Hot Stove Report: Brewers Second Finalist?

Good morning!

Hopefully you’re all feverishly searching for the answers to my blog scavenger hunt right now, but even if you’re not, thanks for taking a break from what you’re doing to check this out.

It was reported yesterday that a specific relief pitcher was going to be deciding “soon” on where he would be pitching in 2013. It was also said that the choice was down to two teams with one of the them being the Tampa Bay Rays.

Jerry Crasnick with the tweet…

Reliever Kyle Farnsworth is close to picking a team. He’s down to 2 choices. The #Rays are one of them, sources say.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 22, 2013

That’s a follow-up of sorts to the Ken Rosenthal report from one week ago that said Farnsworth had “multiple offers” last week. That report said that the free agent right-hander had narrowed his choices down from six teams to three.

I reached out to someone last night to see if the Brewers, who had been linked to Farnsworth when Doug Melvin mentioned him by name as a bullpen arm of interest when on MLB Network radio back on December 17th.

Doug Melvin just told us they have interest in Jon Rauch, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Gonzalez and Jason Frasor #SXM

— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) December 17, 2012

As you can see, a new Brewers reliever — Michael Gonzalez — was also included in that list.

I heard back this morning that the Brewers had submitted an offer for Farnsworth…at some point.

I was also told that the offer from the Brewers that my source was aware of was of lower value than the standing offer from the Rays. I was not told if Milwaukee’s offer was still being considered or not or even how recently that offer was made. It could have been one of the six which Rosenthal said Farnsworth’s agency claimed to have received (though I was also told that they hadn’t gotten six actual offers, but whatever…), and maybe it is among the pair Farnsworth is close to making a decision between.

I state for clarity, “The Brewers have not, to my knowledge, signed Kyle Farnsworth. They could, but they haven’t.”

I ask you though, Brewer Nation, would you want Kyle Farnsworth in the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers bullpen?