The Brewers have finalized their third free-agent signing of the past week, announcing Tuesday that they’ve agreed to a two-year contract with outfielder Avisail Garcia. The Mato Sports Management client will reportedly be guaranteed a total of $20MM and can earn up to $30MM if a 2021 club option is exercised.
The contract is said to come with a $500K signing bonus, a $7MM salary in 2020 and a $10.5MM salary in 2021. The $12MM club option contains a $2MM buyout and can be converted to a mutual option if Garcia reaches 550 plate appearances in 2021 or totals 1050 plate appearances over the first two seasons of the contract.
“Avisaíl provides an impactful right-handed hitting force in our lineup,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said in a press release. “Adding him to our current group of outfielders strengthens what was already one of the strongest outfields in baseball.”
This move represents the first big move on the corner outfield market. Garcia ends up getting the two-year deal that MLBTR predicted, but at a greater rate of pay than we had supposed. The contract sets an important market marker for fellow youthful, right-handed-hitting corner pieces Nicholas Castellanos, Marcell Ozuna, and Yasiel Puig.
Garcia actually received three-year offers, including from Milwaukee, according to Heyman. But he preferred the shorter pact, with the idea being that he will have a shot at returning to free agency in the first year of a new CBA. Whether that proves an optimal time to reenter the market remains to be seen, but Garcia — who won’t turn 29 until next June — will certainly still be rather young at that time.
This time last year, Garcia settled for a one-year bounceback deal with the Rays after he struggled through an injury-limited 2018 campaign. He made good on the contract, turning in 530 plate appearances of .282/.332/.464 hitting with twenty home runs, though that didn’t represent a full return to his breakout ’17 effort (.330/.380/.506).
The Brewers are betting that Garcia can at least replicate his showing last year in Tampa Bay. He graded well with the glove and has surprisingly outstanding sprint speed. While he doesn’t walk much, Garcia doesn’t strike out a ton and has shown he can hit for a high average. It’s certainly possible to envision the talented player putting it all together and delivering a star-caliber performance in Milwaukee.
Despite two-straight postseason appearances, the Brewers have taken an aggressive approach to turning over their roster this winter. The club now has a bit of an overload in the outfield, although the Brewers are generally aggressive in terms of rotating players through multiple positions. Per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (Twitter link), manager Craig Counsell has informed Garcia that the team plans to utilize him in left field and in center field next season, with Ryan Braun moving around (i.e. spending time at first base) in order to accommodate the new arrangement. Garcia also has ample experience in right field, which could help to ease the burden on Christian Yelich early in the year as he returns from a season-ending patella fracture.
Jose F. Rivera of ESPN Deportes broke the news that the two sides were close to an agreement. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the agreement and terms (via Twitter). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the annual breakdown (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
niceee
So whats first looking like now? Third?
Feels like Frazier….or Wilmer Flores to fill 1B / 3B.
Gawd, that would be awful. Frazier sucks.
Moose hit in one of the best parks in MLB and arguably the best park for lefties. His BA/OBP was identical to Frazier but his SLG was like 70pts higher. OPS+ difference is 8. Frazier’s also a slightly better defender and costs half the price. While not my first choice by far he would be a solid fill-in for 1yr.
Frazier definitely isn’t great, but you could do worse among the non-Donaldson FA options at 3B.
According to future hall of famer Hawk Harrelson Frazier is better than Kris Bryant
Frazier is a perfect fit for the clubhouse culture too. Serious on the field, fun in the dugout.
According to future hall of famer Theo Epstein, Kyle Schwarber is Babe fricken Ruth. What’s your point?
That’s only because Schwarber is fat.
Is Carlos Quentin available?
Braun at 1st and Urias at 3rd. Hopefully Thames can work out a deal to come back.
Urias at 3rd is something I highly highly doubt. A move for a 3b is coming.
Urias has a decent ammount of minors experience at 3B, so unless they are giving up on Arcia, i dont see any addition besides a utility guy.
I highly doubt that is the plan going into spring. Urias is there solely to light a fire under Arcia’s bat, and if that does not happen, take over once Arcia is traded/released.
Brewers are going to get a full time third basemen.
Urias has 11 minor league starts and 8 big league innings. I wouldn’t consider that to be a decent amount
They are giving up on arcia
With all the shifting the Brewers do, infield position means less.
