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Brewers close to deal with Yelich

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Christian Yelich – Photo Courtesy of Scott Paulus/Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are close to locking up all-star outfielder Christian Yelich to a big deal.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported that the Brewers were close to a deal with Yelich on a seven-year, $188.5 million contract extension that would run from 2022 through 2028.  Added to the two years of his current deal, the total value of Yelich’s contract would be worth $215 million.

Yelich has said in the past that he likes Milwaukee and preferred to stay there as long as possible.  Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio reportedly had interest in a long-term deal but which side stepped forward first is not known.

Yelich is owed $12.5 million this season and $14 million in 2021 with a club option year in 2022 being ripped up.

In two seasons with the Brewers, Yelich hit .327 with 80 home runs and 207 RBI with 52 stolen bases.

The Brewers had trimmed their payroll from $125 million at the start of last season to about $95 million, which drew the ire of many of their fans.  Now we know why the payroll was trimmed down, with Yelich’s new deal that could be signed by Friday in Arizona.

Hader, Yelich nominated for first-ever All-MLB Team

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Major League Baseball on Monday announced the introduction of the first-ever All-MLB Team, which will commemorate the top regular-season performances from 2019.  Two Milwaukee Brewers are represented on the ballot:  pitcher Josh Hader and outfielder Christian Yelich.

The selection of the All-MLB Team will be determined equally by an online fan vote on MLB.com as well as by a panel of baseball media, broadcasters, former players and other officials throughout the game.  A first and second team will be named with one player from each of the following positions:  first base, second base, third base, shortstop, catcher and designated hitter.  Each team will also feature three outfielders (not based on specific outfield positions), five starting pitchers and two relievers.

Fans may cast their ballots once daily beginning now until the polls close at 4 p.m. CT on Tuesday, December 3. [Read more…]

Yelich finishes second in NL MVP balloting

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Christian Yelich File Photo

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger is the 2019 National League Most Valuable Player.  Bellinger received 19 of the 30 first-place votes to beat out reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers and Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals.

Bellinger becomes the first Dodger to win the award since Clayton Kershaw in 2014, and first LA position player since Kirk Gibson in 1988.

The 24-year-old Bellinger hit .305 with 47 home runs and 115 RBI in 156 games.

Yelich finished with 10 first-place votes and a total of 317 points, second to the 362 total points accumulated by Bellinger.

Yelich captured his second straight batting title with a .329 average.  He led the National League with a .429 on base percentage, a .671 slugging percentage and a 1.110 OPS while clubbing 44 home runs and stealing 30 bases.

Yelich missed the final 18 games of the season due to injury.

 

Yelich wins Silver Slugger Award

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Christian Yelich File Photo

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich won his second straight Silver Slugger Award as one of the top three offensive outfielders in the National League this season.  The award is voted on by the league’s managers and coaches.

It’s the third Silver Slugger Award for Yelich.  He captured his first as a member of the Miami Marlins in 2016.

Yelich was the only member of the Brewers to win a 2019 Silver Slugger.  Brewers catcher Yasmani Grandal and rookie second baseman Keston Hiura were both finalists but finished short in the voting.

Yelich won his second straight batting title with a .329 average this season.  He topped the National League with a .429 on-base percentage, .671 slugging percentage and a 1.100 OPS.

Yelich also slugged a career-high 44 homes runs, stole a career-best 30 bases, scored 100 runs and drove in 97 runs.

 

Baseball award winners to be unveiled next week

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Craig Counsell

The Baseball Writer’s Association of America’s MLB awards finalists are out and the Milwaukee Brewers have two finalists.

Christian Yelich, despite missing the final two weeks of the season with a broken kneecap, was named a finalist for the National League Most Valuable Player award.  He’s joined by Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals as finalists.

Yelich claimed his second straight batting title after finishing with a .329 average.  He also topped the National League with a .671 slugging percentage, a .429 on-base percentage and a 1.100 OPS.  Yelich clubbed a career high 44  home runs, drove in 97 runs, scored 100 runs and stole 30 bases.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell is a finalist for National League Manager of the Year.  He’s joined by Atlanta’s Brian Snitker and the Cardinals Mike Shildt.

Counsell finished second in the NL Manager of the Year award in 2018.  He guided the Brewers down the stretch, going 18-2 over a three week period to come from five games behind the Cubs to nail down the second wild-card spot.  It gave the Brewers back-to-back playoff appearances for just the second time in franchise history.

