The Brewers hopefully shored up their bullpen with the acquisition of Guillermo Mota from the Mets. In exchange, the Brewers gave up journeyman catcher Johnny Estrada. It’s unclear how much the dugout incident back in August had to do with the deal but Estrada had a good but not great year. His defense was lacking and he had a tough time throwing out runners but he hit .278 with ten homers. In 2006, he hit an impressive .302 and he drove in 71 runs but it looks like the Brewers are looking to sign Jason Kendall, who’s had a rough couple of years. Still, Kendall brings a patient bat to the lineup and I think he’d work out fine, at the right price of course.
Mota went from hero to goat in one season with the Mets. After picking him up in 2006, Mota pitched very well but he fell apart last season and was one of the guys blamed for the Mets late season collapse. Still, he has nine years under his belt and he’s struck out more then twice as many guys as he’s walked so his upside would be a solid set up man in the event the Brewers re-sign Francisco Cordero.
