Milwaukee Brewers: What if they still had Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura?

The Milwaukee Brewers have struggled all year to get production from the second base and shortstop positions, so how big of a mistake was it to let go of Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura.

Second Base

The Milwaukee Brewers have tried several players at second base throughout the year with Jonathan Villar getting most of the starts. While Villar has performed better than he did in 2017, he is still not setting the world on fire with his .261 average and .315 OBP.  In addition, he is currently on the 10 day DL.  They have tried Hernan Perez, Eric Sogard, and Brad Miller there as well. But none of them have had success offensively. Sogard isn’t even on the team any more.

Waived by the Brewers in 2017 because of the acquisition of Villar, Scooter Gennett has found success with the Cincinnati Reds.  Last year Gennett, hit 27 home runs and 97 RBI’s and batted almost .300. This year, he’s an All-Star and is on pace to have better statistics this year than last year.

While nobody can predict if he would have the same success had he remained a Brewer, it seems pretty clear that the team made a mistake letting Gennett go. He would be a huge upgrade at the second base position for the Brewers.

Shortstop

The Brewers have gotten even less production from the shortstop position than they have from second base. Orlando Arcia, who is viewed as the future of that position, has struggled immensely this year.  He is hitting under .200 and his OBP is .226 in over 200 at bats.

In addition, he has been sent down to the minors twice this year. The Milwaukee Brewers have also tried other players at shortstop, such as Miller and Tyler Saladino but neither of them have been able to produce on a consistent basis.

In 2016 the Brewers traded Jean Segura after he spent about three and half years with the organization. Segura had some up and down seasons with the Brewers.  Since being traded to Arizona and then getting traded again to Seattle, he has amassed really good stats.

It should be noted that one of the players the Brewers received in the trade of Segura was Chase Anderson. Anderson has been a very solid contributor to the Brewers rotation since coming over from Arizona. Another player in that trade, Isan Diaz, was a major part of the trade package that acquired Christian Yelich. Also, Segura was in desperate need of a change of scenery out of Milwaukee.

Segura’s stats since leaving Milwaukee include batting averages of .319, .300, and .321, as well as OBP’s of .368, .349 and .349.  He also averaged over 20 stolen bases in 2016 and 2017 and is on pace to hit that mark again this year.

Segura made the All-Star team this year and coincidentally hit a go ahead three run homer off Josh Hader in that game.  The Brewers could have really used production like that from the shortstop position this year.

As we look back at those moves, we can only wonder how potent our lineup would be if those two All-Stars were still with the Brewers anchoring those two positions.  Based on their current production only the Red Sox and Yankees could rival a lineup that would include Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Jesus Aguilar, Travis Shaw, Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura.