Late last week we learned that Mark Reynolds was joining the Brewers to play first base. Apparently he's not the only one. Today the team announced they've signed free agent Lyle Overbay to a minor league deal and will bring him to big league camp.
Overbay was a Brewer in 2004-05 and hit .289/.376/.464 over 317 games, but that was a long time ago. Now he's 36 (he turns 37 next week) and he appeared in 142 games for the Yankees a year ago, hitting .240/.295/.393 in 486 plate appearances.
Overbay is a left handed hitter, which could make him a candidate to platoon with Reynolds. He was much better against right handed pitching last season, as seen below:
Split | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
vs RHP | 361 | .258 | .317 | .432 | .748 |
vs LHP | 125 | .190 | .232 | .284 | .516 |
This signing is likely to be bad news for Juan Francisco, as the Brewers now have a veteran lefty candidate to play first base this spring. Overbay also has a much better track record defensively: UZR has him rated above average in five of the last seven seasons and had him at +3.7 runs per 150 games last year.
This move does not impact the 40-man roster, which still has one spot open.