Those following the Brewers at a distance may not have paid much attention to their tempered approach to the offseason. It’s easy to look at their winter and see a modest collection of stopgaps to stanch the roster bleed of departing vets like Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas. Look a littler closer, however, and you’ll find President of Baseball Ops and GM David Stearns created a two-year window of flexible and affordable contracts to keep Craig Counsell’s squad in contention, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
With Christian Yelich and Josh Hader, the Brew Crew have some of the best high-end talent in the game, but they’ve done a nice job filling out the infield with one-and-one contracts for Brock Holt, Eric Sogard, Justin Smoak, and Jedd Gyorko. Along with trade acquisition Luis Urias, the Brewers found a grab bag of roster pieces to power their infield engine in a wide-open NL Central. Holdovers Keston Hiura and Orlando Arcia join the extensive group of infielders vying for playing time.
Though Arcia is still just 25-years-old and has notched some big performances for the Brewers in recent seasons, his grip on everyday at-bats is loosening. Urias’ injury has provided Arcia with a last-ditch opportunity to prove his mettle. He certainly brings attitude and flair to the diamond, but two seasons of a .228/.277/.333 line dims the outlook on Arcia’s offensive potential for sure. Still, of the newcomers in the clubhouse, only Urias really threatens Arcia’s everyday status at short.
Of all rostered Brewers not named Yelich, Hiura has the highest ceiling. Thus, the onus lies largely (if unfairly) on his shoulders to make up the offensive production left behind by Grandal and Moustakas (who put up a combined 7 oWAR last season per baseball-reference). He put up a robust .303/.368/.570 line in just 84 games as a 22-year-old after being called up last season (139 wRC+). His power numbers have fluctuated throughout his professional career, but the hit tool has consistently played, and the Brewers are counting on Hiura to do some damage from the middle of their order.
The final piece of the infield puzzle for Counsell is long-time face-of-the-franchise Ryan Braun. Braun could see a majority of his time at first base with Avisail Garcia and Ben Gamel lining up with Yelich and Lorenzo Cain in the outfield. The exact formula for the rest of the lineup has no shortage of variables, but Counsell has proven himself an adept engineer. Importantly for Milwaukee, if any of the newly-acquired pieces fail to meld, they’ve maintained the flexibility, financially and structurally, to pivot.
Besides for these few moments in the playoffs Orcia has been a putrid hitter in his career
The author already said this so I’m not sure why you felt the need to restart the obvious. I appreciate Stearns and Counsell giving Arcia a couple seasons to “figure things out” before looking for other options. By adding Urias, Sogard and Holt this offseason, Arcia will finally be pushed to step up or be demoted.
This roster shake up shows Stearns’ ability to adapt to fluctuations in the market
Ironically, the author of the article also stated everything you said as well.
Except for the part where you mentioned that someone else “restarted” the obvious, lol.
I know. I should just stop posting if Haudricourt and the ‘author’ of this are so bankrupt of original ideas that they have to steal them from fans and present them as their own work.
Pathetic. They’re just parrots.
I obviously agree with everyone above.
He actually had a GREAT rookie season for his position.
Hit over .270 with 15 HRs.
Juice caboose!
Holt 3.25 + option
Gyorko 2.0 + option
Healy 1.0
Sogard 4.5 + option
Smoak 5.0 + option
That’s 15.75 for 2020 plus more next year if all 2021 options are picked up.
Seems like a lot of money for a bunch of players that other teams passed on, esp Sogard and Smoak.
Just wondering how the money could have been spent differently to help the team.
Sign Puig and move Braun to first. OF of Puig/Cain/Yelich with Garcia playing the “Gamel” role from last year and being the first RH bay off the bench (Smoak – an underrated switch hitting 2nd bat)….and this is a far better team.
Garcia is very underrated right now. Look at his power numbers in a non hitter friendly park. Defensively is where I think he will surprise people. He has an absolute cannon for an arm. The fact that Yelich moving to the other side should say something.
Thats probably the worst idea posted so far.
4th place !……..about 82 wins.
Brewers won’t finish .500 this year. They lost too much high end talent, and replaced it with guys who are more middle of the road.
