Dealing Josh Hader Becomes More Controversial After Brewers Designate Dinelson Lamet For Assignment

Already the most unpopular deal since Gorman Thomas was shipped to Cleveland for Rick Manning in June 1983, David Stearns’ decision to deal four-time All-Star Josh Hader to the San Diego Padres ahead of the 2022 trade deadline just took another hit when the Brewers’ President of Baseball Operations announced that one of the four players acquired in that deal, right-hander Dinelson Lamet, was designated for assignment.

“Dinelson has a good arm and was included in the trade to help balance out the deal,” Stearns told reporters on hand at PNC Park where the Brewers were slated to face the Pirates Wednesday night. “As subsequent transactions played out, the roster fit became a little tougher. We are hopeful we will be able to keep him in our system.”

Lamet, 30, was among the top young pitchers in baseball in 2020 but has been plagued by injuries since, posting a 5.46 ERA while covering only 59 1/3 innings since the start of last season.

The Brewers have had a great deal of success developing and rehabilitating pitchers recently and had hopes they could do the same with Lamet, who still had one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.

Lamet also had a minor-league option remaining but when he was recalled and made a pair of appearances against the Twins just ahead of the deadline, he reached five years’ of MLB service time and as a result, could not be sent back to the minors without his approval.

So when Milwaukee, which planned to use Lamet out of the bullpen over the final two months of the season, also added Matt Bush and Trevor Rosenthal ahead of the deadline, Lamet became the odd-man out.

After designated a player for assignment, teams have seven days (down from 10 under previous rules) to either trade the player or place him on irrevocable waivers.

Trading Lamet is obviously no longer an option since the trade deadline has passed and baseball no longer permits August waiver-trades so the only other option is to place him on waivers.

Normally, a player who clears waivers can then be outrighted to the minor leagues but because Lamet also has at least three years of MLB service time, he can reject that assignment and elect to become a free agent.

Unless he is claimed off waivers, the Brewers are on the hook what’s left of the $4.775 million owed to him this season. Should he clear waivers and sign as a free agent, he would get a prorated portion of the MLB minimum from his new team with the Brewers covering the difference.

All in all, it’s a head-scratching development in the wake of a head-scratching trade.

“Look, we had a difficult choice today,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. We have 13 roster spots for pitchers. That made the choice difficult. It ended up being Lamet (and) we chose to go in another direction.”

Other Moves

The decision to DFA Lamet was one of a handful of moves the Brewers made Wednesday afternoon.

Keston Hiura was recalled from Triple-A Nashville while right-hander Freddy Peralta was reinstated for the 60-game injured list after being sidelined since May with a shoulder injury.

Bush essentially took Lamet’s place on the active roster so to make room for Hiura and Peralta, the Brewers optioned reliever Peter Strzelecki to Triple-A and designated catcher Pedro Severino for assignment.

Severino was signed to a one-year deal last November after longtime backup catcher Manny Pina signed with the Atlanta Braves. He was expected to share time behind the plate with Omar Narvaez but missed the first 80 games of the season while serving a suspension for a failed drug test.