifth most oft-used pitcher in franchise history. He’s one of just a handful of first round-drafted pitchers ever to make an impact as a Brewer, trailing only Ben Sheets, Dan Plesac and Cal Eldred in Wins Above Replacement. He was a major part of the Brewers’ late season surge and NL Central championship in 2018, and he left behind plenty of highlights and memories to share when he’s eventually inducted into the Miller Park Wall of Honor.
