Which Players May Be In The Final Month Of Their Brewers Careers?

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Despite slumping after the trade deadline, the Milwaukee Brewers still find themselves within contention for a playoff spot with one month to go in the regular season. A lot can still happen, but there are six upcoming free agents who may be in the final month of their Brewers careers.

The players set to be free agents at the end of the season are: Andrew McCutchen, Omar Narvaez, Jace Peterson, Pedro Severino, Taylor Rogers, and Trevor Rosenthal. Brewers management will also have to decide on whether or not to pick up club options on Kolten Wong and Brad Boxberger.

Let’s take a further look at each of these players and what may happen with them this upcoming off-season.

Upcoming Brewer Free Agents: Position Players

Andrew McCutchen

The Brewers big offseason signing was agreeing to a one year, $8.5MM deal with Andrew McCutchen. He was signed with the expectation to serve primarily as the designated hitter. This has remained true. While he has played the corner outfield at times, the Brewers have been reluctant to play him in center field this season.

Overall, McCutchen has been average offensively this season and that is evident by his 97 wRC+. He did go through a hot stretch during the month of June, but otherwise his power and production numbers are down when compared to what he did with the Phillies in 2021. It was thought that McCutchen would contribute the most against left handed pitchers, however he has just a .214 batting average and .710 OPS in those match ups this season.

McCutchen will be 36 years old at the start of the 2023 season. It’s hard to imagine that the Brewers will elect to bring him back, especially with outfielders Garrett Mitchell and Esteury Ruiz currently getting MLB playing time and Joey Wiemer and Sal Frelick knocking on the door. That outfield core may push Christian Yelich to the DH role next year.

Omar Narvaez + Pedro Severino

A trade with the Seattle Mariners during the 2019 offseason brought Omar Narvaez to Milwaukee. He initially struggled in the shortened 2020 season, but was an All-Star in 2021. This season, his offense has not been up to par with what he accomplished a season ago.

A big knock on Narvaez’s game prior to coming to Milwaukee was his defense. However, as a Brewer he has been great behind the dish and is one of the best pitch framers in all of baseball. According to fangraphs, his defensive rating above average was 6.3 in 2020, 15.8 in 2021, and 8.4 in 2022.

If the Brewers were to let Narvaez walk, Mario Feliciano is the next MLB ready catcher in the farm system. He has seen limited major league at-bats but is putting together another solid minor league season. The Brewers could also elect to re-sign Pedro Severino, who remained in the system after being DFA’ed in August.

Things get tough when you remember how close of a bond Narvaez has with multiple other Brewer players and his familiarity with the pitching staff. Lorenzo Cain just called out the team’s upper management for letting good leaders and clubhouse guys leave the organization, and Narvaez fits that bill.

Jace Peterson

Among Brewers fans, there seems to be a theme that you either love or extremely dislike Jace Peterson. The 32 year old utility infielder has found several different ways to contribute to the team over each of the past three seasons, but 2022 has been his best season yet.

Of Brewers position players, Jace Peterson is currently tied for the second highest fWAR on the team at 2.2. He is doing this despite missing over a month of game action with an elbow injury. His fWAR is elevated this year because he has been playing extremely well defensively and as you know, Jace is good at getting on base.

Peterson’s future may depend a lot upon what the Brewers plan infield plan for next season is. If the Brewers elect to bring Peterson back for 2023, he should be able to be re-signed around the $2MM range.

DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 5: Taylor Rogers #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers pitches against the Colorado Rockies in the eighth ining of a game at Coors Field on September 5, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

Next we will take a look at upcoming free agents at the pitcher position. Both of the upcoming pitcher free agents were acquired by the Brewers mid-season at the trade deadline.

Upcoming Brewer Free Agents: Pitchers

Taylor Rogers

In a shocking trade with the Padres, Taylor Rogers was sent to the Brewers in a package deal surrounding Josh Hader. Prior to the trade, Rogers had lost the role as San Diego’s closer as he converted 28 out of 35 save opportunities.

With the Brewers, Craig Counsell has had the lefty working in high leverage situations. So far he has converted three out of four save opportunities and has two holds. When he does give up runs they seem to come in bunches. Of the four games he has given up runs, he had one outing of three earned runs and another of four.

As for Rogers’ future with the Brewers, the vibe when he was acquired was that he was a rental player for the 2022 season. His salary this season was $7.3MM and it is hard to imagine the Brewers paying a reliever that much in free agency.

Trevor Rosenthal

While the Brewers trade deadline decisions this year were more than puzzling, this trade really put the icing on the cake. The Crew forked over a top 30 outfield prospect in Tristan Peters for a reliever who had not pitched since 2020 and had a known hamstring injury.

Once in Milwaukee, Rosenthal began a rehab assignment and suddenly had a new injury to his throwing shoulder. This new injury will cause him to miss the remainder of the year and unless he gets re-signed by the team this offseason, he will never make his Brewers debut.

Despite not pitching at all in 2022, the Brewers are eating the remainder of his $4.5MM salary. Given his injury history over the past few seasons, it’s difficult to see any team signing him this offseason to a major league deal. The 32 year old has had a brilliant career to date, but it is unlikely we ever see him in a Brewers uniform.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – SEPTEMBER 08: Brad Boxberger #45 of the Milwaukee Brewers throws a pitch during the sixth inning of game two of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants at American Family Field on September 08, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Lastly, we will take a look at which players have club options for the 2023 season. In this group there are two major contributors in which one is a pitcher and the other is a position player. Those players are Brad Boxberger and Kolten Wong.

Upcoming Brewers Club Options.

Brad Boxberger

Prior to the start of the 2021 season, the Brewers signed Boxberger to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. He did not make the big league roster out of camp, but by less than two weeks into the regular season he was back pitching in the big leagues for the Crew.

In 2021, Boxberger made a career high 71 appearances, which led the team by a large margin. At seasons end he elected free agency and ultimately re-signed with the Brewers in March. This year he has again been a consistent arm out of the bullpen and has compiled 26 holds on the year, but Craig Counsell has been more conscientious regarding his usage rate.

Boxberger’s deal in March of 2022 inked him a $1.75MM salary this season and a $3.00MM option for 2023. Given his dependability and the fact that he isn’t being overtaxed with game opportunities, one would think that the Brewers could lean towards picking up this club option.

Kolten Wong

2022 has been a bit of a rollercoaster for the former two time Gold Glove second baseman Kolten Wong. He started the year off rather slowly. Defensively he was making more errors than normal and wasn’t delivering on the plays we grew accustomed to him making. Offensively he had just a .227 batting average and .695 OPS at the All-Star Break.

In the second half, he has played more up to his high defensive standards and has been swinging a hot bat. His post-All-Star Break slash line is .286/.370/.484/.854. His wRC+ now sits at 110, which is exactly equivalent to his 2021 wCR+.

This does put the Brewers in a very interesting predicament. Wong’s club option for 2023 is a $10MM salary. He has proven to be very impactful when playing his best baseball, but he also has spent a fair amount of time on the IL during each of the past two seasons and that salary is a hefty price tag for the payroll-conscious Crew.

If the Brewers elect to decline Wong’s option, there will be plenty of replacement options to choose from. The caveat to that is that Wong may be the best option. A few options include re-signing Jace Peterson, shifting Luis Urias over to second base, giving Keston Hiura another chance at the position, or rolling the dice with a young prospect in Brice Turang.

Next. Lorenzo Cain gives scathing criticism of Brewers management. dark

For some, this may be their final month in a Brewers uniform, so enjoy seeing them out there while you can!

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