Milwaukee Brewers Should Add a Bat Wherever they Can at Trade Deadline

The MLB trade deadline is now just a few weeks away on August 2nd, and for the Milwaukee Brewers, they should be looking for an upgrade to this batting lineup.

Overall, the Brewers’ offensive numbers appear fine for the most part. They rank 10th in total runs scored, fourth in home runs, and 10th in team OPS.

In more advanced metrics such as WOBA, hard-hit rate, exit velocity, and barrel percentage, the Crew ranks around league average, if not better, in each category, according to Baseball Savant.

However, the issue is inconsistency. Several of the Brewers’ offensive metrics are buoyed by some strong single-game performances at the plate. Whereas on the flip side, there are plenty of occasions where this group has failed to score more than a run or two, and they’ve been shut out far too often as well.

When it comes to where the Milwaukee Brewers could try to upgrade their batting lineup, centerfield is likely the first position that comes to mind. Lorenzo Cain was struggling mightily and was DFA’d as a result, leaving Tyrone Taylor and Jonathan Davis to play the bulk of the innings there, with Andrew McCutchen getting some work as well.

In 14 games this season, Davis has an OPS of .523 while Taylor is at .700 over 62 games.

While centerfield may be the easiest position to upgrade offensively, the Brewers need more than just someone who can outperform Taylor and Davis. If they have hopes of making a playoff run, they’ll need a much more steady presence in the lineup. In fact, the Brewers need someone to be the guy–which they really don’t have at this time.

This is a batting order with quite a few players around league average in terms of OPS+, which is certainly valuable, but they don’t really have anyone among baseball’s best or anything close to that.

This is why the Milwaukee Brewers can’t go into the trade deadline solely focused on upgrading the centerfield position. If the right player comes along and fills that need while also making this batting order more robust, then, by all means, let’s make a deal.

But if the Brewers can get a first baseman or a middle infielder that has a better bat than any centerfielder, David Stearns needs to prioritize the bat–not the defense.

This offensive-minded approach certainly wouldn’t be new for the Brewers as we’ve seen them prioritize it in the past. The best example of this is when Milwaukee moved Mike Moustakas and Travis Shaw to second base.

Although the Milwaukee Brewers infield seems pretty well set when healthy with Rowdy Tellez, Kolton Wong, Willy Adames, and Luis Urias, along with several other capable players off the bench, this should be one of those situations where Stearns adds a bat and figures out the rest later.

The only position that Milwaukee shouldn’t consider adding to is catcher, with Omar Narvaez, Pedro Severino, and Victor Caratini providing a very strong trio.

Now sure, with this approach, the defense might suffer a bit, but if we are being honest, that’s already happening this season–and behind a strong pitching rotation, that’s not as much of a concern for me.

In all likelihood, the Milwaukee Brewers are going to make the playoffs, but with ups and downs that this offense has experienced this season, that very well could once again be the reason behind an early exit.

Right now, the Brewers need someone in that lineup who can stand out, and what position that player plays defensively should take a back seat to what they can do on offense.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference