Brewers watch possible helpful depth addition sign minuscule contract elsewhere

As the 2025 MLB season inches closer and closer, the Milwaukee Brewers are still without a locked-in option as their everyday third baseman. Now that Willy Adames has signed with the San Francisco Giants, it seems like an inevitability that Joey Ortiz will shift over to shortstop for the upcoming season, leaving a hole at the hot corner.

It's not that there aren't options to take over the position, but none really stick out above the rest. Oliver Dunn, Tyler Black, Caleb Durbin and even Sal Frelick are all possibilities to log time at the position, but there aren't any that provide any legitimate stability there. The Brewers are a club that needs that type of surefire option at third.

Knowing how the Brewers typically operate as a penny-pinching organization, long-time division rival Paul DeJong has felt like a perfect fit for them all winter long. In November, he was loosely tied to the Brewers and it felt like a match made in heaven. Instead the Brewers, who still have yet to spend more than $1 million in free agency this offseason, were forced to watch him sign elsewhere.

Perfect Brewers free agent fit signs with the Nationals on miniscule contract

On Sunday morning, multiple reports surfaced that the Washington Nationals signed DeJong to a one-year, $1 million contract. That price tag is so small that even the Brewers should've been all over him at this number. Alas, he's on the move to an exciting team that could have playoff aspirations as soon as the 2025 season.

After posting multiple poor seasons in a row, DeJong bounced back last year in 139 games between the Royals and White Sox. In that time, he recorded 24 home runs with a .703 OPS and 97 OPS+. Sure, he's not putting up numbers that will earn him another All-Star nod like the one he got in 2019, but he's absolutely a serviceable infielder once again.

There was a long period of time where DeJong felt like he was nearing a forced retirement. Instead of laying down and accepting his fate, he made some mechanical adjustments and hit over 20 home runs for the first time since that 2019 campaign. He was never going to earn much more than the $1 million contract he earned from the Nationals, but it's frustrating that the Brewers weren't willing to pull the trigger on a deal that would've at the very least matched that.

With virtually every other decent third base option off the board by now, the Brewers are going to have to stick internally and cross their fingers that they can find someone who can stick at the position in 2025.

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