The shock on the shoulder that slowed Eric Lauer last March was more serious than reported at the time, as the Brewers southpaw told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com and other reporters that there was actually a tear in the shoulder capsule of his throwing arm, as later tests revealed. The shutdown allowed Lauer to recover physically, but he missed two weeks of quarantined summer camp after coming into close contact with someone who was positive COVID-19.
All of this adds up to a forgettable debut season for Lauer in Milwaukee, when he was shaken by 13.09 ERA in just 11 entries. Purchased together with Luis urias for Zach Davies and Trent Grisham in a November 2019 agreement with the Fathers, Lauer is looking to fulfill its return on trading by matching or improving its previous numbers (4.40 ERA, 20.6 thousand%) in 261 2/3 entries with San Diego in 2018-19. Lauer still has secondary league options left, which could put him in the line of some Triple-A shuttles while the Brewers mix and match their initial pitchers to keep everyone’s arm fresh.
More from NL Central…
- THE Cubs‘The payroll situation has been the main focus of the off-season, but baseball operations president Jed Hoyer, “trusting“The team would be able to add salary for mid-season additions”if we play well and there are clear things we need to do to add to the team. ”As Hoyer told Patrick Mooney of Athletic and other reporters, however, a lot will depend on uncertain revenue sources like the number of fans the team will be allowed to enter at Wrigley Field. The Cubs opened the winter in clear cost-cutting mode, culminating in the trade they sent Yu Darvish to the Fathers, and Hoyer admitted that “we were probably on the more pessimistic side of things ” in terms of payroll in the wake of the 2020 season. More recently, a modest spending spree for players on contracts of one or two years indicates some willingness on the part of the team to stretch the payroll or, as Hoyer said, they have become “more optimistic or less pessimistic”About your spending capacity.
- THE Pirates it revised its rotation in the off-season and, although they have five provisional initials, most or all arms that compete for jobs are likely to end up starting this season, writes Atlético’s Rob Biertempfel. In addition to Tyler Anderson, none of the Bucs’ other initial candidates pitched more than 157 1/3 innings in one season, so there will be a lot of need for multiple pitchers to cover the innings while pitchers rebuild arm strength following the shortened 2020 season. “I think we’re talking about 10 or 11 [pitchers], ”Said Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin. Considering how the Pirates remain open to exchange ideas, it is very possible that even more pitchers will be needed if the club moves one or two veteran arms at some point before the exchange deadline.