3 simple reasons the Milwaukee Brewers did not spend much this offseason

The Milwaukee Brewers were relatively quiet during a baseball offseason where all 30 Major League teams combined to spend around $3.6 billion on free agents.

The Crew accounted for $4.5 million of that spending on three free agents. That is pocket change compared to what the New York Mets spent.

The Mets play in baseball’s biggest market and have the richest owner in baseball. The Brewers play in baseball’s smallest market and are lucky they are no longer owned by the Selig family.

The Brewers first ownership group was never really wealthy enough to financially compete. Since Mark Attanasio bought the club in 2005, he has had the financial resources to at least spend some cash in free agency.

This offseason the Milwaukee Brewers pretty much sat out free agency. They were the last team to sign a free agent when they brought back pitcher Wade Miley to Milwaukee. The Crew also signed utilityman Brian Anderson.

This was a club that failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2017. Instead of spending, the Brewers traded away veterans Hunter Renfroe and Kolton Wong.

One of the reasons the Brew Crew missed last year’s playoffs was that they were perceived as being cheap. They traded All-Star closer Josh Hader at the trade deadline while still in first place because the club did not want to pay him an eight-figure salary in his final arbitration year. Although, it was spun to get more bites at the postseason apple.

Instead of spending money to upgrade the team after the late season collapse, the organization acted like they had spent all the free agent money on Christmas gifts.

Although, there may have been a method to their madness. General manager Matt Arnold took over full control of the front office and decided to not throw money to fix the club’s problems. It may have been frustrating to sit through, but he had three legit reasons not to be a big spender.