Brewers: 3 Non-Tendered Relievers Who Are Worth Targeting

The Brewers could possibly use a couple arms in the bullpen now that MLB’s non-tender deadline has come and gone.

As many have tried to project what positions the Brewers will target this offseason, one area that had generally been left out to this point was the bullpen. That is largely because they were arguably the team’s best-performing unit in 2020.

But then MLB’s non-tender deadline passed and things changed a little bit. Long time Brewers righty reliever Corey Knebel ended up getting traded to the Dodgers right before the deadline and lefty reliever Alex Claudio ended up being non-tendered by the team for the second straight year.

As a result, Milwaukee now has a couple holes to fill in the bullpen. And though the team could fill those spots internally, there aren’t a ton of obvious options to fill the bullpen who aren’t already up in the majors.

Relievers like Drew Rasmussen and Justin Topa found themselves in the majors for the first time in 2020 and finished the season on the roster. They will almost certainly be contributors in 2021.

There are also players like Bobby Wahl, Ray Black, Phil Bickford, or Angel Perdomo on the 40-man roster who will be looking to bounce back from injury, poor performance, or both from last season. But they are no locks to get bullpen spots for next season.

Outside of that, you could be looking at players outside the 40-man roster like Zack Brown or Quintin Torres-Costa. But not only would they be dark horses to make the roster, they may not even be around anymore after MLB’s Rule 5 draft takes place.

So while there is a chance that the open bullpen spots could be filled internally, it’s more likely that the solution comes from outside the organization. And president of baseball operations David Stearns generally likes to add a veteran reliever or two every offseason anyway.

Assuming Stearns does in fact add to the bullpen externally once again, there are several relievers who were non-tendered last week from which to consider. Here are three who would be worth targeting by the Brewers.