The Milwaukee Brewers had to make some tough decisions early on this off-season regarding a few well established starting pitchers. Brandon Woodruff, who underwent shoulder surgery for a capsular injury this winter and may miss the entire 2024 season, was non-tendered in the middle of November and is still a free agent. Also Eric Lauer was out-righted to Triple-A in October and rather than accept that assignment he elected free agency.
Eric Lauer is drawing interest from the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres.
On the MLB Insiders podcast Robert Murray revealed that the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres are both interested in Eric Lauer.
Lauer was drafted in the first round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Padres and made his debut with them in 2018. He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers during the 2019-2020 off-season in a deal that also sent Luis Urias to Wisconsin. With the friars he pitched to a 4.38 ERA in 2018 and 4.45 in 2019.
As for the Pirates, they have a recent track record of signing left-handed veteran pitchers looking for bounce back seasons to short term deals. Rich Hill signed with Pittsburgh last winter and was dealt at the trade deadline and Jose Quintana was similarly flipped at the 2022 deadline. Based off Murray’s report it is possible that Lauer joins this list.
How did Eric Lauer perform with the Milwaukee Brewers?
With the Brew Crew Eric Lauer struggled mightily in both his first and last seasons with the team. His 2020 ERA was 13.09 and 2023 ERA 6.56. However he looked like an ace in 2021 by having a 3.19 ERA and 3.69 ERA in 2022.
Lauer’s struggles in 2023 were hard to explain. He struggled with some shoulder injuries and reported that he was mechanically out of sync, but he additionally spent time away from the team on the inactive list after being demoted to the minor leagues. At the seasons end it became clear that he could benefit from a change of scenery and it’s possible that we will find out his new landing spot in the near future.
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