The Brewers are hoping to add another bat to their lineup ahead of the deadline even after landing first baseman Carlos Santana in a deal with the Pirates last week, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. That Milwaukee is looking to add to their offense is hardly a surprise. The club’s collective wRC+ this season stands at just 88, bottom five in the sport and ahead of only the Rockies in the NL. While Santana addresses their lack of production from first base, they nonetheless have plenty of offensive holes to fill around their roster.
The club has gotten below average offensive production from every position around the diamond except for left field this season, though that certainly doesn’t mean they’ll be looking to upgrade their entire offense. Shortstop Willy Adames figures to be secure in his role, for example, and newly-promoted outfielder Sal Frelick figures to handle right field on a regular basis going forward. Given Joey Wiemer’s quality defense in center field, it seems reasonable to expect him to remain a fixture in the lineup as well despite a lackluster wRC+ of 82.
The club could look to add offense to its infield by swinging a deal for third baseman Jeimer Candelario of the Nationals or second baseman Gleyber Torres of the Yankees, but the market for Candelario appears to be quite crowded and the Yankees currently appear more likely to buy than sell. That being said, either player would inject a well above-average bat into the club’s infield alongside Adames and Andruw Monasterio, the latter of whom can play anywhere on the infield as needed to accommodate a potential acquisition.
While an infield addition would make sense, the most straightforward way for the Brewers to improve their offensive production would be targeting an addition at DH. The club has gotten a pathetic 55 wRC+ from their DH slot to this point in the season, dead last in the majors. Adding a surefire, above-average bat who can be slotted in at DH on a daily basis would transform the look of the club’s lineup, and Matt Arnold’s front office seems to know that given their reported interest in White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez.
Jimenez, a former top prospect with a career 123 wRC+ and a contract that allows his club to control him through the end of the 2026 campaign, would be an excellent pickup for the Brewers, though he would likely come at a fairly hefty acquisition cost considering those positive attributes. There are a handful of rental options that could also be available to impact the club’s offensive profile at what would likely be a much more affordable prospect cost. Tommy Pham of the Mets, in particular, is a free agent after this season but has delivered a .268/.348/.472 slash line in 264 trips to the plate this season. Other possible options include Pham’s teammate Mark Canha or Red Sox slugger Adam Duvall.
While the Brewers are focused on adding to their offense, they appear to feel comfortable with their pitching staff as is with Rosenthal noting that Milwaukee does not expect to jump into the starting pitching market even after the loss of right-hander Julio Teheran to the injured list. Left-hander Wade Miley is expected to be activated from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, while Rosenthal notes that righty Brandon Woodruff is set to make a rehab start tomorrow and could also rejoin the rotation in the near future.
I’d love Gleyber. He’d thrive outside of NY
“Id love Gleyber”..In NY every at bat or every single defensive play is (over)scrutinized by fans and media; it’s hard to play like that, because baseball is about your overall, cumulative body of work and what you produce in totality. I agree that Torres would thrive outside NY.
It might be possible to get the White Sox to add Tim Anderson if their demands are a bit steep for Jiminez. Anderson has OPS’d .828 since the AS break.
I agree. It’s the kind of buy low move that we need. Anderson is what i hoped Adames would be offensively. Dude knows how to make solid contact and get on base. Adames has pop, but at the expense of knowing when to just put the ball in play, and strikes out way too much.
Well, for this year I think he’d play mostly second. But he’d be there for next year if the Brewers elected to move on from Willy. Willy has disappointed at the plate, but his defense has been excellent. They can’t lose the defense, as it is vitally important to their pitching success. Anderson would do almost as well at second as Turang, and could certainly hit better. Monostereo could play third until BA comes back. Eloy is at least as good defensively as Winker at DH, and I just can’t imagine he’d hit any worse. It’ll cost probably 3 top 30 prospects, but none of the top 6. At least in my fantasy world.
I am fully ready to move on from Willy. He’s not it. He’s going to want Dansby money. We clearly can’t afford that and I wouldn’t want him for that amount.
He’s basically Baez 2.0
“Eloy is at least as good defensively as Winker at DH…”
Now that’s thought-provoking. The defensive value of a DH is totally overlooked, even in this era of high analytics.
I’m not Bill James, but I’d say Eloy is dead even with Winker as a DH on defense. As Eloy and Winker are dead even with all other DH’s on defense, now and since 1973.
Tigers will trade you for Baez 😉
Gleyber thrives IN New York, those fans just hate him for some reason.
They already have two other Glyeber type players in Urias and Adames. Why add another one? Guy has made his career on playing in tiny AL East ballparks and crushing the (then tanking) Orioles lol.
I’d happily take the offensive production of Gleyber over Adames. Yeah Willy is great defensively but he can’t hit. Urias can’t hit either
Eloy’s injury history should keep the cost down.