Because of Keston’s defense, short is a glove first position. Arcia still gets first crack at short.
Besides, would it really be better to have someone like Frazier or Ryon Healy at Third?
You guys know you’re allowed to sign pitchers as well, right?
Yes
Oh that’s a good one.
I don’t think THEY have a say in what players are signed or you probably would see the Brewers sign a couple pitchers by now.
I feel like Arcia gets traded unless they convert him into a 3B.
Braun at first base
@CrewBrew
:”So whats first looking like now? Third?”
I am thinking first is looking like the Reds, Third is looking like you guys.
how about Maikel Franco?
How many outfielders does a team need?
5 which is how many we have
counting is hard-give him a break
No, give him Prince Fielder’s wife.
That did indeed lead to a problem in the clubhouse and it will follow Avi for the rest of his career.
Too soon
It should, hes a p.o.s.
0 at 1st. 0 at 3rd. 5 in outfield
Yes good count!!! Gold sticker!!!
NOW we fill 3rd AND first!
See how this works now?
Braun will probably split time at 1B and Cain will need days off. Didn’t realize it matters how many 1B/3B Brewers have on December 16th.
lol right? As soon as the Brewers make a sign people complain about the other holes
Yes, we realize there are holes, one at a time lol
He didnt take his pill today cut him some slack.
Today is December 16th…AG played pretty much every day for a team that won 96 games in the AL east, on a team with a tiny payroll against the Yankees and Red Sox.
I think it’s a very good addition. Let’s worry about who plays where around the middle of March..
I think there is a joke in here about holes and Prince Fielder’s wife- since it’s part of the comments- but I’ll leave that alone for now.
Hardly a joke- it’s the reason Avi was traded from Det to the Sox and Miggy’s injury when he defended Fielder’s honor. (Fielder would have been dumped to the Rangers anyway – it was a terrible signing by Illitch in spite of Dombrowski’s recommendation against it) Both Cabrera and Garcia were Venezualan and when Avi got to Det as a 20 yr old, it was considered to be a rookie-mentor relationship but “Mini-Mig” turned out to be an embarrassment to Cabrera. Hence, the scuffle, the injury and the trade.
Miggy fielder vmart gave the tigers an incredible middle of the lineup.
Wow! The price of poker is indeed going up, way up!
Pretty good signing
We did it
congrats Avi you deserve it – Rays fans will miss you!
Prince’s wife doesn’t.
Time to come up with some new material.
Amazing how fans will rationalize the addition of any player, no matter his negative clubhouse history.
Which team did you play with Avi on?
You need to do some research.
Pretty steep price for an unproven player. I get why Rays wouldn’t wanna gamble on that
10 million is a steep price these day? Didnt Jordan Lyles get 16 million guaranteed after having an ERA of 10 with the Pirates?
Or how about Pomeranz getting a gurantteed 4 years for a couple good weeks in relief?
This is baseball these days. Every contract has been an overpay.
Yes, every contract has been an overpay so this 2/20 deal isn’t shocking. But stop pissing on Lyles and Pomeranz lying about their work. Lyles was very good last year second half with Brewers then first 2 months with Pitt was awesome then got knocked for like 8 starts then killed it again in the 2nd half.
Pomeranz was exactly what anyone with a functioning brain knew he’d be out of the pen where his stuff would play up big time. And he did that for 2 months, not 2wks. He’s smart to stick with the pen vs wanting to try starting again but he at least has the versatility where if they need him to throw 4 innings one day he can. I certainly wouldn’t pay either what they got but lets not pretend they didn’t perform recently in the roles they just got paid for.
As someone who watched Pom when he was with the A’s, I think you hit the nail on the head. He was usually quite good the first 1 – 2 times through the lineup but couldn’t sustain, thus limiting his ability to be a top-flight starter. But his stuff can work out of the pen, especially if his curveball is snapping right out of the gate.
maybe i should have worded that better.
What i meant was 10 million in this market is nothing for a young hitter like Garcia.
Bingo! Tired of folks acting like we lost Pomeranz. Well said. He parlayed a few good weeks into a very big contract for him
Unproven? Had a better wRC+ than Ozuna last year. 2017 and 2019 were both good years for him. 2018 he just didn’t get the at bats.
Because he was injured all 2018
So you’re gonna try and tell me a proven player is one who one year has a BABIP of almost 400 with little power and one other average year is what we consider proven now?
