Milwaukee Brewers re-sign Brad Boxberger to minor league deal

Much the same as they did with Jordan Zimmermann, the Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger to a minor league contract just days after releasing him from their Spring Training roster. Both players would have been owed a $100K retention bonus as Article XX(B) free agents if they had been kept in the minors on their original contracts, so presumably the new deals that each signed allowed the Brewers to avoid paying some or all of that money.

Boxberger, 33 in May, had been inconsistent in camp while allowing eight earned runs in 8.0 innings. He has posted a sterling 11:1 K/BB ratio, but the former Rays and Diamondbacks closer has also coughed up three home runs among 10 hits in that short sample. He has previously been a very successful big league pitcher before, however, working to a 3.56 ERA across 343 appearances and 329.0 innings in parts of nine seasons, including 77 saves and 40 holds.

With Justin Topa set to begin the year on the Injured List with elbow issues, Boxberger is once again a candidate to make the Opening Day roster, according to Craig Counsell. Boxberger figures to at least head to the Alternate Training Site to open the regular season if he’s not on the 26-man roster come April 1st.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference