As was the case for many other teams who won’t be enjoying a postseason berth, Brewers GM David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell spoke with the media to break down the 2016 season and look ahead to the winter. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweeted the pertinent comments.
Despite a dismal record (73-89), Milwaukee had many bright spots this year. That means the coming offseason likely won’t see quite as much turnover as occurred last winter, Stearns suggests and McCalvy tweets. There also won’t be any turnover in the coaching staff, with Counsell and all his field staff set to return, per another McCalvy tweet. An extension for Counsell, whose contract runs through next season, is also a possibility, writes Mike Bauman of MLB.com.
“Craig has gotten the most out of this team, and I feel very good about that,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said of Counsell, who took the helm in May 2015 after the firing of Ron Roenicke.
In addition to the coaching staff, Chris Carter will likely be back, the Brewers’ GM suggested (via a Haudricourt tweet). His 41 home runs make him a rather easy choice to return as the team’s primary first baseman, though they’ll also drive a big increase in his arbitration earnings. Carter earned a $2.5MM base salary, with $500K in incentives also triggered, after joining the Brewers via free agency. He is controllable in 2018 as well.
Infielder Jonathan Villar’s position is unsettled, says Counsell, but he’ll certainly have a place after an immensely promising campaign (Twitter links via Haudricourt). The 25-year-old put up a .285/.369/.457 slash and contributed 19 home runs with 62 stolen bases. He led the majors in that last mark, though he also led the league in being caught 18 times on the bases. Counsell explains that the team pushed players’ limits on the bases this year, as McCalvy tweets, calling it a “necessary” step in driving the organization forward.
Fellow 25-year-old Hernan Perez wasn’t nearly as productive overall, but he provides value through his versatility, Counsell adds. He swiped 34 bags of his own while batting .272/.302/.428 over 430 plate appearances on the year. With solid glovework, Perez was worth an even two wins above replacement by measure of Baseball-Reference.com, and won’t even be arb-eligible until 2018.
There are, of course, some places to improve as Milwaukee builds back toward contention. As I advocated in assessing the team’s three chief needs, dealing star outfielder Ryan Braun at a peak in his value may well be a way to drive the rebuild forward. Stearns was understandably noncommittal on the point. “We’ll see what happens,” he said with regard to Braun (via Haudricourt, on Twitter).
They seem to be a pretty solid team and with additions and growth, they can become dangerous.
Man I always liked Perez in Detroit they gave up on him way too soon
Perez will likely be the primary 3rd baseman next season with villar switching to 2nd once they trade Gennett The Brewers management loves versatille players
I respectfully disagree about Perez. I think he’ll be the utility player that every team needs. He can play anywhere besides pitch and catch. I see Villar at 3rd next year.
If you want to see villar commit 30 errors at 3rd go ahead. There was a reason why he played some 2nd base late this season. He has said he’s more comfortable there
42 games isn’t the largest sample size to determine anything. He’ll settle in with a full spring training under his belt.
They need to balance out their lineup a bit. They hit the most HR right handed of any team in the NL and the fewest left handed. They could use a lefty hitting catcher to use in a platoon. If guys like Broxton and Santana show continued improvement this team might take a pronounced step forward faster than most expect. Over a full season, Broxton might be another guy who’ll steal 50 bases and hit 20 HR.
Getting Jimmy Nelson back on track and clearing a spot in rotation for Josh Hader who has top of the rotation stuff and is a much needed lefty for a staff devoid of them is a priority.. Will be interesting if they can find a taker for Garza and maybe add a lefty bat to replace the inconsistent Nieuwenhuis.
Don’t sleep on Brewers. They had more wins over the Cubs (8) than any team other than St. Louis.
Handedness is overrated, both sides of the ball.
While there is certainly no shortage of fringe or lesser talents to be DFA for room on the 40 (Blazek, Rowen, Wilkins), the one I’ll be watching is Jungmann. Interesting to see whether they think he can still be salvaged. At 27 before Spring, he’s no lock to get another chance to rediscover the ’15 command.
Ditto for Peralta. Same age as Jungmann but a higher ceiling.
I think Peralta’s performance after his recall, a 2.92 ERA in 10 starts has Brewers convinced he can return to his 2014 form in 2017, Jungmann’s interesting but I don’t see him as more than rotation depth at this point.
Real question for Brewers is this. Did the positive performances they got from many players including Peralta down the stretch convince Stearns and Attanasio that contending by 2018 is a real possibility with the current core.
Trading Braun would be for the years beyond 2018 as it’s unlikely that whatever return they got for him would contribute enough to offset his loss the next couple seasons. Personally, I think there’s enough in the pipeline that I’d like to see them hold on to Braun and see what they can do the next couple years. This is not a team bereft of talent as currently constructed. Every team in the division pales in comparison with the Cubs true, but it’s highly unlikely that whatever Stearns does, that he’s going to be able to build a team capable of 103 wins. Not in the Brewers market.
With a lot of young pitchers we have in the minors and knocking at the big league door in the next few years. Hader especially, it’s time for Nelson, Peralta and jungmann to step it up. This really is a make or break year for all 3 of them imo