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Brewers reunite with playoff hero after letting him go earlier in the offseason

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Reviewing The Brew

Wild Card Series - New York Mets v Milwaukee Brewers - Game 3 / John Fisher/GettyImages

When the Milwaukee Brewers decided to part ways with Jake Bauers in November, it wasn't a surprise. Bauers was coming off a 2024 season where he posted a .199/.301/.361 line and with a projected $2.3 million price tag in arbitration, there wasn't much of a case for keeping him around.

The weeks and months went by and there was little indication that the Brewers (or any other team for that matter) was interested in Bauers' services. He has always been the sort of player that bounces around from team to team to fill roster gaps at a relatively inexpensive rate. That Bauers was still unemployed wasn't a shock and most probably thought that he would sign a non-guaranteed deal right before spring training.

Well, Bauers did get a non-guaranteed deal, but it was a bit sooner than that and as it turns out, it was Milwaukee that ended up signing Bauers to a minor league deal.

Brewers News: Milwaukee brings back Jake Bauers on a minor league deal

As weird as it looks initially to see the Brewers bring Bauers back after going out of their way to get rid of him, there is no risk here. Bauers does have some raw power and a willingness to run, so he could still be a valuable depth piece on a contender's bench especially given his positional versatility. It doesn't hurt that Bauers came up big for the Brewers in some clutch situations late in the season.

What can't happen is the Brewers take this opportunity to bring back Bauers and give him a lot of playing time. While he has some upside, Bauers' issues with swing and miss should be disqualifying when it comes to being an everyday player.

Having Bauers around provides some insurance in the event that one of the Brewers' outfielders or Rhys Hoskins gets hurt. He certainly isn't the sexiest move to make at this point of the offseason, but that doesn't mean there isn't some merit to it.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.