You just have me one and a half good years of playing and trying to convince me that’s proven. You just contradicted yourself
Over his last 3 years he has an OPS+ average of 114. 14% above league average. He’s produced every year he’s got playing time.
Again if you wanna dive deeper like I said his 2017 stats were completely unsustainable, 2018 was injured which is a part of being a good player and being proven is not getting hurt, and 2019 he had a tick above average year. If that warrants a 2 year $20 mil deal for you as a gm your team would be very unsuccessful
So you’re telling me if I can get 14% above league average at all 9 positions for 90M total GM’s wouldn’t jump all over that?
Heck 5 SP’s at 14% above league average and 8 position players for 130M? Where do i sign up.
That ain’t gonna win yah championships lol. Congrats you’ll be good enough and win 93 games every year. Even Rays reporters were shocked he got $20mil. This is an overpay, many in the industry see it that way and there’s a reason the smartest front office in baseball let him walk.
what team do you work for?
The Brewers are notorious for taking undervalued young players, and turning them into solid big league players.
Sorry if I trust David Stearns who has made very solid moves over his tenure, over a guy named kc38 on MLB trade-rumors.
Again with the BABIP, like it’s an exact science. Yes, his BABIP was high in 2017, but people always quote it like that’s the only number that matters. What was his hard hit rate that year? Did he beat the shift a bunch before they adjusted? Did he beat out a bunch of infield hits because he is exceptionally fast.
As a White Sox fan, I can tell you the biggest concern I had was that he hurt his hamstring all the time hustling TOO MUCH to first. Could be bigger problems. Good add for the Brewers.
The same organization who doesn’t lose trades? Like the Aguilar deal. This has been a market that paid out Gausman, Kyle Gibson and Wacha 10M per. Also you went from your team being very unsuccessful if you give 14% above league average production 10M per to 93 win team. Which one is it?
When’s the last time the brewers won a World Series lmao? Why you keep trusting him? What has he done for you to earn that, I see why you trust him now yah ain’t very smart. The Rays have by far the best reputation for getting the most out of their players and it’s not even close.
If 93 wins and being a wild card team every year is very successful to you then again more power to you. To most that’s not successful, the Aguilar deal was swapping a non tender player for someone who maybe could break out and didn’t so either way it was a non tender, that’s break even.
Unless you buy titles almost every organization would love 93 win seasons. 93 typically wins divisions too
But again I’d like to see the Rays players % above average players and with a $60m payroll. I guess that’s why true Rays fans know what the value of a player is because our front office knows how to truly find it, these other teams who overpay just to have an average player is so beyond dumb it’s funny
you mad bro? jesus christ
A 93 win team just won the World Series.
How many World Series have the Rays won? Stfu
93 wins and a wild card team. Sounds like the Nationals. I’d say that’s successful.
The way I have it figured that’s one and one half more quality years than you my brother. Why don’t you wait and see what he does before you rag on the man.
How is he unproven?
He’s “proven’ and WYSIWYG.
That’s literally 90% of what the Rays do lol.
Can we put a moratorium on the terms “proven” and “unproven” to describe players, as though some players carry a degree of risk while others don’t?
It’s not true. *All* players have some level of risk. It’s not uncommon for high-performing players to regress from one year to the next, often dramatically. What level of confidence you have that a player will play at a high level in the future is up for debate. But the proven/unproven binary is a terrible paradigm for discussing the issue.
Bada-Bing! Welcome to Milwaukee, try the beer!
I am guessing the Rays lose Sogard too
Which isn’t a loss.
hooray
or something
I guess
Do the Brewers have what it takes to win the Central – even if they get two quality SP?
Most people didn’t have the Brewers making the postseason last year either ….. or the year before
You do realize the rules changes in September will affect Milwaukee significantly more than any other team don’t you?
This is a false narrative. Over 90% of relief innings thrown by the Brewers in September were from 9 pitchers. Add in 5 starters and you have a 14-man pitching staff.
14 or 13 is what they’ll carry all season.
Tell us how? Tell us who all these call-ups the Brewers had in September are? You act like as if the Brewers had a battalion sized bullpen out there.
Side note: You do realize what a battalion is right?
Come on, we all know the only reason Milwaukee had back-to-back September runs is because they stashed Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez in the minors until rosters expanded, and rode the fresh arms to the playoffs!