His contract will, too.
Are you kidding? No way the Sox trade Eloy. He’s a cornerstone player, young enough to be part of a re-build or to contribute mightily to a rejuvenated, competitive offense.
He’s part of the reason they need a rebuild.
Good lord, the Rockies are awful this year. They play half their games at Coors Launching Pad and are somehow still the worst offense in the NL.
The control dictates that the White Sox don’t need to trade him until their price is met.
Eloy is overrated; he’s injury prone, slow and not athletic at all. You give me a decent, athletic prospect and another medium prospect and he’s yours. He’s just not in the lineup enough, to overvalue the several homeruns he hits every year before he’s injured again.
He’s still 26 and tearing a pectoral muscle and having an appendectomy would be considered hard luck. His numbers are the same if not better than Yelich’s will be paid $11M less per season over the next 3 seasons. Unless you value $11M more for Yelich because of his fielding I’d argue Jimenez is the better deal.
“the same or better than yelich’s”… maybe go check thise stats first….other than BA and slugging (which they’re ever), yeli leads eloy in every major stat, including (and maybd most importantly) games played
Whether you call it bad luck or not, some players are always injured. Who cares if its his fault. Either way, he’s out of the lineup.
Milwaukee’s below average offense has been an old, ongoing story for quite some time now; there’s been plenty of medium-salary good hitters they could have targeted(Drury, Duvall, Renfro, Arrarez etc..) a long, long time ago.
They did target Renfroe. He was on the team.
I was surprised they got rid of Renfroe. He’s a “value” player imo.
Salary dump with a glut of OF coming up in their system, they did get Peguero out of it who has been a key member of their stellar bullpen.
fwiw, peguero has been solid…
They were 10th in all of baseball in OPS and R/G last season.
I bet they are
Only seeing the Reds coming out of the Central.
Seems the Reds have made some astute trades the last couple years. It would be nice to see them get rewarded for astute, thoughtful moves.
…the same reds that lost the season series to the Brewers 10-3. Would not hold my breath there.
The same Reds that don’t play Milwaukee the rest of the year and are currently in 1st place. Don’t worry. You can frame that 10-3 record as a consolation prize. Too bad you didn’t play that well against everybody else.
they gotta get some pitching first
One of the biggest eyesores in the lineup is Adames, but he’s safe cuz he goofs off a lot and makes everyone laugh.
Really starting to wish they had gotten anything resembling a decent offer for him last winter, and TAKEN it.
He is safe bc he is 1 of 3 decent bats in the lineup. Maybe 4 now if you include 40 year old Santana
Adames does not reach that Top 3.
I only looked at his stats, not the rest of the team..but if being 45 points below his career ba, and 80 points below his career OPS makes him a decent bat, what is the standard now? Simply not stinking quite as bad as the rest of the current roster?
.202 ba and .675 OPS aren’t good by any standard I am aware of.
Sounds like the “Central Division Standard”.
His xBA and xSLG are pretty much in line with his last few years. Slightly less hard contact. I’m not sticking up for the dude but the rest of the lineup is around the same thing with even less pop.
So it is the “everyone around him stinks a little worse so he’s alright” standard.
I don’t hate the guy, but he’s not good.
Yea, the Brewers offense is trash outside of Yelich and Contreras. They have no pop and somehow still have like a 25%+ Team K rate
I thought the Brewers front office had a good plan. Allow Garrett Mitchel, Sal Frelick and Brice Tuareg to mix in with the rest of the veterans. I keep thinking the Brewers are just one key player away.
They are. Unfortunately, I feel like that player is Ohtani.
Chourio will be a huge help to this team when he arrives. Hopefully we’ll have enough pitching by then to make it worthwhile.
The FO has a good plan???.Burnes, Woodruff, and Adames are all free agents after the 2024 season. The reds clearly have passed them talent wise. Brew Crew’s window has closed.
Reds don’t have the pitching talent. I predict the Crew will extend Burnes but not Woody due to his injury history.
Burnes will top 200m easily they should trade him in the offseason. A club like Mil shouldn’t get strung on large contracts they should develop and flip when they get costly like the Rays or Guardians.
Woody’s injury history makes him possible for the cheapskate Crew to extend him. Burnes already has a foot out the door and there’s a good chance he moves in the offseason.
….and thats why they are always a .500 team?
They have Abbott, Greene, Lodolo which could not be far behind Burnes, Woodruff, whoever next year. The major point being they are signed at a fraction of the cost
Who cares about Adames? The Brewers offense is looking to improve in upcoming years, the pitching might be an issue. The window is not closing on offense, thats goofy ,pitching maybe.
