Milwaukee Brewers: Three Positions Still of Need

It’s been an interesting offseason for the Milwaukee Brewers but even with all of their moves, they still have three positional needs that they could fill.

The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off of their second straight postseason appearance, something that they have only done one other time in the franchise’s history. But despite their recent success, their offseason up to this point has been interesting, to say the least.

They lost Mike Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal, Jordan Lyles, and Drew Pomeranz to free agency. They decided to move on from some notable players including Travis Shaw, Eric Thames, Jimmy Nelson, and Junior Guerra. And Milwaukee also traded away Zach Davies, Trent Grisham, and Chase Anderson.

On the flip side, they made a number of free agent signings to help make up for the talent lost which includes Avisail Garcia, Eric Sogard, Justin Smoak, Brett Anderson and Josh Linblom. They would also receive Omar Narvaez, Eric Lauer, and Luis Urias via trades. And of course, there were a number of other players brought in and let go that I didn’t list, but you get the idea.

However, even with of the roster turnover and acquisitions that have taken place, the Milwaukee Brewers still have three positions that they could address before the season begins.

Third Base

If Opening Day were tomorrow, the Milwaukee Brewers could fill this role with some combination of Urias, Sogard, and Ryan Healy, but that’s less than ideal. The biggest name still available is Josh Donaldson, who would give the Brewers a big bat and provide that splash free agent signing that many have been hoping for. But there are reports that a number of teams are interested in Donald and he could fetch a four-year deal worth over $100 million. So don’t hold your breath.

Another free agent option is Todd Frazier who has had an okay career with a slash line of .243/.320/.450 and a wRC+ of 109. Or a third option for Milwaukee, they could explore the trade market and a name that they’ve been linked to is Kyle Seager in Seattle, who was able to bounce-back after a down 2018 but comes with a hefty contract.

Starting Pitching

Starting pitching, one thing you can never have too much of. The Milwaukee Brewers have made some new additions this offseason in Lauer, Linblom, and Anderson, however, there are still question marks around this rotation. Can Adrian Houser and Lauer continue to develop? Will Linblom’s success translate over from the KBO? And will Anderson stay healthy?

At this point, just about all of the top free agent starting pitchers have signed somewhere, but a few notable names that are left include Ivan Nova, Andrew Cashner, Jason Vargas, Alex Wood, and Clay Buchholz. Not to mention that once again, a trade might be the Brewers best avenue if they are truly looking for more starting pitching, but that might not be the case either.

After signing Anderson and Linblom, GM David Stearns had stated that they felt fine with the current construction of their starting rotation. Internally, Milwaukee will also still have Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta to throw into the mix as well.

Bullpen Arms

Very few teams use their bullpen as often as the Milwaukee Brewers do, in fact, they had the fifth most innings pitched by the bullpen in 2019. With Craig Counsell being very careful about his starting pitchers going through the batting order for a third time, Milwaukee needs a bullpen that can eat up a lot of innings, so once again, having more arms is never a bad thing.

Of course barring a trade, the Brewers bullpen will once again be headlined by Josh Hader, along with the return of Corey Knebel and Bobby Wahl, as well as Brent Suter and Alex Claudio, amongst others.

Some of the notable free agent arms still available include Sam Dyson, Brandon Kintzler, Daniel Hudson, Steve Cishek, or even a reunion with Jeremy Jeffress.

Slowly but surely, the Milwaukee Brewers roster is coming together and in his tenure as General Manager, David Stearns has done some of his best work in the month of January. So even though we haven’t seen the huge free agent signing, he’s certainly earned the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see what he has in store for the remainder of the offseason.