Milwaukee Brewers Release OF Trot Nixon

(courtesy Associated Press)

Veteran outfielder Trot Nixon was released by the Milwaukee Brewers, leaving three players competing for two outfield spots on the opening-day roster.

Nixon, who will be 35 on April 11th, was a non-roster invitee with four hits in 38 spring at-bats.

Brewers manager Ken Macha on Wednesday said the decision was tough because Nixon’s career meant so much to him. Macha managed Nixon for four years in Boston’s minor league system.

Macha asked general manager Doug Melvin to release Nixon now so he might catch on with another major league team. Nixon has 137 homers and 555 RBI with a .274 average over 12 seasons, 10 with Boston.

Tony Gwynn Jr., Chris Duffy, and Brad Nelson are the finalists for the two back-up slots.

My Take

It's disappointing that the Nixon experiment didn't work out as well as the Brewers would've liked it, but at least it'll give the youngsters (Gwynn, Duffy, and Nelson) a shot to earn a big league roster spot. Hopefully the Brewers won't regret losing the veteran presence in the clubhouse that Nixon would offer, but maybe we'll see two of these three guys become productive as pinch hitters, runners, or defensive replacements.

Good luck to Trot with finding another team. There's still probably enough left in the tank for another year or two.