MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers have signed first baseman Rowdy Tellez and catchers Pedro Severino and Brett Sullivan to one-year contracts while non-tendering first baseman Daniel Vogelbach.
Vogelbach, an All-Star in 2019 while playing for Seattle, hit .219 with a .349 on-base percentage, nine homers and 24 RBIs in 93 games this past season. His playing time dipped late in the season after the Brewers acquired Tellez from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Tellez, 26, went .272 with seven homers, 28 RBIs and an .814 OPS in 56 games with Milwaukee. He also homered twice in the Brewers’ National League Division Series loss to the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves.
Before coming to Milwaukee, Tellez hit .209 with four homers and eight RBIs in 50 games with Toronto in 2021.
Severino, 28, batted .248 with a .308 on-base percentage, 11 homers and a career-high 46 RBIs in 113 games with the Baltimore Orioles this past season. He hit .293 in 147 at-bats against left-handed pitching.
He’s a career .235 hitter with a .305 on-base percentage. Severino played for the Washington Nationals from 2015-18 before spending the last three seasons in Baltimore.
Sullivan has no major league experience but got a big league deal anyway. He has spent six seasons playing in the minors for the Tampa Bay Rays organization. The 27-year-old spent 2021 batting .223 with nine homers and 35 RBIs in 90 games for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham, North Carolina.
Milwaukee needed to find catchers to back up 2021 All-Star Omar Narváez after Manny Piña signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the World Series champion Atlanta Braves and Luke Maile became a free agent.
Piña had been with the Brewers since 2016 and hit .189 with a .293 on-base percentage, 13 homers and 33 RBIs in 75 games this past season. Maile hit .300 with three RBIs in 15 games.
In another move Tuesday, the Brewers non-tendered reliever John Curtiss, who tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow less than two weeks after the team acquired him from the Miami Marlins.
The Brewers tendered contracts to Narváez, shortstop Willy Adames, Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes, infielder Luis Urías and pitchers Josh Hader, Adrian Houser, Eric Lauer and Brandon Woodruff.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Milwaukee Brewers mascot Bernie Brewer during an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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