Hot Stove Report: Brewers Making Push to Sign Free Agent 1B

First mentioned on Twitter by Joe Polek, a radio personality who blogs about the Baltimore Orioles (among other interests), the Milwaukee Brewers were stepping up their pursuit of a certain free agent first baseman.

It’s a player who once called Baltimore home, which is where I would think Joe’s connection to his knowledgable source springs from.

Much more recently, both Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (and more importantly both MLB Network insiders), picked up on the advancing negotiations.

The player? 30-year-old, and veteran of seven Major League seasons, Mark Reynolds.

Here is Joe Polek’s original tweet…

Originally a 16th round draft pick, Reynolds broke into the big leagues back in 2007. He’s got a lot of power…when he hits the ball. That’s not always the easiest thing for Reynolds to do though as he owns four of the top 12 strikeouts seasons in Major League Baseball history, including three of the top six, two of the top three and the single-season record of 223 set in 2009 as an Arizona Diamondback.

Reynolds brings a low batting average, resultant pedestrian on-base percentage, from the right side of the plate…but that power sure is fun from a pure enjoyment standpoint.

(Then again, as Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus reminds us, with everything Reynolds has had to overcome in his career… It’s breathtaking. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19409 )

Most recently, Adam McCalvy says he’s confirmed with a source that Reynolds should be signed as the everyday first baseman for the Brewers.

But, for the sake of discussion, Ken Rosenthal is saying that he’ll have to earn that job as he’s hearing Reynolds will be signing a Minor League deal.