Crew continues to mine market for bullpen help

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Francisco Rodriguez to the Tigers, Jeremy Jeffress to the Rangers, Will Smith to the Giants and Tyler Thornburg to the Red Sox. After trading all of those closer-types within the past 12 months, the Brewers are suddenly a solid landing spot for late-inning relievers seeking a home.

“There are a lot of relievers who like our opportunity, who like the potential to pitch in high-leverage innings,” Milwaukee general manager David Stearns said Wednesday at the Winter Meetings.

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“We’ll leave here having a very firm sense of what that market looks like.”

Since completing Tuesday’s trade of Thornburg to Boston, Stearns has had what he called “productive conversations” with representatives of a number of available relievers, including former closers.

No, the Brewers are not going to sign Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen, but there are plenty of options in the next tiers: Santiago Casilla, Neftali Feliz, Greg Holland, Sergio Romo, Fernando Salas, Drew Storen, Koji Uehara, Brad Ziegler are all free agents, as is Joe Blanton on the heels of a career year as a setup man for the Dodgers.

Holland, a two-time All-Star who missed 2016 following Tommy John surgery, reportedly met with teams in person on Wednesday at the Winter Meetings. It was not immediately known whether the Brewers were on his itinerary.

“I think there are a number of options, both guys who have performed that role in the past and guys who haven’t, but would like to,” Stearns said. “We’re talking to a wide variety of those types of relief pitchers and I think we’ll likely bring some of those guys into the fold and maintain a level of …

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