Brewers: 8 Takeaways From David Stearns’ End Of Season Press Conference

Every year, after the Brewers play their final game, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns holds a press conference to discuss the end of the season and the upcoming offseason.

Stearns is adept at saying a lot of words while saying not much at all. He never gets too much into specifics, but you can read between the lines of what he says and can get a good understanding of what direction they might go.

He answered a lot of questions and some of his answers will change our perspective on where this team will be going forward into 2022.

Here are the key takeaways from David Stearns’ end of season Brewers press conference.

Takeaway #1: No one knows what happened with Christian Yelich

Stearns reiterated that there were no physical issues and no injuries hampering Yelich through the course of his struggles offensively this season.

When asked about if he knew what went wrong with Yelich’s power and his ability to produce, Stearns said “I don’t. I think if we did, if Christian knew exactly what had happened, it’s easier to solve.”

So Yelich is going to head into the offseason with no answers as to what went wrong and he’s going to have to figure that out over the course of the winter. The Brewers will obviously help him as much as they can, but as of right now, even they don’t know what’s wrong.

Takeaway #2: Someone from the coaching staff may get fired

It’s a standard question in every end of season press conference, someone always asks if the entire coaching staff will return or if they will make some changes. Typically, when they don’t plan on making changes, Stearns will announce off the bat that the entire staff will return.

This time, when Stearns was asked, he said “We’re going to talk through that over probably the next 7-10 days. We’ll have some meetings on that next week and then we’ll be able to provide more clarity on the coaching staff.”

That’s GM-speak that generally means someone’s job is in jeopardy. The coach with the hottest seat has to be hitting coach Andy Haines. The offense once again had a down season and was the reason the Brewers lost in the NLDS. With the struggles of key hitters like Yelich and Keston Hiura, a change may happen. It may not, but we’ll find out in the next 7-10 days.

Takeaway #3: Keston Hiura may play some outfield

With Kolten Wong entrenched at second base, and a couple of solid options at first base in Rowdy Tellez and Daniel Vogelbach, the Brewers are out of infield positions Keston Hiura can play. As such, they’re looking at potentially playing him in the outfield.

They haven’t gone too deep on that possibility yet with Keston. They still believe in him. Stearns admitted they’re likely going to ask him to play multiple positions next season, and the outfield may be one of them. It may or may not make sense with roster construction, but with Avisail Garcia likely entering free agency, there’s an opening in the outfield.

Takeaway #4: Keston Hiura will have offseason surgery

If you read takeaway #3 and were immediately concerned about Hiura being in the outfield because of his suspect throwing arm, then perhaps this will help.

David Stearns announced that Hiura will undergo surgery this offseason to clean up his throwing elbow and remove some loose bodies. His elbow has been an issue since he entered the Draft in 2017, and hopefully this cleanup procedure will help him stay healthy and perhaps improve his throwing arm.

Takeaway #5: Open to contract extensions

When asked if the Brewers would be looking into contract extension talks with some of their great young players like Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, Stearns stated that he’s always open to keeping good players here as long as he can.

Then he went into a generic non-answer about both sides needing to be open to it and both sides need to be willing to compromise and work together towards a deal. That’s really how all contract negotiations work, so that is no different and doesn’t mean that Burnes or Woodruff or anyone isn’t currently willing to talk a contract extension, it just means Stearns isn’t going to tell us any specifics.

They’re open to it, and as long as Burnes, Woodruff, and other extension candidates are also open to it, then there’s some common ground where we could see some extensions.

Takeaway #6: Pencil Luis Urias in as the starting 3B in 2022

Entering 2021, Luis Urias was the Brewers starting shortstop. He held that job for about six weeks. Then the Brewers traded for Willy Adames. Adames seized the job and Urias moved into a utility role, and then essentially took over the starting third base job when he started hitting better and Travis Shaw went into a slump and then got injured.

When asked if he could see a scenario in which Urias would be the Brewers starting third baseman going forward, Stearns replied “Certainly. I think Luis has earned the right, repeatedly this year, to play regularly.”

He mentioned his strong performance at 3B, but didn’t say specifically he would be the 3B, however with Adames “cemented” at SS by Stearns’ own admission and Kolten Wong cemented at 2B, that really only leaves third base for Urias to play regularly. Pencil him in there and 3B may not be a need for Milwaukee this offseason.

Takeaway #7: Don’t close the door on Eduardo Escobar

With Luis Urias being penciled in as a regular player, likely at 3B, and Rowdy Tellez likely to stick around at first base, is there room for a potential Eduardo Escobar return?

When asked, Stearns plainly stated “Any time there’s a switch hitter with positional versatility who’s got power from both sides, I think that type of player can pretty much fit on any team. So I wouldn’t necessarily close the door on [Escobar].”

We’ll see what kind of salary demands Escobar has this offseason and how big the market is for him, but even with Urias and Tellez on the corners, they’re open to bringing Escobar back.

Takeaway #8: Stearns is not likely to leave for New York

Stearns knew the question would come up, about all the rumors of the Mets wanting to hire him. In typical Stearns fashion, he opted not to comment on media speculation about such a thing.

But he did offer this statement, saying “I’m happy here. My family’s happy here. And we’ve got work to do here.”

As long as he’s happy here, and his family is happy here, it’s going to be tough to pry him away. But the Mets are his childhood team. However, the job isn’t finished here, as the noted in that final sentence. There’s still more work to do to get this team to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. The idea of him leaving before that work is complete appears to be dead.

It’s going to be a long and interesting offseason for the Brewers. Stearns’ comments here will help shape what we’re looking to see out of Milwaukee this winter.