Brewers cannot sit idly by this offseason with rivals creating chaos

So far, this Milwaukee Brewers offseason has gone chalk. There's been no surprises, no shocks, it's all gone as just about everyone could plan.

Willy Adames signs elsewhere, check. Devin Williams traded for rotation and infield help, check. Hoby Milner non-tendered, check. Just about anyone trying to map the Brewers 2024-25 offseason could have projected those three things to take place.

The major question facing the Brewers now: now what?

All of the expected moves have taken place, there's no other trade or free agent decision that feels inevitable. How do the Brewers proceed this offseason having really made just the pair of additions in Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin.

One could make the argument that the Brewers didn't need to do much heavy lifting this offseason and that their roster is largely in good enough shape to take into the season. The rotation depth is in a good spot now with Cortes in the fold and the infield void left by Adames could be filled by Durbin. Good to go, right?

Not so fast.

The Brewers have to have something else up their sleeve this offseason

The Brewers may have won the NL Central handily the past two seasons and are the favorites to win it for the third year in a row, but the rest of the division is not going to go away so quietly.

The Cubs are making noise with their addition of Kyle Tucker from the Astros, then trading away Cody Bellinger to free up money and roster space that could go to some big time pitching help. The Cardinals are trying to move Nolan Arenado and reload. The Reds added Brady Singer and hired Terry Francona and the Pirates brought in Spencer Horwitz. Those two teams are bound to figure out how to win eventually, right?

Milwaukee has lost two star players in Adames and Williams. While they have the depth to fill those holes, especially in the bullpen, it's hard to say the Brewers have overall gotten better on paper this offseason. There's always the potential and probability that the young players already on the Brewers roster will improve in 2025, which will make the team better, but the offseason is about building the roster.

Brewers GM Matt Arnold has to have something else up his sleeve this offseason and get aggressive in improving the roster. At the Winter Meetings, the Brewers were deep in talks with the White Sox for Garrett Crochet. They had to be willing to be aggressive in moving prospect capital to even get that far in the conversation. Just because they ended up adding Nestor Cortes in the Williams trade doesn't mean that Arnold is done searching for upgrades.

Whether it comes in the form of a top of the rotation starter or a bona fide starting infielder, it feels like Arnold isn't done. Since taking over the top job in 2022, Arnold has had some truly big move each offseason, starting with the three team trade for William Contreras his first year, then the Jackson Chourio signing and Burnes trade last offseason. While the Devin Williams trade may qualify, this roster still has some more work to do.

In order to stay atop the NL Central for a third straight year, the Brewers are going to have to continue to get creative and make some more moves to upgrade this roster heading into 2025.