3 free agents or a trade the Milwaukee Brewers could pursue for DH

The Milwaukee Brewers should bring Nelson Cruz back to where his career started.

A long time ago, Nelson Cruz was one of the Brewers’ best prospects. Former general manager Doug Melvin traded Cruz along with Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers in 2005. As memory serves, Cruz was traded due to the glut of outfield prospects the Brewers had, he was on the older side for a prospect, and Melvin wanted Major League talent back in return. Therefore, he had to throw in Cruz to get Kevin Mench and Francisco Cordero back.

That is probably one of the few trades Melvin would have loved to do all over again. Cruz went on to appear in seven All-Star Games and win four Silver Slugger awards. Cruz has also played in 50 postseason games.

Cruz made the 2021 American League All-Star team last season as he split time between the Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Rays. He hit .265 with 32 home runs and 86 RBI. His slash line (on-base percentage/slugging percentage/OPS) was .334/.497/.832 and he posted 2.5 wins above replacement (WAR).

Cruz is also a professional designated hitter. In his 877 games as a DH, Cruz has hit .280 and belted 235 home runs.

Cruz will be 41 heading into the 2022 season, but Fangraphs projects he will still put up good numbers. He played last season on a one-year, $13 million deal. With his age, he probably will be in line to get a similar deal. That is actually a pretty good deal for the Milwaukee Brewers to get some more power in the lineup.

The only issue if the Milwaukee Brewers bring in Cruz is not only his age, but he would be another right-handed bat. Milwaukee has plenty of right-handed hitters. Watching the Brewers’ offense last season, this team just needs to acquire good hitters.