Recapping and Grading the Brewers 2019-2020 Offseason Moves

Trades & Acquisitions

Chase Anderson to Blue Jays for 1B Chad Spanberger

November 4, 2019

It was the day the Brewers had to make a decision on Chase Anderson‘s $8.5MM club option for the 2020 season. The Brewers were leaning towards declining that option in the wake of Anderson’s struggles over the past two seasons, and would’ve taken him into arbitration. Instead, the Blue Jays were looking for a veteran starter and they sent minor league first baseman Chad Spanberger in return.

Eric Yardley Claimed Off Waivers from Padres

November 15, 2019

In a less heralded move, the Brewers claimed a 29-year old sidearming reliever in Eric Yardley from San Diego. Yardley has three minor league options and will likely be up and down from Milwaukee and Triple-A San Antonio this year.

Four Player Trade With San Diego

November 22, 2019

This was the biggest trade of the offseason for David Stearns and the Brewers. Reliable contributors Zach Davies and Trent Grisham were sent to San Diego in exchange for Luis Urias and Eric Lauer and a PTBNL or cash. Urias is a middle infielder that figures to compete with Orlando Arcia for the starting shortstop job and Eric Lauer is a solid, young starting pitcher that’s both left-handed and experienced in the big leagues over the past two years.

Grisham became a prominent member of the Brewers in the second half after a strong minor league season and the injury to Christian Yelich. He missed the ball in the 8th inning of the Wild Card game, but that was not the reasoning behind trading him. Grisham would’ve been back down the depth chart in 2020 and would need to get his playing time elsewhere.

Zach Davies last year benefitted from having a great framing catcher and with his skill set, that’s what Davies needs to be successful. This trade came together one day after Grandal signed with the White Sox. Since they knew Grandal wasn’t coming back, it made sense to trade Davies somewhere with a catcher who was good at framing. San Diego and Austin Hedges fit the bill.

Adam Hill to the Mariners for C Omar Narvaez

December 5, 2019

Shortly after trading away Davies because they no longer had a great framing catcher, the Brewers traded for one of the worst framing catchers in baseball. Omar Narvaez is a great hitter, and is somewhat comparable to Grandal on offense, (120 OPS+ in 2019, 112 OPS+ in career compared to Grandal’s 119 OPS+ in 2019 and 115 OPS+ in career), although with a lower walk rate.

But the Brewers needed a viable starting catcher with Grandal gone and Narvaez was among the best available on the market. In return, they sent minor league pitcher Adam Hill, whom they acquired only a year ago in the Keon Broxton trade with the Mets. He spent all of 2019 in Low-A Wisconsin.

A Waiver Claim and a re-signed reliever

December 9, 2019

The Brewers claimed utility infielder Ronny Rodriguez off waivers from Detroit and signed back Alex Claudio on a one year deal after non-tendering him just a week earlier.

Josh Lindblom Signs Three Year Contract

December 11, 2019

The Brewers signed only one free agent to a contract three years or longer, and that was Josh Lindblom. After spending the past few years in South Korea, Lindblom parlayed his dominance into a multi-year deal with Milwaukee, with a guaranteed $9.125MM over those three years. He will likely start in the rotation for the Brewers and can be a solid middle of the rotation arm going forward.

A Spree Of Free Agent Signings

December 13-20, 2019

There was a streak there in December, where the Brewers were seemingly signing a new free agent every single day. The streak started with veteran starter Brett Anderson, who was the only one to not have a club option for 2021 attached to his contract. Anderson is a solid veteran, who can fill the middle of the rotation when healthy, but has dealt with injury issues in the past.

Anderson was followed by Avisail Garcia, who signed a two year, $20MM deal with a club option for 2022. Garcia, another outfielder, was probably the most puzzling addition in terms of fit this offseason. The Brewers already had Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Ryan Braun for the outfield, with Ben Gamel as the fourth outfielder. They did not need Garcia, but they got him. Now the four highest paid players on the Brewers are outfielders.

The Brewers then followed that up with signing corner infielder Ryon Healy to a one year, $1MM deal a day later. Then, Eric Sogard signed a one year, $4.5MM deal with a club option for 2021 to return to Milwaukee. Also, first baseman Justin Smoak signed a one year, $5MM deal with a club option.

More One Year Deals With Options

January, 2020

On January 10th, the Brewers signed Jedd Gyorko to a one year contract with a club option for next year. He marked the third option that can play third base signed by the Brewers this winter. A few weeks later, the Crew added to their bullpen that had been mostly ignored all winter, signing David Phelps to a one year deal, with an option, on January 29th.

