Brewers’ rumored continued interest in Paul Goldschmidt has no basis in reality

It isn't exactly a well-kept secret that Paul Goldschmidt is on the decline, and that the Cardinals are more than ready to move on. The 14-year veteran is set to hit the open market after a largely successful six-year stint on the Cardinals, but his performance this year is easily the worst of his career. As a result, the Milwaukee Brewers' previous interest in Goldschmidt raised some eyebrows.

At his best, Goldschmidt was an annual contender for an MVP Award, one he finally earned back in 2022 when he hit .317 and led the NL in OPS with a .981 mark. He performed admirably last year, but his numbers began to dip, and then this year was a total trainwreck.

The 36-year-old managed to finish his season with 33 doubles, 22 home runs and 65 RBI, but his OPS+ dipped to 98 (two percent below league-average) for the first time in his storied career and he didn't look like a competent big leaguer for the vast majority of the year.

To Goldy's credit, he turned on the jets a bit as the season progressed. He upped his .664 first-half OPS to .799 in the second half, while also raising his batting average over 40 points. He didn't hit below .260 in any of the final three months of the regular season and hit .272 and .275 in August and then Sept/Oct.

Still, the future Hall of Famer's rather rapid and frankly unsettling decline overall has been quite stark, which makes the Brewers' continued rumored interest in signing him this offseason all the more confusing.

Brewers' rumored interest in Paul Goldschmidt makes little sense

In his latest piece, USA Today's Bob Nightengale provided the smallest nugget about the Brewers and their apparent interest in Goldschmidt. "The Milwaukee Brewers are keeping a close eye on St. Louis Cardinals veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt if the Cardinals opt not to bring him back. They still believe there’s plenty left in the tank", is all we have to go off of.

Outside of the signs of life he showed in the second half of the season, there were far more concerning signs than encouraging ones from Goldschmidt this year. That makes Nightengale's note on the Brewers "believing there's still plenty left in the tank" a bit of a head-scratcher.

This is without mentioning the fact that Rhys Hoskins is a virtual lock to return to his 1B/DH role in 2025. He has an $18 million player option for the upcoming season that he's almost guaranteed to pick up. His first year back from a season-long injury in 2023 did not go all that well, so there's no shot he's going to test the free-agent market again after a rough showing.

That'd leave the fit with Goldschmidt and Hoskins on the same roster an awkward one. Don't forget, the Brewers at one point rostered Rowdy Tellez and Daniel Vogelbach - essentially the exact same player - together in the past, but it may not work this time around, just as it didn't last time.

Sure, one player can DH while the other lines up at first base, but there's a serious lack of versatility there and both players are coming off of what many would consider to be subpar performances.

If the Brewers can find a way to move on from Hoskins and sign Goldschmidt to a cheap "prove it" type of deal, then we'll talk. Until then, this fit doesn't feel like one that'd work out well for anyone involved.

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