Brewers bring back Alex Claudio on one-year deal, claim utility infielder Ronny Rodriguez

The Brewers led the league in non-tenders this offseason, but they’ll be bringing at least one of them back at a (presumably) lower price.

The team announced they’ve re-signed lefty reliever Alex Claudio to a one-year contract, while also claiming infielder Ronny Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers

Claudio was projected for a $2.2 million salary this winter in arbitration before being one of the Brewers’ five non-tenders. He pitched in a league-high 83 games for the Brewers this past season, holding left-handed batters to a .218/.301/.378 line.

Ken Rosenthal says Claudio will make $1.75 million, which means Claudio was basically non-tendered over $400,000.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, is a utility infielder who will be 28 next year. He hit .221/.252/.438 in 294 plate appearances over 84 games with the Tigers in 2019. He did hit a bit better in Triple-A Toledo, though, putting up a .320/.343/.587 line for a .930 OPS in 181 plate appearances (which was actually average for Triple-A this year).

He played a handful of innings at multiple positions in the majors in 2019, appearing at first base for 107 innings, second base for 251.2 innings, third base for 32 innings, shortstop for 174.2 innings and left field for 8 innings. Those sample sizes are generally considered too small to make any sort of judgment on his defensive abilities with the available metrics.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference