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The Milwaukee Brewers’ offense has struggled through much of the first third or so of the shortened 2020 MLB season, with many of the upside gambles David Stearns took to rebuild the offense turning out to be busts so far.
One of those “1+1” signings (one year with an option for next year) that seemed to hold the most promise was the addition of Brock Holt, who had been a steady utility bat for the Boston Red Sox for years.
Unfortunately, Holt had struggled to get going while being open about his concerns about playing during the pandemic while being away from his pregnant wife, but feeling like his career depended on him playing this year.
Holt, with pregnant wife and young son at home, was very candid about his struggles, situation just a few days ago. "I’m physically here but mentally at home with them trying to make sure everything is going good with them. That’s been the hardest thing for me, personally."
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) August 22, 2020
Now he’s out of work for the moment after being designated for assignment by the Brewers this morning. Another utility player, Jace Peterson, will replace him on the roster.
INF/OF Brock Holt has been designated for assignment. INF/OF Jace Peterson has been selected from the Alternate Training Site. pic.twitter.com/tuLZcpHpg1
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 22, 2020
Holt hit .270/.340/.374 in parts of 7 season with Boston, but had only managed to go 3-for-30 in 16 games with the Brewers this year with no extra-base hits and 9 strikeouts. He signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with a $5 million option for 2021 just before the start of Spring Training back in February. The 33-year-old will now try to catch on somewhere else.
It’s a quick end to a short time with the Brewers, but even if you want to criticize Stearns for this year’s strategy of rolling the dice on a bunch of 1+1 deals and buy-low candidates, he’s shown a willingness to move on quickly when it appears those moves aren’t working out — Holt is just the latest after quickly cutting ending experiments with Logan Morrison and Ryon Healy and optioning Eric Lauer after a pair of bad starts.