Milwaukee Brewers: Three New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

Now that the year 2020 is finally a thing of the past, here are three resolutions the Brewers may or may not have for 2021.

Hey everyone, we did it! 2020 is gone and soon to be a distant memory and we can finally start looking forward to the year 2021. For the Milwaukee Brewers, you have an organization that is likely also looking to put last year in the rearview in certain ways.

Yes, the Brewers made franchise history with their third consecutive playoff appearance for the first time ever. But that also came with a 28-32 record, backing their way into a playoff berth, and an unfortunate early exit from the postseason after a two-game sweep to the Dodgers in the Wild Card round.

So like many of us, the Brewers probably have some New Year’s resolutions they’d like to put in place for 2021. Here are three resolutions that Milwaukee should consider committing to for next year.

Steal some more bases in the 2021 season

It wouldn’t be a true set of New Year’s resolutions without committing to running more, right? The Brewers fall into the category of needing to increase that cardio, because in 2020 they were definitely avoiding doing so on the base paths.

We already touched on a number of reasons why the Brewers went from a top base-stealing team over the previous few seasons to all of a sudden being one of the worst in the league. It’s hard to imagine that wasn’t at least one factor in their disappointing offense last season.

Assuming former MVP Christian Yelich bounces back as expected, that combined with the return of Lorenzo Cain will help the running game immensely. Either way, the Brewers need to make sure to get aggressive again with their baserunners in 2021 and get those lungs a pumping!

Strike out less at the plate in 2021

How many of you have a New Year’s resolution to either stop or lessen a bad habit? Stop smoking? Eat less junk food, maybe? For the Brewers, they have one possible resolution that perfectly falls into this category: stop striking out so dang much!

Milwaukee struck out 26.6% of the time in 2020, the third highest rate in the league behind just the Rays and Tigers. Not coincidentally, it also happened to be the team’s worst strikeout rate for a season of the last decade.

Perhaps all of those strikeouts, which led to fewer baserunners, also led to fewer of those opportunities to steal that we just mentioned. If so, sticking to this resolution could end up killing two birds with one stone!

Sign Brandon Woodruff to an extension before 2021 begins

Sometimes New Year’s resolutions are made in effort to improve oneself going into a new calendar year. New year, new you, right? In this case, the Brewers would be continuing a trend that they started last offseason.

Last February, before the 2020 season began, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns locked up young fireballer Freddy Peralta to a five-year contract extension. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Yelich was signed to a contract extension of his own the next month.

This offseason, it would make a lot of sense to keep that trend going and extend staff ace Brandon Woodruff. The righty, who has a shot at anchoring the team’s rotation for the next few years, is projected anywhere from $2.3MM to $4.5MM in arbitration this offseason. Seems like a great time to offer a backloaded contract similar to Yelich and Peralta, locking up yet another core piece.

Resolutions are about self-improvement and these three would go a long way toward improving the Brewers for their fans this upcoming season.