Milwaukee Brewers: Money has been Saved, Now Time to Spend

So far the Milwaukee Brewers have spent the offseason letting players walk and saving money, well now it is time to spend.

Last season the Milwaukee Brewers accomplished something that had only been done one other time in franchise history. And that was make the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. Although they did reach the postseason, it took an incredible September run just to get there and I think everyone will admit that overall they took a step backwards in 2019.

As a result, this offseason hasn’t looked like a typical offseason for a team that believes they are World Series contenders and looking for their third straight playoff appearance. Most teams in this spot are looking to add a player or two that will take them to the next level, but instead the Milwaukee Brewers are in the process of overhauling the roster and saving money has been a primary focus.

Not long after the season ended, both Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal elected free agency, as expected, and since then both have signed the long-term deals that they were looking for. While the hope among Brewers’ fans was that at least one of the two would be back, the four-year contracts that both Moustakas and Grandal received proved to be too rich for GM David Stearns who had concerns about how the back-end of those deals would play out. And they are valid concerns.

Then about a month ago, Milwaukee decided to trade Chase Anderson to the Toronto Blue Jays so they didn’t have to pick up his $8.5 million team option and they also chose to decline Eric Thames’ team option that same day which would have cost them $7.5 million for the 2020 season. So in addition to not paying Moustakas his average of $16 million a season or Grandal his $18.25 million per season, the Brewers also saved $16 million by moving on from Anderson and Thames.

Finally the last domino to fall happened on Monday night as the Brewers had to decide who they would tender or non-tender contracts to for the upcoming season. And there were a number of players that had played significant roles over the last few seasons that Stearns decided to move on from, which will give Milwaukee more payroll flexibility this offseason. Below are the players that the Brewers would non-tender:

Travis Shaw (Projected Arbitration Salary: $4.7 million)

Jimmy Nelson ($3.7 million)

Junior Guerra ($3.5 million)

Alex Claudio ($2.2 million)

Tyler Saladino ($1 million)

Not to mention that they traded away Zach Davies who was projected to earn $5 million in arbitration for an inexpensive arm in Eric Lauer. And after Monday night’s roster moves, Robert Murray gives some perspective into just how many changes have already taken place:

In making these decisions throughout the offseason there has been quite a bit of money saved as well as a lot of roster turnover, but now it is time for Stearns to start spending and bringing in some high-profile players that take this team to the next level.

As it currently stands, according to Spotrac, the Milwaukee Brewers have just under $60 million on the books for the 2020 season. For some context, on Opening Day in 2019, their payroll was around $130 million. So even if their plan isn’t to spend more in 2020, they still have a lot of room to work with, which is a good thing because they have quite a few holes to fill on this roster.

For one, Manny Pina and Jacob Nottingham can’t be the only catchers on the roster, so money will have to be spent there. They’ll also need to find a third and first basemen. Not to mention that landing a big name starting pitcher or two to join Brandon Woodruff and Adrian Houser is a must.

While there is plenty of work to be done this offseason, in a press conference after the most recent non-tender decisions, Stearns made it clear that the plan for the Milwaukee Brewers is to compete in 2020:

"“We intend on being competitive once again next year. We think we have a quality team and will continue to complement and add to that team throughout the rest of the offseason. We’ve got a lot of offseason left.”"

Although at this point it may be unclear what moves will be made, based on Stearns’ track record as the Brewers GM, we should all have the utmost faith in his plan and as he said, there is still plenty of offseason left.

The good news with all of this roster turnover is that the Brewers actually have a large chunk of money that they can spend in free agency and of course, don’t rule out a trade. However with that said, the time for reducing the payroll is over, it’s now time to open up the wallet and spend some money so this team can make another World Series run.