Brewers: Ranking The Crew’s Needs At The 2021 Trade Deadline

Brewers Trade Deadline Need #2: A Solution At First Base

The Milwaukee Brewers need an answer at first base. An everyday, this is the guy to pencil in solution would make this Brewers team look so much better.

First base has been a revolving door not only this year, but for the past decade essentially. Ever since Prince Fielder left, the Brewers have been searching for a long-term solution. Every year they try someone new, but they don’t stick around long.

But the difference between this year and previous years is that the Brewers have been able to find one guy who can hold down the position for the entire season. In 2021, they have had a revolving door inside of their revolving door.

Keston Hiura was Plan A at first base with Daniel Vogelbach as Plan B, and the expected big bat off the bench. But Hiura has been awful all season, posting a .167 average and .570 OPS to this point. He’s been slightly better of late, but not enough to feel confident he can adequately produce in the lineup down the stretch.

The Brewers have Vogelbach on the IL with a hamstring strain, and he was solid before the injury, but also not good enough to prevent another acquisition. They acquired Tellez shortly after Vogelbach’s injury to fill the void while Hiura figured things out, but he also hasn’t impressed, being just 1-for-12 since coming over.

At this point, their best option at first base might be Jace Peterson, who has been in a hot stretch at the plate while filling in for Kolten Wong and can spend time at first base to keep his bat in the lineup. But can they depend on Peterson to outperform his career numbers and keep this up the rest of the year?

When Travis Shaw comes back, he can play first base since Urias has done so well at third. But he wasn’t hitting well before and might be best served in a platoon or in that veteran bench role.

Despite a number of internal options, none appear very great. The Brewers need to find a consistent solution for the final two months of the regular season and for the postseason at a very important offensive position.

They’re giving their internal options opportunities to prove they can handle it, but unless someone takes hold of that spot, and it doesn’t look like any will, the Brewers need to acquire a full time solution for the rest of the season.

Brewers Deadline Need #1: Bullpen Depth

As the saying goes, you can never have enough pitching.

The Brewers, like every contending team, could use some more pitching, especially in their bullpen. Earlier in the season, Milwaukee traded away two important and valuable bullpen arms in J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen, but they got back Willy Adames, so that worked out.

They also received Trevor Richards in return, and he was solid for a few weeks before he was traded to Toronto in exchange for Rowdy Tellez.

The two relievers the Brewers got for Orlando Arcia, Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka, have scarcely been seen in Milwaukee since the trade and aren’t performing too well in Triple-A Nashville either.

So the Brewers are down two relievers, essentially.

Justin Topa is on the mend, but he might not be big league ready until closer to September. Devin Williams is currently on the IL, but it shouldn’t be a long absence.

Jake Cousins and Miguel Sanchez have stepped up into big roles, but the Brewers need some more experience to count on in the bullpen down the stretch.

At the very least, the Brewers need one more reliever to fill out their bullpen down the stretch. Adding another experienced arm to this group will lock it down and give Craig Counsell enough weapons at his disposal to make it through the postseason.

This will be the biggest need for the Brewers to acquire at this Trade Deadline. It is nearly impossible to win a World Series without a lockdown bullpen. Especially with the inconsistency the offense this season, which could be fixed by addressing Need #2, having the pitching staff, both rotation and bullpen, at maximum strength will be key. To get to maximum strength, this bullpen needs a little more depth.

Where will David Stearns find these arms? Probably from no place that fans and pundits expect them to be found, but Stearns will somehow find the perfect addition or two to fill out this bullpen.