How are these former Brewers doing on their new teams in 2025?

It's been an underwhelming first quarter for the Milwaukee Brewers, who find themselves a game below .500 as they begin a three-game series against the 23-16 Cleveland Guardians. It's a stark contrast from last year's Brewers team that held a 24-15 record on this date a year ago.

While the difference is just a few players, the squad that the Brewers are rolling out in 2025 feels a lot different than the Crew that finished 93-69 and won the National League Central in 2024. The roster turnover was highlighted by losing Willy Adames to free agency, but there are several other key players from last year's roster that find themselves on new teams in 2025.

Here's a look at some of the Brewers that have moved on to new teams and how they are performing with their squads in 2025.

Willy Adames - San Francisco Giants

Starting with Willy Adames, who was the heart and soul of the Brewers from the moment he joined the organization in May of 2021. Adames cashed in his massive 2024 in the offseason. After hitting 32 home runs, stealing 21 bases, and driving in 112 runs for the Brewers last year, he signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the San Francisco Giants in December.

It's been a slow start for Adames, who has yet to live up to his annual $26 million salary. In 41 games, Adames is hitting just .217 with four home runs. His 86 OPS+ is well below the league average and would be a career low for Adames should it continue throughout the season.

However, it appears Adames is starting to turn a corner. Since May 1st, he's posted an OPS of .750, but even so, he continues to struggle with the high strikeout and low walk rates that have plagued him for the last few years.

Despite Adames' personal struggles, the Giants themselves are rolling. They are 24-17 and in the thick of the competitive NL West division race, showing that while Adames may not be living up to his contract on the field, he still brings value in the clubhouse and knows how to contribute to a winning environment.

Devin Williams - New York Yankees

The Brewers' other major departure of the offseason, former closer Devin Williams, is having a shockingly poor start to the 2025 season. Milwaukee traded closer Williams to the New York Yankees for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin during the offseason, and while Brewers fans argued about the balance of the deal at the time, simply not having Williams on the roster has proved to be a benefit.

As a two-time NL Reliever of the Year, Williams was understandably thrown right into the closing role for the Yankees, despite the team having another strong candidate for the position, Luke Weaver. However, by April 27th, Williams was already out as the Yankees' closer and was seemingly lost on the mound.

Through 12.2 innings, Williams holds a 9.24 ERA and has already surrendered more earned runs than he did during the entire 2023 campaign, a year in which he threw 58.2 innings. He's walked 11 batters during his time in New York, and is worth -0.8 WAR.

To add insult to injury, Williams will be a free agent after the season, and while once he was potentially staring down a record-setting deal, now he simply hopes to earn a multi-year contract.

Bryse Wilson - Chicago White Sox

With a projected arbitration salary of $1.5 million coming into the 2025 season, the Brewers decided to non-tender long reliever Bryse Wilson back in November. Wilson ultimately signed a one-year, $1.05 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, proving that the Crew made a wise financial decision by not bringing him back this season.

Wilson is currently in a hybrid role between the bullpen and starting rotation in Chicago. He's appeared in 13 total games and made three starts, but those numbers are somewhat misleading as Wilson often enters the game following an opener, like he did against the Brewers in late April. He's been called upon to cover more innings as of late following the injury to Martín Pérez.

Wilson's numbers don't exactly jump off the page. He holds a 4.88 ERA and has struck out just 16 batters in the 27.2 innings he's pitched this year. It's unlikely that Wilson would be a starter for most MLB teams, but with the White Sox desperate for innings, his chance to prove himself as a big-league starter should continue for the foreseeable future.

Gary Sánchez - Baltimore Orioles

As the Brewers’ backup catcher a season ago, Gary Sánchez hit 11 home runs in 89 games. He added some pop to the Brewers' lineup and even improved his previously poor defensive metrics, as so many Brewers catchers do. But after signing a shockingly pricey one-year, $8.5 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason, Sánchez does not look like the same player that he was in 2024.

Sánchez is 3-for-30 this season with zero home runs. On top of that, he was added to the injured list on April 28th with a wrist injury. Luckily for him, there's not much going right in Baltimore, and his replacement, Maverick Handley, hasn't been much better, meaning the opportunities should still be there for Sánchez once his wrist heals.

Frankie Montas - New York Mets

It’s the same old story for Frankie Montas. He can’t stay healthy. The 30 games he started in 2024 were an anomaly. He has reached that mark just one other time in his entire big league career.

Montas posted a pedestrian 4.55 ERA after being traded to the Brewers last season, but he was the starting pitcher in the team's only postseason win. His performance was good enough for a two-year, $34 million deal with the New York Mets in the off-season.

The contract seemed steep at the time, and with Montas yet to make a start in 2025, it's now very difficult to say that it isn't. A lat strain in February shut down, and it was initially supposed to keep Montas down for just 6 to 8 weeks. However, now the Mets project him to return in late May or early June. At 32 years old and with a long history of injuries, it will be difficult for Montas to live up to his $17 million average annual salary.

Colin Rea - Chicago Cubs

Colin Rea may have been the biggest surprise of the 2024 Brewers. Not many people had Rea going 12-6 with a 4.29 ERA out of the starting rotation, but it was a welcome sight for the Crew. Rea's numbers weren't amazing by any means, but in making 27 starts for the Brewers last year, he proved that he could be a steady innings eater who gave the team a chance to win in most of the games he started.

However, his performance wasn't quite enough for the Brewers to pick up his $5.5 million club option this past offseason. They instead opted to pay the $1 million buyout in his contract, making him a free agent. Rea turned around and signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Brewers' biggest rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Rea has been incredible for the Cubs. He's appeared in eight games, five as a starter, and posted a 2.43 ERA. He's collected 25 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched. Rea was carrying a sub-2.00 ERA prior to his last start, when he allowed four earned runs in five innings to the Giants.

Joe Ross - Philadelphia Phillies

Though Joe Ross wasn't a huge part of the Brewers' success in 2024, he revived his big league career after losing two consecutive seasons to injury. With Milwaukee, he posted a 3.77 ERA in 74 innings and made two scoreless appearances out of the bullpen in the playoffs.

Ross got $4 million on a one-year deal from the Philadelphia Phillies in the winter. He has been working solely out of the bullpen for them and currently has a 3.93 ERA. Similar to last year, Ross's numbers aren't eye-popping, but he is proving to be a good depth signing for the Phillies, albeit one that the Brewers could not have afforded.

While it's still very early in the 2025 season, outside of Rea, it appears as if the Brewers made the correct decision by not retaining the players on this list. Whether it was contracts that look like bad deals for the new teams or simply poor performance from the ex-Brewers, not many players who left the Brewers after the 2024 season are impressing through the first quarter of this season.