Miller at Miller

It appears the catcher Damian Miller will play for the Brewers at Miller Park next year. He’ll reportedly be paid $8.75 million over three years. This is a great deal for the Brewers.

Miller was the sixth-best catcher in the AL last year, creating 15 Win Shares/four WSAA. Next year, the Bill James Handbook projects that he’ll create 45 runs in 106 games. Those numbers, along with his great catching skills (led the league in fielding Win Shares per 1,000 innings behind the plate) project out to 13 Win Shares and two WSAA.

At that rate, believe it or not, a fair market value for Miller next year would be around $6.5 million. The Brewers signed him for $3 million a year. Plus, they got only three Win Shares from their catchers last year, which means this signing could yield nine additional Win Shares, or three wins, compared to last year’s catching squad. That is one of the bigger upswings for any one position we will see the entire offseason.

Yes, Miller will be 36 years old next year, which is probably what scared teams off. But the Handbook lists his injury risk as medium and I don’t believe he spent any time on the DL last year. Nice job by Milwaukee.