Yankees Get First Base Possibility From Brewers For Tyler Webb
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THE DEAL |
The loss of Greg Bird to an ankle injury has impacted the Yankees to the point they rank next-to-last in OPS at first base. General manager Brian Cashman said in recent days that first base production from Bird, the recently-released Chris Carter, Tyler Austin and Ji-Man Choi was insufficient and that he would likely seek an outside solution. On Thursday, he made his first move, acquiring 26-year-old Garrett Cooper from the Brewers for 27-year-old lefthander Tyler Webb.
![]() BREWERS ACQUIRE Tyler Webb, lhp Age: 27 |
Webb, a 10th-round pick in 2013 from South Carolina, made his major league debut this season after he was returned as a Rule 5 pick by the Pirates. He has fringe-average stuff—fastball that averaged 91 mph, a changeup and slider—but succeeded at Triple-A with command and control, especially against lefthanders, whom he held to a sub-.600 OPS in back-to-back seasons. He joins Josh Hader to give the Brewers another left-on-left matchup threat.
Club (League) | Class | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scranton/W-B | AAA | 3 | 1 | 3.24 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 33 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 47 |
New York (AL) | MAJ | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
![]() YANKEES ACQUIRE Garrett Cooper, 1b Age: 26 |
The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Cooper was a sixth-round pick out of Auburn as a senior sign in 2013 and signed for just $30,000. The plus raw power he showed in college finally manifested at Triple-A this season, albeit at high-altitude Colorado Springs. After never hitting more than nine homers in a season, he hit 17 longballs in 75 games this year and earned a starting spot in the Triple-A All-Star Game.
Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that despite his age, the organization thought highly of Cooper.
“He’s more athletic than you see on paper,” Flanagan said. “He handles first base well defensively. He’s a good runner. So he’s not just a home run guy. He hits for average, doubles, hits to all fields.”
Cooper figures to at least get the chance to platoon with the lefthanded-hitting Choi, if not displace him entirely, although he’s been assigned to Triple-A.
Club (League) | Class | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | OBP | SLG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Colorado Springs | AAA | .366 | 75 | 279 | 64 | 102 | 29 | 0 | 17 | 82 | 33 | 48 | 0 | .428 | .652 |
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