Milwaukee Brewers Roundtable: Offseason Review & 2020 Preview

There was a lot of roster turnover this offseason, so overall, what are your thoughts on everything that took place?

Matt Carroll: Outside of the third base concerns that I share with a majority of fans, I like many of the moves that were made in the offseason. After the Brandon Woodruff-Freddy Peralta-Corbin Burnes experiment bombed last year before Woodruff started to salvage his season, I’m much more comfortable rolling with veterans like Brett Anderson and KBO MVP Josh Lindblom in the rotation. I think Avisail Garcia will fit in great and I’m excited to see how many bombs Justin Smoak and Omar Narvaez combine for as Brewers.

But it’s hard not to be concerned when you lose the amount of offense that Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal provided. Considering Milwaukee was a shade under league average in runs scored last year, they can’t afford to lose much on offense, though having 2019 offensive black holes like Travis Shaw, Jesus Aguilar, Hernan Perez and Tyler Saladino no longer on the roster helps. Will all these platoons be able to produce the amount of offense that the Brewers will need? It’s hard to say, but if anyone can make it work, it’s Craig Counsell.

Mike Wendlandt: I’m cautiously optimistic about the moves the team made in the offseason. There are a lot of parallels to moves that David Stearns has made in the past as the General Manager. They’ve signed one of the biggest stars in the Korean Baseball Organization (Eric Thames then, Josh Lindblom now). Underachieving third basemen who can thrive in hitters parks (Mike Moustakas then, Jedd Gyorko now). Even talented pitchers who have lost their way and have been brought in as a non-roster invite (Wade Miley then, Shelby Miller now).

It’s definitely painful to say goodbye to important pieces like Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal, especially when the Moose went to Cincinnati. But if the Stearns/Counsell duo has shown us anything over the past few years, it’s not just the talent but the fit in the system and how they’re used. After seeing unprecedented consistent success the past few years, it’s hard not to believe in the Brewers front office and trust that they know what they’re doing.

Kenny Jilek: There’s definitely a lot of new faces and many people are not happy that the Brewers organization didn’t spend more money. I was hoping they would keep either Moustakas or Grandal, but long-term contracts for guys in their 30s isn’t usually a great idea as there’s a history of performance declining. It just seemed that the opportunity for a big splash one-year contract didn’t really present itself so David Stearns didn’t act.

However, I do think that they made some good acquisitions. The pitching will hopefully improve, but there are certainly some question marks surrounding a few of those new guys. I’m hopeful for the 2020 season, but not necessarily optimistic about the large roster turnover. Stearns has proved to make good moves that people didn’t always like before, so hopefully this year is more of the same.