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Here are the free agents the Brewers should avoid during this offseason
The Milwaukee Brewers will have a couple key positions to fill in free agency for the 2025 MLB season, the main one being the potential departure of Willy Adames. However, there are a couple areas where the Brewers could look to improve, replace and deal from that may lead to other free agents being looked at.
Lets look at some free agents the Milwaukee Brewers should avoid.
Free Agents the Milwaukee Brewers Should Avoid: Honorable Mention - OF Jesse Winker
This one is fairly obvious, but keep Jesse Winker as far away from Milwaukee as possible. The Brewers took a chance on him in 2023 after coming off an injury riddled 2022 season. Winker batted .199 with the Brewers and then turned around and had the audacity to whine about how Brewers fans reacted to him after jawing with fan favorite Willy Adames.
Jesse Winker managed to find a way onto the Milwaukee Brewers 2023 playoff roster when the Brewers got swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. In that two game series, Winker batted twice and was retired both times. Fast forwarding a bit, Winker ended up landing with the Mets and their $317 million payroll team halfway through the season and earned infamy with Milwaukee fans by talking a ton of trash to the Brewers he played with just a season before.
This interaction with Winker was obviously widely covered when it first happened and the question remains, "what the heck is Jesse Winker's deal?" It probably wouldn't shock anyone if the next time Winker bats in Milwaukee that a ball finds Winker's body somewhere, but we'll have to wait until 2025 for that.
Whatever the case may be, there won't need to be much conversation on why the Milwaukee Brewers should avoid Winker like the plague in the future.
LHP Aroldis Chapman
The Brewers were two outs away from advancing to the NLDS when disaster struck and Devin Williams surrendered a three run home run to Pete Alonso, propelling the New York Mets forward and the Brewers to their eventual elimination in the NLCS.
That fateful Thursday night could potentially spell an end to Devin Williams in a Milwaukee jersey as not only does the fan base now have a sour taste in their mouth every time his name is mentioned, but Williams is also a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. The Brewers have often dealt pending free agents for prospects with team control before they get expensive and Devin Williams may be the next in line.
Should the Brewers decide to deal Devin Williams, that opens up the closer role for someone new. Trevor Megill filled in admirably and should absolutely get a shot at the everyday closer role, but then who takes Megill's spot? Very possibly a free agent.
Looking at some high leverage free agent pitchers, the first name that pops out is Aroldis Chapman. Chapman signed a one year, $10.5 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates (for whatever reason), and is now a free agent. The Brewers would do well to steer clear of Chapman for multiple reasons.
Firstly, Chapman will be 37 before the 2025 spring training slate gets started which is getting up there in age. Secondly, he looks to be in early stages of what could be a major decline. From 2019 to 2022 his ERA steadily increased from 2.45 all the way to 4.46, prompting the New York Yankees to refrain from bringing him back and leading to a split season with the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers before signing with the Pirates last season.
In 2023, Chapman did have a respectable 3.09 ERA. However, 2024 Chapman went back up to a 3.79 ERA this past season which makes 2023 looks more like an outlier among steadily decreasing production than it does like a bounce back season.
Lastly, Chapman's name is bigger than his game. Chapman has dominant stuff, there's no questioning that, but his WHIP numbers are very troubling. Brewers fans already feel like they have to sweat out every Devin Williams appearance because he allows the occasional baserunner. With Chapman, a baserunner is almost guaranteed to be on every appearance. Since 2019 when Devin Williams came into Major League Baseball, his WHIP is 1.023. In that same time span, Chapman's WHIP is 1.262. So if Devin Williams makes you sweat, Chapman would make you need another shirt.
RHP Craig Kimbrel
Craig Kimbrel is in a similar boat to Chapman, as he is not getting any younger. Kimbrel will also turn 37 next season, just three months after Chapman does and his career also appears to be heading off a cliff after an All-Star 2023 season.
In 2023 with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kimbrel had a 3.26 ERA, 132 ERA+ (100 being average), and 1.043 WHIP, solid numbers that earned Kimbrel a one year, $12 million contract with a club option for 2025 and a $1 million buyout with the Baltimore Orioles to fill in for their injured closer Felix Bautista.
Fast forward to September of 2024 and Kimbrel is being released by the Baltimore Orioles before the season is even over. Kimbrel appeared in 57 games for the Orioles in 2024 to the tune of a 5.33 ERA, 71 ERA+ (100 being average) and 1.357 WHIP. There is a strong case to make that his age and all of those innings on Kimbrel's arm finally caught up with him.
Kimbrel was given 29 opportunities to save the game for the Orioles and converted 23 of them, 79.3 percent of his chances, not exactly a number that induces the type of confidence you want to have in a late game relief pitcher. For comparison, Devin Williams was 14 for 15 (93.3 percent) on his opportunities after returning from a back injury that cost him half of the 2024 season.
While Kimbrel's price has certainly tanked due to his terrible 2024 season, a soon to be 37 year old high leverage relief pitcher is not the ideal candidate for a bounce back type deal for Milwaukee. The Brewers should let someone else fall on that grenade.
3B/DH Justin Turner
The Brewers have previously been linked to former Dodgers and Red Sox third baseman Justin Turner, even if only for leverage to get himself paid. However, now is not the time for the Brewers to rekindle those talks.
Justin Turner is a third baseman by trade but as he nears 40 years of age, that is not what he will be doing on a baseball field should any team decide to sign him. Since the 2023 season began, he has played only 13 games at the hot corner. So there should be no Brewers fans saying "sign Justin Turner for third base and move Joey Ortiz to shortsop." Justin Turner is not that guy anymore.
In fact, Turner has played 10 games at second base in that time span and 98 at first base. What Justin Turner is at this stage of his career is a designated hitter. Turner has appeared in 175 games as a DH in the last two seasons. While the Brewers may be in the market for a designated hitter assuming Gary Sanchez isn't brought back which seems unlikely, there are better options than an aging Justin Turner.
SS Tim Anderson
It is possible that with the pending free agency of Willy Adames that Milwaukee could be in the market for a shortstop if they want to keep Joey Ortiz at third base. Ortiz showed he is more than capable of occupying the everyday third baseman role in 2024.
However, if the Brewers decide to look at the shortstop free agent market, they can do better and more reliable than Tim Anderson. Anderson looked like one of the best shortstops in the game from 2019-2022, however, 2023 and 2024 paint a very different picture.
From 2019 to 2022, Anderson was an offensive machine, batting for a high average, getting on base at a solid clip and hitting for power. In those four seasons collectively, He slashed .318/.347/.474/.820 and hit 51 home runs, just shy of 13 per season to go with 88 other extra base hits and 53 stolen bases.
In 2023, his final year with the Chicago White Sox, Anderson batted .245/.286/.296/.582 with an OPS+ of 62 (100 being average). In 2024, with the Miami Marlins, in just 65 games played due to injuries Anderson slashed .214/.237/.226/.463 with an OPS+ of 27. Anderson has hit just one home run combined in the last two seasons and only six in 2022.
The team that takes a shot on Anderson will be certain in knowing that the chances of getting late 2010s, early 2020s version of Anderson is extremely low. Anderson hasn't only regressed offensively, each of the last three seasons as he has posted a negative two outs above average defensively, per Baseball Savant.
Based on his trajectory, Anderson may get a minor league deal with an invite to spring training, but shouldn't be anything more and the Milwaukee Brewers should steer clear entirely.
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