Brewers: 5 Free Agents the Team Should Target This Offseason

Justin Wilson

In a bullpen that currently only has two lefties, the Brewers could target Justin Wilson, a relief pitcher that has already played for two NL Central teams in the Pirates and Cubs.

Wilson has blossomed into a reliable arm with some nasty stuff in his nine years in the league. His four seam fastball clocks in around 95 mph on average and registers a high amount of swings and misses but his best pitch might be his cutter which can hit 91 mph and generates a ton of ground ball outs.

To give you a sense of Wilson’s stuff, think back to the Brewers offense in 2018. Yes, the team that was among the league leaders in home runs and top half of basically every offensive statistic there is. Justin Wilson gave up five hits in 20 plate appearances against the Brewers along with zero home runs allowed and zero runs allowed at all.

One of the best attributes that Wilson possesses is his ability to go complete innings instead of situational lefty on lefty matchups, although he does excel against left-handed hitters. As a matter of fact, about 35% of his batters faced in 2020 were lefties and they struggled to say the least.

Left-handed hitters went 3 for 25 against Wilson last season and he had a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.50 – that’s efficient pitching. He went 6-3 in his last two seasons in New York with an ERA just above 3.00 and was one of the most relied upon arms for the Mets.

The market suggests a year or two deal around $5MM a year for his services but it would take quite the pitch to bring him to Milwaukee. Wilson would only add to the strength that is the Brewers bullpen and as mentioned, they could use another southpaw, especially with the unknown future of Josh Hader.

The free agent market has been slow to develop so far but Winter Meetings are currently taking place. Perhaps that will spark some movement from the Brewers toward some of these five options.