Milwaukee Brewers Roundtable: The Ideal Future Outfield

With a plethora of outfielders in the Milwaukee Brewers system, the team will have some decisions to make very soon regarding who will stay and who will go. This ideal future outfield is not for just this upcoming season but for the future championship ballclub we all hope to see. 

The outfield has been a hot topic of discussion amongst Milwaukee Brewers fans. With so many options for only three spots, it can be difficult to see what the future holds at the position. There are five outfielders capable of starting currently on the roster and there isn’t enough playing time to go around.

The biggest issue in the outfield is the contract of Ryan Braun. While Braun has been an MVP caliber player in the past, his guaranteed contract paying him $20 million in 2018 prevents a lot of the best plans for organizing the outfield from going into effect. Braun doesn’t seem to be heading out of town anytime soon and if he’s healthy, he’s going to play.

So that leaves four capable outfielders battling for only two spots. Domingo Santana has certainly played well enough to start after a breakout 2017 campaign where he smashed 30 long balls. So Santana guarantees himself a spot when he’s healthy. With Braun healthy in left field Santana has to stay in right.

That leaves three capable starting outfielders, Keon Broxton, Lewis Brinson, and Brett Phillips, all battling for one starting spot in center field. There isn’t enough playing time to get all three of them in there and get enough at-bats. So what can the Milwaukee Brewers do? Either one or two of them must return to Triple-A or be on the trade block. None of these three would stay in the minor leagues for much longer. So a trade seems to be the likely option.

But who to trade? How will the outfield line up after a move happens? What about the prospects behind these five at the major league level? All those questions and more answered in this Reviewing the Brew Roundtable.