This season they are 2-3 players away. In two years they may have extras to trade. That’s how it goes with prospects. 2024 is probably the last season of strength with this rotation, guys will need to mature
One more bullpen arm too, please…maybe a lefty? (Maybe bring back Suter?)
Can they take on the Judge contract?
The Brewers should have been sellers. They know they’re not going anywhere and those pitchers are long gone after next year. They’re just postponing the inevitable. It will eventually become be a battle with the cardinals for doormat status for the next five years
No team should ever sell if they have a good shot at the postseason. As a million people have observed, it can be a total crapshoot. The Braves are a juggernaut this year but it wouldn’t be that shocking to see them get picked off by the Marlins or Giants or Brewers or Reds or whatever team squeaks into the playoffs and gets hot in October.
Brewers have two studs at the top of their rotation. A couple bats can do a lot for the offense. They have had many injuries this year and Ashby hasn’t even pitched at all this season. Bullpen is pretty solid as well. I totally disagree with doormat status as the have some major talent coming up in the next 2 seasons.
“Should have been sellers”…Not completely disagreeing, but it’s not nearly that dire in Milwaukee; they are NOT up against the cap, play in a soft division and have PLENTY of payroll flexibility. They clearly need to repurpose some resources, make some trades and redevote more resources towards the offensive end. Don’t forget the Reds, Giants and the Dbacks were a mess less than 1.5 yrs ago and are now contending.
The team and fans whine and complained about them trading hader last year. Hard to run a successful franchise when you listen to fans at all. They don’t know anything
Bench or trade Wiemer, move frelick to center. Mitchell, frelick, chorios will be the outfield next year and yelich the DH
Chourio is not ready yet. He’s 19 and in AA. Project him for opening day 2025
Chourio is 19 and hasn’t touched AAA. It’s possible he gets his debut next year but your plan sounds more 2025.
Yelich is having one of his best defensive seasons so at least for now, it is a waste to have him in as regular DH. Ridiculously, DH is the biggest need right now, at least until Santana shows enough to lock it down.
It will be interesting to see what they do with Wiemer/Mitchell/Frelick. They are all excellent defenders, as is Chourio. Both Wiemer and MItchell strike out way too much, but I could see a platoon working next year. Wiemer’s glove is worth keeping, even on the bench, unless someone comes along with the right offer.
Double AA is the final proving league in the minors, so whether he plays Triple A or not means little . He will be in the majors maybe in September and if not ,next year. The Brewers GM said he could be on the team sometime in 2023. I didnt that make that up, the GM Arnold said that.
Maybe they should have left Corbin Burnes in Atlanta and took some bats (Hitters) back with them. I’m sure AA would have worked out something..like Marcelle Ozuna and Vaughn Grissom for Corbin Burnes!It has my approval, as long as you take on Ozuna’s lofty salary!
Don’t get me wrong, as a Braves fan, I’d love it… but yeah, they’re not getting Burnes for Ozuna and Grissom.
thats a hard pass there, buddy
This happens to every team after they play Atlanta. “I think we need more firepower to keep up with these guys”
Especially when the Brewers threw 3 starting pitchers at them last series that don’t even belong in MLB.
If Seattle’s ready to shake things up (and they should be), they could help Milwaukee in their corners.
Sorry, we have our own France (Tellez) and Suarez (Urias or whomever plays there now). We good.
Right, almost comparable.
Never mind their stats
i would take teoscar hernandez in a heartbeat
Milwaukee should contact Oakland about Jordan Diaz and Brent Rooker. Two prospects ranked 16-30 in the organization should be a fair return.
Arnold is handcuffed by what Mark A wants to spend and what to give up, as in past years Mark A has not come out of hiding and said money is no object.
BTV has Eloy at a shockingly low value, so when I heard it would take multiple top-10 prospects to acquire him, I now say no thanks.
They wouldn’t be in such a terrible position if only…. Garret Mitchel wouldn’t gotten hurt, Tellez, Urias, Winkler, Adames, etc. wouldn’t have underperformed. Maybe they need to fire the hitting coach.
Yeah, just fire the hitting coach every year? Problem is the fact they rely on bench players to play every day like the smaller markets. Sad to waste the pitching they have had without trying to actually add to the offense.
It’s up to the manger and his staff to get the most from his players. It might be time…
It looks like Canha’s the one. I hope the Mets get a controllable reliever back.
7/31: Brewers Interested in Further Offensive Additions
8/1: Brewers Trade 18 Year Old Prospect to Oakland for Jace Peterson
8/2: Counsell: “I Think A Peterson Reunion Is All We Really Need For A Playoff Push.”
8/6: Brewers, Mets Discussed Mark Canha; Deal Fell Through At Last Minute
Willy Adames is hitting .202 and his role in the offense is secure?? Give me a break! He’s terrible