The award winners will be announced Monday through Thursday of next week.

 

2019 Milwaukee BBWAA Award Winners announced

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The Milwaukee Brewers announced their postseason award winners today as selected by a panel from the Milwaukee Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).

Outfielder Christian Yelich earned Brewers Most Valuable Player honors for the second straight season after hitting .329 with 44 HR, 97 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 130 games.  He led the Major Leagues in slugging percentage (.671) and OPS (1.100) and the National League in batting average and on-base percentage (.429).  The batting title was his second in as many seasons, the first to accomplish this feat in the National League since the Rockies’ Larry Walker in 1998 and 1999.

Brandon Woodruff, a first time All-Star, was voted Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher after going 11-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 22 starts.  Woodruff was the team leader in wins, strikeouts (143) and quality starts (10). [Read more…]

Brewers fall short in Denver, settle for NL Wildcard game (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers missed a golden opportunity to tie or win the National League’s Central Division and capped the regular season by being swept by the Colorado Rockies in Denver.

The Chicago Cubs beat St. Louis twice on Friday and Saturday, but the Brewers failed to take advantage.  Then Sunday, with the Cubs being blown out by the Cardinals (9-0), Brewers manager Craig Counsell called off the dogs, resting his regulars by removing them from the game and putting all focus on the wildcard playoff game in Washington on Tuesday night.  The Brewers fell to the Rockies 4-3 in 13-innings when Jake Faria allowed the winning run to score on a wild pitch.

The Brewers led 3-0 in the seventh on home runs by Yasmani Grandal and Hernan Perez, but manager Craig Counsell had already started the process of pulling players.  Adrian Houser started and tossed four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one walk and five strikeouts. [Read more…]

Brewers clinch second straight post season playoff berth (AUDIO)

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It’ll go down as a September to remember.  The Milwaukee Brewers clinched at least a wildcard playoff spot for the second straight year, capping things off with a 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday night.

It’s the 6th straight win, the 17th in the last 19 games and a 19-4 month of September for the Brewers, who came from five-games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League wildcard race.  They also did it after losing Christian Yelich to a season ending knee injury, improving to 12-2 since losing their MVP.

The division leading Cardinals lost again on Wednesday as the Brewers climbed to within a game and a half of St. Louis.  If the Brewers can win today, they’ll move to within a game of the Cardinals, who have the day off.  The Brewers also trail the Nationals by one-game in the chase for the top wildcard spot. [Read more…]

Brewers will have to deal without Yelich the rest of the way

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Christian Yelich File Photo

Milwaukee Brewers standout Christian Yelich will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his right kneecap in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Marlins in Miami.

Yelich is scheduled to return to Milwaukee on Wednesday for additional tests.  At this point, it’s not yet known if he’ll need surgery.  Yelich suffered the injury when he fouled a pitch off of his knee in the first inning.

“First and foremost, we feel awful for Christian,” said Brewers general manager David Stearns.  “This is a guy who’s carried us in a number of ways over the last two years.  He could’ve been two and a half weeks away from a repeat Most Valuable Player award.  So that’s where our thoughts are first.

“From a team perspective, we’ve got a lot of guys in that clubhouse who will hurt tonight.  This is a gut punch for a night.  And then we need to recover and play really strong baseball.  We’ve been through this before as an organization.  Two years ago, almost to the day, we lost Jimmy Nelson to a similarly freak injury, and we competed at a very high level for the remainder of the season.  And I expect our team to compete at a similarly high level going forward.” [Read more…]

Brewers late heroics fall short against Astros (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

Christian Yelich clubbed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, but Milwaukee reliever Junior Guerra gave up a solo homer to George Springer in the top of the 10th as the Houston Astros pulled out a 3-2, 10-inning win in the series opener at Miller Park.

Yasmani Grandal also homered for the Brewers other run.

Yelich was called out on strikes in the bottom of the tenth for the second time in the game.  The other came in the sixth inning.  Both calls by home plate umpire Ben May were high and out of the strike zone and it had the Brewers plenty mad.

“It’s two awful calls,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.  “I have to say it.  It’s the magnitude of the spot, it’s the hitter.  It’s bad calls.  It’s bad umpiring.”

With reporters surrounding Yelich’s locker after the game, the Brewers right-fielder avoided going off on the umpire to avoid a fine by the league. [Read more…]