Brock Holt Signs To Finish The Offseason

February 17, 2020

Lastly, the Brewers signed Brock Holt to a one year contract with a club option for 2021. Holt gets $3.25MM guaranteed with a $5MM club option and a $750k buyout on that option. Holt is a super-utility player that figures to see most of his time in the infield.

Analysis of the Brewers offseason

With a large chunk of the roster being turned over this offseason, the Brewers had a lot of moves to make. At one point, the 40 man roster was down to just 32 players. With a lot of holes to fill, the Brewers opted to make depth signings across the board, rather than splurge on a star player. The closest thing to a star player that they signed was Avisail Garcia, who plays a position the Brewers really didn’t need help at, which was interesting.

After extending the payroll to $134MM last year, the Brewers shrunk back to a more comfortable level, currently sitting at a projected $108MM payroll for the 2020 season. This drew heavy criticism from fans, with some of it being warranted. Shrinking payroll in a contending year and not spending to greatly improve the roster around a star player in his prime seems like a “give up” move. They instead opted for improvements on the margins of the roster and are depending on bounceback seasons from a myriad of players.

However, the Brewers also realize they want to sign Christian Yelich to an extension, and the best way to do that is to have as much long-term money available to them as possible, which means short-term, lower money signings that could have bigger upside. They signed five free agents to one year deals with club options for 2021.

The Brewers also signed five infielders in free agency: Sogard, Smoak, Healy, Gyorko, and Holt. There’s only two positions available for them, first and third base. Keston Hiura has second base locked up and the Orlando Arcia/Luis Urias combo will handle shortstop. Healy is the only one of these players with a minor league option remaining. They’re deep as deep can be in the infield.

The starting rotation needed addressing after the disaster that was the 2019 group. They gambled on a group of youngsters, it didn’t pay off, and they needed to add experience to the group and improve the group’s potential. They added experience with Brett Anderson and Lindblom, which are marginal improvements over Chase Anderson and Zach Davies. Eric Lauer could be a solid starter for this group, but the Brewers didn’t add anyone that has front of the rotation potential to pair with Brandon Woodruff.

For that, the Brewers will have to rely on the development of Freddy Peralta and Corbin Burnes. Both have the potential to be frontline starters, and hopes are high coming into 2020, but after down years last year, the Brewers couldn’t be completely dependent on those two this year without some insurance. The rotation has depth, which is good, but the high ceiling is going to depend on Peralta and Burnes reaching theirs.

The bullpen saw the addition of David Phelps, but otherwise lacks experience. The group currently seems weak, but when Corey Knebel returns at some point in the first half of the season, they will be much stronger.

David Stearns can’t help himself from adding outfielders. With Yelich, Cain, and Braun set to be the three highest paid players on the roster, Stearns added Avisail Garcia to be the fourth highest paid player. There’s only three starting spots, which pushes Braun to spend a lot of time at first base if he’s going to see the field with his $18MM salary. Braun will also have to compete with Justin Smoak and Ryon Healy for playing time at that position.

The Brewers are currently set for three platoons; first base, third base, and catcher. Generally, there aren’t that many contending teams that have that many platoons at key positions.

Overall Grade: B-Minus

David Stearns did a good job adding depth to the roster, raising the team’s floor while keeping the long-term commitments to a minimum. With the position player and pitching depth acquired, the Brewers will be fully ready for any injury this season at every position.

However, the overall ceiling of this group doesn’t seem to have improved much over last year. Mike Moustakas is going to be replaced at third base with a rotation of Sogard, Gyorko, Holt, and Healy, which is less than ideal. Eric Thames and Jesus Aguilar are being replaced by Smoak and Braun, which could be comparable, maybe slightly better depending on if they both stay healthy. The rotation has depth, but still lacks a second shutdown starter to go with Woodruff. One could step up, but they banked on that last year and it didn’t happen.

The roster that the Brewers built will be competitive and they will be hanging around the NL Central race all summer long. While they won’t run away with the division title, they could very easily find themselves within striking distance come September.

Stearns did very well in his three trade deals, moving Anderson, Davies, and Grisham while getting Urias, Lauer, and Narvaez. All of those look like wins for the Brewers on paper. Free agency left a little to be desired, with most hoping for a larger improvement off last year’s roster, instead of comparable or marginally better players when healthy.

Overall, we’ll give Stearns a B-Minus for the offseason, but that could change depending on how some of these free agents coming off bad seasons bounce back.

The Brewers face a tough NL Central division in 2020 with the full return of the Reds. There are four competitive teams, and Milwaukee is going to have to beat them all out with this roster.