Brewers Bring Back Eric Sogard On A One-Year Deal

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced another free agent signing, this time bringing back an old friend.

For Brewers fans that have missed having some Nerd Power in the lineup, you’re in luck. The Brewers have signed Eric Sogard to a one year contract with a club option for next year per Ken Rosenthal.

With the infield currently… needing some work, the Crew adds some more depth to their roster.

The Brewers are making over pretty much their entire infield for the 2020 season, and they will bring back a familiar face to help with that.

The money value of this contract is not yet known, but it’s likely to be a small sum, nothing more than a couple million bucks.

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal has found out the money value of the contract. Sogard will earn $4.5 million in 2020.

That’s a pretty solid payday for Sogard.

Why Bring Back Eric Sogard?

Many Brewers fans were hoping for a different Eric to return, that being Eric Thames, but that’s going to have to wait until a later date.

With the Brewers needing depth in their infield, they know pretty much what they’re going to get from Sogard over other guys like Mark Mathias or Ronny Rodriguez.

Sogard had a solid bounceback season in Toronto and Tampa Bay last year, hitting .290/.353/.457/.810 with 13 home runs, and a 116 OPS+. He posted 2.6 WAR on Baseball-Reference last year, the best year of his career.

The last time we saw Sogard in Milwaukee, he was in a massive slump at the plate in 2018, hitting just .134 before being released during the summer.

Sogard has 266 innings of big league experience at third base, and has posted +6 DRS at that position in his career. Mostly, he plays second base and some shortstop though. He could be the backup to Keston Hiura at second base and perhaps a mentor to him, defensively at least.

It’s unlikely the Brewers brought back Sogard with the idea of him being an everyday starter in 2020. He can fill in if there’s an injury or someone needs a day off.

Sogard quickly became a fan favorite in Milwaukee during his first stint here. He’s one of the few big leaguers that wears glasses on the field, he has a fun personality, and is a player you just can’t help but like. It’s good to see him back in Milwaukee, and although he likely won’t get a starting job, his experience and defense is going to be important for this team as they break in a pretty young infield.

The Brewers have added Ryon Healy and now Sogard to the infield to improve the depth in that group over the past two days. But it still doesn’t feel like those are the guys they should be looking to to be the starters in the infield.