Yeah, Sterns and CC always find a way to make it work with our pitching staff. Brewers are never picked to be in the playoffs or win the central because we don’t have any so called “ace” pitchers, but so far so good.
Good pick up would not be surprised if he plays a little 1b certainly has the size
They’d be quite silly to stick an above average outfielder at first base
kc38 the dodgers do that all the time with arguably their best player in Bellinger so yeah. A lot of corner outfielders like to be versatile and play 1st base too
Above average, arm only.
If injury is an issue, 1st may keep him on the field
He’s a good athlete for his size I was hoping the cards would look at him but we tried and are happy with what we have
Like the pick up was kinda surprised that he got 20 million. I’m sure that everyone will get enough at bats. I’m kinda leaning Taylor to replace Gamel. Looking for Braun to play some first so. I wouldnt be too disappointed to letting Erceg earn the third base job now. I kinda wonder if the Brewers could make a trade for Colin Moran or consider Chisenhall for third base job.
Erceg is nowhere near ready. He hit .218/.305/.398 with 102 K in the hitter friendly PCL last season. Travis Shaw hit .286/.437/.586 down there. Spangenberg hit .309/.378/.498. Saladino hit .287/.384/.566. Pretty sure nobody would be happy with any of them as the Opening Day starter so why would they try a completely unproven guy with even worse numbers?
Fair enough but what about the Colin Moran trade idea ?
I was wondering about Moran myself, but apparently he’s a complete butcher at 3B.
OVERPAY!
Feels as if the Rays are losing too much offensively to repeat as a WC team in ’20. Wouldn’t be surprising if both of the WC teams in 2020 come out of the AL West.
Rays always find some undervalued kid who comes in and smacks 30 homers. idk how they do it but id never make a trade with them.
Sorry Bucko fans.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA what a funny guy
Good pickup, well worth the money.
I thought Arizona would be a great fit for him, especially on just a 2 year pact.
Well, at $10 million a year, Garcia isn’t there to platoon with Ben Gamel….that’s for sure. Is something else in the works?
Stearns never sleeps and has many more moves to make. I for one have loved his offensive replacements so far.
I still want them to just go in and pay for a Keuchel but wishful thinking there.
Maybe not. I still won’t be surprised if Brewers get an excellent starter in a Hader deal
I get that fans love Ben Gamel, but sis we really expect him to be a true platoon split? Especially when Garcia was actually a tick better against righties last season? Gamel is a 4th OF and will get playing time, but he’s not a regular.
Which is unfortunate because Gamel had some clutch hits. I truly think hes a starter if given the chance on a team.
That’s a bad team if Ben Gamel is starting on it.
Gamel has reverse splits too, his OPS vs. Leftys was considerably higher last year.
Watch your ladies, Brew Crew!
Fans don’t care about potential clubhouse issues….until the rumors fly and they complain about the bad acquisition.
Brandon Belt sounds to be available as SF rebuilds, he would be fun to watch hit in Milwaukee
If SF eats half his deal, maybe.
They probably would for a decent lottery ticket type prospect
Clearly MIL is going to be going with Braun at 1B now, which would make Belt a bench bat for $17.2M a year (minus whatever “chunk” SF would pay). But Belt has a combined .750 OPS the past 2 seasons, so he pretty much is a bench bat
What is about SF fans that keeps putting value on their mediocre players with atrocious contracts? They even have some pretending that Longo is some kind of legit trade chip
Braun will play some first and some leftfield. CC will go with the hot hand; it’s hard to imagine Braun being better than last year. Not hard to imagine Garcia hitting better at Miller Park…er, AmFamField.
Sign Thames for $5m, please. And Urias will play more short than Arcia – Lando just can’t seem to make any adjustments to his batting style, and the org is running out of patience. The Crew absolutely needs to sign or trade for a thirdbaseman.
FIRE BILLY INEPT-PLER PLEASE
What does this have to do with the Angels?
Brew Crew can have him.
Just when I was getting used to seeing “THE BREWERS ARE SO CHEAP” 100 times with every player that sogned elsewhere, now all the sudden Stearns is grossly overpaying. Interesting.
Actually, I’m not surprised at all. This is exactly what I would expect to see had he forked over $32 mil for Pomeranz, $16 for Lyles, $64 for Moustakas or $73 for Grandal.
