Brewers Rumors: Crew Has Reported Interest In Marcell Ozuna?

Finding Brewers rumors out there about free agency has been difficult this offseason, and honestly, it’s been difficult the previous several offseasons. But there has been a report that the Brewers have had interest in signing Marcell Ozuna.

On paper, Marcell Ozuna appears to be an odd fit with the Milwaukee Brewers, and that may be an understatement.

But, according to a report from Hector Gomez, the Brewers have shown interest in the former Marlins, Cardinals, and Braves outfielder.

After playing on a one year, prove-it deal with the Braves in 2020, Ozuna is reportedly seeking a long-term deal. That makes sense, as he had a strong season in 2020 and is a very good hitter.

Running down the list of teams has most of the usual suspects. The Red Sox and Yankees are in… not surprising. Dodgers… of course. The Mets…why not. The Twins…I could see it. The Brewers… wait, what?

One of these teams is not like the others.

Rumors: Would Marcell Ozuna Actually Join The Brewers?

The odds of the Brewers actually landing Ozuna at the reported contract he desires (4 years or more) are quite slim, especially considering the other teams involved in his market.

Ozuna played centerfield with the Marlins, and transitioned to left field with the Cardinals and then became a primary DH in 2020 with Atlanta and that’s where a lot of teams view his home going forward.

The Brewers most likely aren’t viewing him as an outfielder, considering they already have three on the roster earning more than $10MM this year and Ozuna would certainly cost more than that. If they were to even add him, Avisail Garcia might have to be traded just to make the payroll work.

And if the plan is to put Ozuna at DH, first of all, there still isn’t clarity on if there will be a DH next season, and even if there is, Daniel Vogelbach is already there. Granted, Ozuna is a far better hitter than Vogelbach, but financially, would the Brewers dump the $1.4MM salary Vogey will make to sign Ozuna, who will make at least 10x that?

A Marcell Ozuna signing would eat up most, if not all, of whatever money the Brewers have available to make offseason additions this year and they would still have holes at first base and third base to address.

Ozuna would improve the lineup, to be sure, and reuniting him with Christian Yelich would be cool to see. But as for his positional fit and financial demands, Ozuna is a square peg for a round hole. Adding him would create more problems than it solves.

The reported “interest” the Brewers have is more than likely due diligence from Stearns, who takes a look at basically every single free agent. This was no leak from the Brewers end, and is probably Ozuna’s agent leaking the report to make it look like Ozuna has a strong market and then he’ll try to get more teams involved or the current teams to offer up more money.

Don’t get your hopes too high on the Brewers landing Ozuna. It’s cool to see them rumored on somebody, but the chances of him signing with the Crew are slim to none.

If there’s someone Stearns is legitimately interested in and progressing on a deal with, odds are we won’t hear about it until it’s just about done.