Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked Doug Melvin about rumors that the Brewers will make a strong run at Josh Hamilton via free agency and the general manager more or less shot them down.
“We’ve got the connection with [hitting coach] Johnny Narron but we don’t have the connection with U.S. Bank,” Melvin said, indicating that Hamilton will be out of the Brewers’ price range.
(Narron is currently the Brewers’ hitting coach after previously serving as Hamilton’s “accountability coach” with the Rangers and Reds.)
Of course, it’s possible that Hamilton ends up without any massive long-term offers, in which case teams that might not normally think of themselves as in the mix for the former MVP could get involved.
Even then the Brewers might be a long shot, because Haudricourt notes that their payroll is likely to go down after being $100 million this year and Melvin’s focus seems likely to be on pitching.