Last season’s lineup was extremely feast or famine when it came to run production which is shown in their numbers (7th in HRs yet 17th in total runs). They have over 1600 at-bats to players who had a sub .650 OPS. The current roster will get n base at a much higher clip while still having enough players who can drive them in with 20+ HR potential (Yelich, Hiura, Braun, Garcia, Smoak, and Narvaez).
Narvaez looks like he might have more ceiling if he gets primary C all season.
Saying Moose was high end is laughable. 250 hitters are a dime a dozen and the home run numbers have been more than compensated for. The only big loss was Grandal.
Need to keep in mind some (most?) of these infielders have minor league options remaining. That helps make sense of the surplus. Also because the individual contracts are relatively low cost, cutting ties is easier.
I know the Brewers were supposedly in the red last year but hopefully that was mostly because of the 60 million spent on the spring training updates , along with the buying of two of their minor league affiliates. Now the many of one and two year deals that the Brewers did could work out perfect for them especially if Erceg and Nottingham can go to AAA and put it together to force their way back up and cement themselves into being very productive third and first baseman for the next 5 years.i get it a very big if but if we could work this team into having first Nottingham, second Huira, short Urias, and Erceg at third. Now I’m not expecting them all to be all stars right away but if they can grow together with all of them being quality and productive players. I could see 2 of them being all stars and the other two being a top 10 at their position. Now I get it I’m going to have a lot of trolls who are going to jump on me. But this team had a lot of streaky offensive players last year. I love Moose and over all his offensive numbers were decent but in reality he did slump in 3+ months. Then we got very little offense at short and first last year. So if this happens and Peralta, Burnes and Lauer become main stays finally in the rotation were going to be in very good shape along with financially great shape. If not were going to be making a lot of trades in July, doing a mini retooling. Either way I believe in Stern.
You should apply for the open writing position.
You should get a pinball machine that works.
He’d need to work on punctuation and paragraph structure.
The 64 million for the new facility and the costs of buying the minor league franchises were not considered part of the operating budget that took a loss.
Erceg and Nottingham are done. Career AAAA guys.
I like what Milwaukee did. Lots of flexibility, if managed properly, works in baseball. Signing a big front line starter was never in their plans. I think they’ll finish 2nd behind reds and are in the wild card hunt
People are severely overhyping the Reds. Every year they have great expectations, every year they fall flat on their faces.
Absolutely they are and I’m going out on a limb that all third base worries will be solved by this years Trent Gisham which will be Jake Gatewood.
I was going to join in your excitement until you mentioned Gatewood.
Grisham may end up being a good, but not great, player, but Gatewood is not even good enough to be a career AAAA guy and a utility player. I don’t think he has a major league career at all and gets fewer than 500 ABs in his entire career. Jake is just bad and can’t hack at the MLB level.
I had hopes once for Erceg and Notts, but they too seem like busts.
They definitely will need some breaks too finish well, not much pitching but still a few bats prob 3rd or 4 th in central
I predict they will have both the best starter and reliever ERA this year. Woodruff was 3rd in all of MLB in soft contact rates and lowest in HR rates. Hauser is every bit as good. Lindblom will be the 3rd and likely author a sub 4 ERA. If Anderson and Lauer are terrible, it could be the break out year for Burnes or Peralta to replace whoever falters.
Looks like the best starting staff in MLB and they already have THE best reliever and have emerging stars like Devin Williams and Ray Black to join Knebel.
Easy division title. Pirates suck. Cubs and Cards are average at best. Reds moves are overrated and they always manage to screw it up.
‘The Brewers’ Infield Picture’ – is a mess…
Even with the best pure hitter I’ve seen in 20 years at 2B? A former MVP about to play a lot of 1B? A competent back up at First? A budding star in Urias?
It’s not a mess at all. It will sort itself out. 3B doesn’t matter as much when your 2B hits 35 HRs and gives you 3B production from second. The guys they signed to play 3B actually have above average total WAR, so we’ll be fine.
Don’t mind Unicorndog, they are just a troll searching for likes. Just posting the same thing in every article.