Brewers have agreed to a deal….if finalized…. which one is it? A deal or not a deal. Confusing!
split the difference between his ’17 and his ’19 and the Crew will take that all day. He could maybe moonlight at 1B in a pinch too, no?
GOOD CLUTCH HITTER !…NICE PICK UP !
mostwhite Sox fans…..”hahahahahaha”
Braves need to sign Donaldson and then trade Riley for Hader
I agree with you on JD. And I’m not 100% sold that Riley should be traded as he gave us a glimpse on how good he can be (which is so elite superstar good). If he figures it out, an I know analytics are against me, he’s gonna he awesome.
That said, it would prob take more than just Riley to get Hader simply because he regressed so much after his hot start. Not to mention I don’t think we must have Hader at this moment. I’d love to have him and no doubt a huge upgrade. But we could prob use Riley as a chip to fill bigger holes if we were gonna trade him
ALOT more would have to be in a deal for Hader than just Riley so that wont happen anyways.
You’re talking about 4 years of one of the most dominant lefty bullpen arms of this generation, for pretty cheap
yeah yeah he blew some games last year, we all know. Take a look at his workload. He was used alot and asked to go many many innings. They lost Knebel, and Jeffress was terrible so he was overworked for sure, which led to some bad outings.
If I’m the Brewers, I would absolutely trade Hader for Riley. It’s a heck of a lot harder to fill the gaping hole they have at third base cost-effectively over a large amount of time than it is to fill a bullpen role. You get even more years of cheap control over Riley, don’t have to worry about the inconsistency of a bullpen arm, and saw the massive amount of potential he has and what he could do at Miller Park. Coming from a fan without a dog in either fight, that’s a trade I make if I’m Milwaukee every day of the week.
As a piece of a trade sure, but no GM ever would trade Hader for Riley straight up “every day of the week”.
Anderson or Wright plus a couple lesser prospects along with Riley.
See now you ruined it
No way did I mean to suggest Riley by himself. Just the centerpiece.
So now you are saying 2 Top 3 prospects for a RP that wasn’t as good as he was the year before ???
No more like Riley & Muller or Riley & Touki but you are not getting Riley & Anderson or Wright
The Andrew Miller trade established the market at two top 100 prospects plus others. The Brewers aren’t trading Hader for lesser prospects.
Riley plus Anderson or Wright plus a couple others.
Solid little pick up for them
I like this move alot. Good get by Stearns.
they might look at mitch moreland for first, hes a FA here in boston who are making no attempts to resign him, good hitter when healthy and power numbers, nothing special so he wont cost much, kinda a 1 year stop gap journey man, worth a look.
That, or Brandon Belt, depending on how much of that contract the Giants will eat.
They for sure need a lefty first basemen–platoon with Braun is what its looking like. Braun will spell Garcia/Gamel some days.
Moreland, Thames, Smoak, Bird…. there are options out there for a LH 1B. Personally I like Smoak (switch hitter). I know he only hit .208 last year, but he had a .342 OBP last year and .350 and .355 the prior 2 seasons. Plus he could put up huge numbers in Miller Park. Bird could be a fun flier too, but dude cannot stay on the field.
Moreland would be perfect imo.
Third base though? I really dont know for that. Lots of fans keep hating on Todd Frazier so idk if hes a fit.
Frazier is an option. Wouldn’t mind Asdrubal. More versatile than Frazier and a touch better on-base skills.
I still think they’re going to resign Thames. Great on the field and in the club house and gives the left handed bat needed.
I love that the brewers drafted prince, avi bangs princes wife, and of course everything comes full circle and now he plays for the brewers. Princes favorite team definitely the rangers.
I hate how people are saying because of that incident hes a terrible clubhouse guy. Yeah that was a really bad thing to do, but one incident should not tarnish someone like that for the rest of his career. Idk much about his personality due to not wanting to watch a Rays game, but well see.
Does make for a fun joke though. I do know Braun has a hot wife so there may be an issue at the Christmas party lmao
My sweet baby Jesus and the orphans. As brainless comments go yours are right at the top of the Christmas tree. No-one knows for certain that there was any relationship between Garcia & Prince Fielder’s wife, Were you there?
Maybe Braun can take some more PEDS, accuse others of being anti semitic, and rent his wife to Garcia? Is part three of that statement what you are suggesting?
