Milwaukee Brewers: 3 starting pitcher free agent targets
By Kenny Jilek
The Milwaukee Brewers could be looking for another rotation arm, and these three guys could all be big upgrades to their existing pieces.
This season, the Milwaukee Brewers established that they have two great front line starters in Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. Both were on track through 60 games for what would have probably been All-Star seasons in a regular full season. Unfortunately, when it came to the other three spots in the rotation, there was little to no consistency in what the Brewers would get on any given day.
In total, eight Brewers started a game in 2020, and there isn’t a lot of reason for confidence that five of them can and will be quality starting arms in 2021. The three Milwaukee pitchers that started double-digit games were Adrian Houser, Josh Lindblom, and Brett Anderson. Anderson was the best with an ERA of 4.21, which is fine for a back of the rotation guy, but he came into the season as the projected number two.
The other two had ERAs over five, and Houser’s numbers were even worse than that in his final eight starts after two stellar performances to start the season. They’ll all compete for rotation spots next season, but putting all three of them out there again would be looking for better results from the same inputs, and Houser might just be a great bullpen piece, and maybe that’s where he’ll thrive as he has in the past.
Speaking of starters being great bullpen pieces, Freddy Peralta had one horrific start before being moved to the bullpen, where he had a 3.08 ERA for the rest of the season. The other two guys to start games were Brent Suter and Eric Lauer. Suter even started a playoff game but is much better suited to be a change of pace and piggyback off a shorter start for multiple innings. Meanwhile, Lauer was relegated to the alternate training site for much of the season.
So with essentially three spots and six uninspiring options, GM David Stearns and the Milwaukee Brewers may look to free agency to fill a hole. Here are three guys that could make an impact and hopefully not break the bank too badly either.