Brewers Lose Disappointing 8-Year Veteran To Free Agency

According to the transaction log on his official roster page, Fedde elected free agency on Saturday. He was designated for assignment on Sept. 28, the final day of the regular season, but cleared waivers and was previoiusly outrighted to Triple-A Nashville.

Fedde waited in the wings throughout the Brewers' playoff run, just in case the team ran out of other options and needed him to pitch in October. But with Milwaukee eliminated on Friday in the National League Championship Series, he was eligible to move on quickly.

To say it was a turbulent year for Fedde would be an understatement. He was a legitimate prize for the St. Louis Cardinals at last year's trade deadline, racking up 5.6 bWAR in 31 starts. But this year, he pitched to a 5.49 ERA in 141 innings split between the Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and Brewers.

An eight-year major league veteran who also spent a season in the Korean Baseball Organization, Fedde will be 33 on opening day. He spent the first six years of his career with the Washington Nationals.

The Brewers wound up signing Fedde to a minor-league deal in August and elevating him directly to the active roster, at a time when their pitching staff was undergoing a bit of attrition. He made seven appearances in a Brewers uniform, all in relief, with a 3.38 ERA in 16 innings.

Though that brief Brewers stint was decent from a statistical perspective, it would be hard to call this season anything but a massive disappointment for Fedde. His $7.5 million salary looked like a bargain for the Cardinals at the start of the year, and now, it feels unlikely he'll get anything but a minor-league deal and an invitation to spring training next year.