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

The Milwaukee Brewers enter the 2021 Trade Deadline as serious buyers. They currently have a big cushion in the NL Central but will need to supplement their roster to become a true World Series threat.

Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns has been aggressive all season in making trades to improve the team. He traded Orlando Arcia in the first week of the regular season, and then brought in Willy Adames to spark the team, then traded for Rowdy Tellez.

Stearns has made these trades far before typical in-season trades happen. Impactful trades in May between two contenders are very rare to see.

So far this July, Stearns has made just one trade, the Tellez deal, which helped out first base a little bit. Daniel Vogelbach is hurt and the Brewers needed some backup at first base with Keston Hiura still struggling to get in a good groove. However, Tellez doesn’t necessarily provide a long-term solution for the rest of the season.

Luis Urias has done extremely well at third base, both offensively and defensively, and has essentially removed the position from being an area of concern going into the deadline.

Here are the Milwaukee Brewers team needs to address at the 2021 MLB Trade Deadline, ranked.

Brewers Trade Deadline Need #3. A veteran bench bat

The Brewers roster of position players does have plenty of veterans on it, but the bench is rather light on that. Travis Shaw is a veteran that can provide some thump off the bench or in the starting lineup, depending on what role is there for him when he returns from his dislocated shoulder in August.

But Shaw’s bat hasn’t been consistent even when he was healthy, and outside of that the bench is comprised of: Keston Hiura, Rowdy Tellez, Manny Pina, Tyrone Taylor, and Daniel Vogelbach (when healthy). That looks like a group that could use a consistent veteran in it.

Think of a Curtis Granderson/Jerry Hairston Jr. type role that those players filled for the Brewers in the 2018 and 2011 seasons respectively.

Adding another veteran leader who can come up with some clutch hits off the bench to this roster is not a bad idea. The Brewers bench right now is filled with guys who have either been struggling most of the season, injured, or on the shuttle back and forth with Triple-A. Getting a veteran bat to come off the bench who has experience in the postseason and can consistently come up big when called upon would be a nice addition.