4 Sluggers Milwaukee Brewers Should Try to Trade For in Offseason
By Todd Welter
The Milwaukee Brewers quickly exited in the playoffs thanks to the offense.
The Crew had no trouble getting runners on base against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Getting them home was a whole different story.
Consistently scoring runs in the postseason has been the bane of the Brewers’ playoff lives since 2018.
Since Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS, the Brewers have had 98 runners reach base via hit, walk or hit by pitch. They have scored 17 times. Another brutal output from the bats in the postseason, there's no way around it.
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) October 5, 2023
The lineup has struggled to consistently hit over the past couple of seasons. Being a small market club that runs a shoestring budget is a big reason for that. Young hitters not developing is another.
The Milwaukee Brewers have some exciting young talent who could break out next year. Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer, and Garrett Mitchell have barely scratched the surface of their enormous potential. Top prospect Jackson Chourio is also getting close to making an impact at the big-league level.
They still have ace pitchers Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff under control for next season. Same goes for shortstop Willy Adames.
General manager Matt Arnold could go the prudent route and trade those three stars this offseason to get some value in return.
On the flip side, 2024 could shape up to be the Brewers’ best chance to contend for the World Series. He could also push his chips to the center and leverage his deep prospect pool to add a couple of bats to the lineup and make one more run at the World Series with his talented trio.
Arnold has shown he likes to use the trade market to add impact players. He was able to get catcher William Contreras through that route. Carlos Santana and Mark Canha were added at the deadline which helped improve the offense.
It would be nice to see the Milwaukee Brewers chase after Shohei Ohtani or Cody Bellinger, but the club just does not have the financial resources to outbid larger market teams.
They can compete with those clubs on the trade market. One thing is for certain, the Brewers not only need to upgrade the offense, but they also need some players who can slug the ball.
Mark Canha mentioned once again the importance of hitting homers in the playoffs.
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) October 2, 2023
"I stand by those comments. You have to slug. You have to get on base...In a three-game series you gotta do it and you gotta do it in a short window. That's the formula, I think."
That is why it would be nice to see Arnold pull off a major trade for one of these four bats.