Brewers interested in pitching, but not Dontrelle
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin shot down his first trade rumor of the year on Tuesday, denying that Milwaukee was one of the teams interested in left-hander Dontrelle Willis. The Tigers were reportedly close to trading him to the D-backs.
Detroit designated Willis for assignment over the weekend and the Palm Beach Post reported earlier Tuesday that the Brewers, D-backs, Marlins and Mets had all shown interest.
“We were laughing about that on the bus,” Melvin said. “We have not contacted him. … I asked my people about [Willis]. We said we would pass. We’re left-handed now [with Chris Capuano, Chris Narveson and Randy Wolf in the starting rotation].”
They might not have been interested in Willis, but Melvin and his staff are on the lookout for available pitching in the wake of a series of recent promotions that have mined Triple-A Nashville of much of its staff. A more likely target for the Brewers is right-hander Brian Bruney, a reliever who was released by the Nationals on May 25.
Melvin has also reached out to fellow general managers about right-hander Claudio Vargas, who was designated for assignment by the Brewers on Saturday to clear a spot for Capuano. That move gave the Brewers 10 days to work out a trade involving Vargas.
“We’ve contacted a number of teams,” Melvin said. “They said they would look into it but we haven’t heard back.”
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Adam McCalvy