I am in mourning because the Brockstar is not in Boston n very jealous he’s with the Brewers. Your team is getting a terrific player on n off the field, not a media star but a fans star. Please give him the fans love he deserves it. I’ll always miss him in Boston.
Good grief. Give it a rest.
Just move on already is getting annoying
who is the brockstar – Marc Wahlberg?
As a Brrewers fan, looking at Brock Holt, he is only a spot starter or late D replacement, If you want a clubhouse leader, sign David Ortiz as your ‘motivational clubhouse guy’ for 2 mil a year.
Holt allows Sogard to shift over to SS more often if Arcia struggles and Urias is still rehabbing. He’s also someone who can lead off (if Cain struggles) or hit in the two hole which allows Yelich/Hiura more opportunities to drive in runs. I see Brock easily getting 2-3 starts a week depending on match ups.
Holt and Sogards numbers are pedestrian when averaged over the last 3 years. You are paying for OBP only — their offensive numbers are offensive.
I see he isn’t gonna get the love he got in Boston. Not every player is a Mookie or Judge. Some players come through when you need it most, on n OFF the field. He’s a good person in a sport that has arrogant players n fans. I’ll miss him, n no I won’t shuddup.
You must be underrating OBP then. Most of Grandal’s charm offensively was his ability to walk and get on base.
Garcia is very underrated right now. Look at his power numbers in a non hitter friendly park. Defensively is where I think he will surprise people. He has an absolute cannon for an arm. The fact that Yelich moving to the other side should say something.
The fact 20 different people responded to this post.,No one outside Milwaukee really cates.
What’s amazing is I didn’t see half the comments coming from cube fans.
As for who they got, and the money spent, forget the stuff about whether they lost money last year…
It would have taken roughly $135 MILLLLLLLIONNNNNN to convince Grandal and Moustakas to re-sign. If they are remotely serious about keeping Yelich long term, they’ll need all that plus what comes off the books when Braun is done.
And I don’t think the Sox or Reds will be all that happy with those guys in year 4 of their deals..maybe not even year 3.
Chicken salad !!!
I “cate” a little bit….
The Brewers will likely field over 100 different lineups this year. May even put the o/u on 128. I expect games where Cain leads off, Holt does, Braun does,Urias does, Sogard does. Batting cleanup youre looking at Braun, Garcia, Narvaez, Smoak, Hiura, Gyorko. The analytics are going to influence so many different lineups vs the SP.
People are down on the SPs, but the team has 6-7 battling for 5spots. I’d assume only 3 are locked in. And early reports are positive on Lauer, Peralta, and Burnes. That would push Lindblom and Houser for starts. Bet the over for wins
Another thing is double switches due to Counsell’s pitcher usage.
4 locks.
Woodruff, Houser, Lindblom, Lauer.
The rest are fighting for that one spot.
They didn’t sign Anderson to be a bullpen arm. Leuer has a bit more to prove to lock up his spot.
You may be right, but Anderson is a fat, out of shape bum who looks like another bad signing (like Garza and Suppan). I sincerely hope he’s just depth to take over if Peralta and Burnes falter once again.
My ideal rotation is Woodruff, Houser, Peralta, Burnes, Lindblom.
I hope they are all pitching like aces and we can cut both Lauer and Anderson by May (they actually will have great trade value and we could get the piece we need once we know what position is faltering).
I said all of this in a lengthy post several days ago on this very site (a post about signing Brock Holt).
I received numerous compliments and a suggestion to write for the site (one said I’m better
than Haudricourt).
Then I saw his article yesterday.
Now it’s being quoted here today.
I guess Tom reads this site and he is stealing my material now!
Someone should be trading for yelich
Biggest hole in the infield is Keston….his bat will play but his defense is way subpar….
If only mlb allowed defenses to shift players to help cover up things like this…
I wasn’t very happy with the Brewers offseason until the Brockstar was signed. Thames is a better overall hitter than Smoak, plus if you needed to put him in an offensive surge of players on comeback mode, Thames could be stuck out in Left Field, second base, or right field.
My opinion is that Ben Zobrist is still available out there. He has expressed desire to be more of an every day first baseman, has a career OPS of around .750 and can still play 7 other positions in a pinch. He’s definitely more valuable than Smoak will be.