3:55pm: Alexander will earn a assured $1MM on the contract, MLBTR has realized. He can earn a further $1MM value of incentives based mostly on innings pitched. That breakdown is as follows: $50K for 40 innings, $100K for 60 innings, $125K for 80 innings, $150K for 90 innings, $175K for 100 innings, and $200K for each 110 and 120 innings.
3:30pm: The Brewers introduced Wednesday that they’ve signed left-hander Tyler Alexander to a one-year, main league contract. He’s a consumer of SSG Baseball. Fellow southpaw Robert Gasser, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure, has been positioned on the 60-day injured checklist to clear house on the 40-man roster.
Alexander, 30, has pitched in components of six huge league seasons between the Tigers and Rays. He owns a profession 4.55 ERA over the lifetime of 449 frames. That features a 5.10 mark in a career-high 107 2/3 innings with Tampa Bay final yr. The Rays non-tendered him again in November moderately than pay a projected $2.8MM wage in his remaining season of membership management (hat tip to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
A second-round choose by the Tigers out of TCU again in 2015, Alexander has spent the majority of his profession in a swingman position, oscillating between lengthy aid, occasional spot begins and a few bulk work behind openers. He doesn’t throw arduous, averaging simply 89.6 mph on his four-seamer and 89.7 mph on his sinker in 2024, however he has glorious command and usually manages a minimum of a satisfactory strikeout price.
Alexander has solely walked 5.2% of the 1900 batters he’s confronted within the majors. His 19.1% strikeout price is about three proportion factors shy of league-average, however that’s skewed a bit by a career-low 14.3% mark in 2022. He punched out 20% of his batters confronted previous to that season and has fanned 21.1% of his opponents since that point. Again in 2020, Alexander made headlines and historical past by punching out 9 consecutive batters in opposition to the Reds.
The veteran Alexander offers the Brewers some a lot wanted depth within the rotation and a possible lengthy man within the bullpen. That want was already clear even earlier than as we speak’s revelation that fellow lefty DL Corridor shall be shut down for a number of weeks on account of a lat pressure. Between that and the likelihood that Brandon Woodruff, nonetheless constructing again up after main shoulder surgical procedure in October 2023, might not be prepared for Opening Day, the Brewers solely had 4 clear-cut members of the rotation: Freddy Peralta, Aaron Civale, Nestor Cortes and Tobias Myers.
Alexander doubtless joins southpaw Aaron Ashby and inexperienced righties Elvin Rodriguez, Carlos Rodriguez, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick as rivals for that remaining rotation spot. It’s at all times attainable that the Brewers might add one other extra established arm to solidify the group, however Alexander is the primary totally assured free agent signing of the winter for GM Matt Arnold & Co. They’ve been up in opposition to an excessive payroll crunch and haven’t been in a position to spend something up to now. That casts some doubt on the entrance workplace’s capability to additional increase the group — a minimum of through free company. The commerce market might open different avenues, both within the kind of an affordable (doubtless pre-arbitration) starter or maybe by shedding a contract from the present roster that’d unencumber some cash for a unique veteran pursuit.