Um, there have been many people familiar with the situation that indicated that Garcia did do something with Fielder’s wife.
I personally think it sucks that their kids can read and hear about this stuff, but professional sports always informs their athletes that they and their families have to be careful about items that can be reported by the media.
It’s unfortunate that the story will keep resurfacing throughout Garcia’s career and anything Fielder does, but that’s mostly on Fielder’s wife. She made her bed with this. Garcia did too by not keeping it in his pants. Hopefully he’s grown up and no longer is a deebag trying to mess with other people’s wives.
Your logic (such as it is) is severely flawed. So, all the historical events that occurred in your absence were simply mirages? aside from that, you have zero cred due to your ad hom, which is far closer to being “brainless” than anything in the post you were referencing.
So, you were there? Holding his dressing gown for him? You weren’t there – I wasn’t there – and Miggy wades in as a moral arbitrator?
No, that doesn’t sound ridiculous at all….
Please remember they have kids that could read this stuff. Dont see why people need to bring this stuff up they have reconciled so leave it between them.
Not a bad pick up now sign Bird to a minor league deal or LaPorta. I think Matt Duffy for third base would and maybe Starlin Castro for utility.
LaPorta? You talking Matt Laporta? He still playing? lol
Weird market for corner OFs. Avisail gets paid. Castellanos is going to get paid. Calhoun may get paid. And yet, a guy like Domingo Santana can be had on the cheap.
Once these guys are all signed, it’ll be interesting to see how they all compare during the season, and what team gets good dollar value, bad dollar value, or paying what was fair value.
Santana is just such a huge defensive liability that it pretty much cancels out everything he does with the bat. -1.9 dWar last season and a -4.7 for his career.
Domingo had his moments as a brewer..but the thing that still sticks in my mind is him completely losing a fly ball in the sun, laughing about it afterwards, and despite teammates grabbing a pair of sunglasses between innings, he refused.
I also remember a lot of times where the camera scanned the dugout, with everyone interacting, high-fives and whatnot, and hes sitting in the corner by himself. Just my opinion of course, but I got the impression he wasn’t a real good teammate (perhaps that changed in Seattle?). Hasn’t been the most fortunate when it comes to staying healthy either.
Santana will likely sign a minor league deal with spring trading invite.
While I have no issues with Garcia as a player. A typical Stearns/Counsell transaction mindset. We’re mainly going to build a SOFTBALL team for our bandbox ballpark! Typically HR hitters who K often with average speed and average at best defensive “skills.” No, I’m not referring to A. Garcia with that description. Or Cain, Yelich, Braun & Arcia. Other than Cain and Yelich, Garcia is a typical Brewer signing or acquisition. Or they rarely keep a highly skilled player more than a year or two. Hell, there’s been rumors of Milwaukee moving Cain! A Gold Glove CF!
The issue in 2019 wasn’t Arcia’s lack of hitting, the abilities or ages of Cain, Thames or Grisham. It was PITCHING and over use of a few pitchers!! Along with an over rated supposedly “genius” GM and impatient manager for a certain ‘type’ of ballplayers.
And YES, I’m a Brewers fan!
Let’s also STOP the talk of professional team owners losing money or going broke. First of all it’s an ego thing for most of these billionaires. Anyone who thinks Mark A or any other team owner is actually losing $$ needs to take into account the mostly public paid for ballparks, tax free subsidies along with the total VALUE of the franchise. Think the same with companies that cry foul about States of America tax rates and yet pay very little if anything in actual net taxes.
Milwaukee home attendance is usually in the top third of MLB teams or middle of pack at worst. Yet, ONE World Series and six playoff appearances in 50 years.
It’s about the $$ first, then the team and then the community. Been that way for decades!
how much better is this plan than Braun in OF and Thames at 1B for less money?
Since the final roster has yet to be decided, along with dividing up playing time, and if Yelich will be 100% by opening day, it’s really tough to give a definitive answer (although I’m certain a dozen people will have a dozen different plans they are 100% sure is exactly what Counsell and Stearns have in store for the upcoming season).
Assuming that is the plan, it may suggest that they see an outfield of Yelich/Cain/Garcia/Gamel with Braun/? at 1st being stronger than Yelich/Cain/Braun/Gamel of with ?/? at 1st. At least from an offensive production standpoint.