Monday Mailbag: Brewers' infield, free agent spending, prospects, offseason to date

The 2025 season is approaching spring training is just a few weeks away. There are still a number of questions that fans have about this Milwaukee Brewers team and we'd like to answer them. Starting this Monday and hopefully every Monday after, we're going to put out a mailbag article trying to answer these questions.

On the Reviewing the Brew Twitter account, we solicited questions from our readers for this mailbag. Future mailbags will likely be conducted the same way so be sure to stay tuned to our social media.

Let's get right into the questions.

Answering your Brewers questions in our Monday Mailbag

What prospects have a shot to make the major league roster? - @steelmann58

Last year, prospects Jackson Chourio and Oliver Dunn made the Opening Day roster for their MLB debuts. This year, there's a couple more young players that appear to be in prime position to make the big league roster coming out of camp.

On the pitching side, 3rd ranked prospect Jacob Misiorowski, 11th ranked prospect Logan Henderson, and 21st ranked prospect Craig Yoho all enter camp with legitimate shots to make the Opening Day roster. Henderson was added to the 40 man roster in November while Misiorowski and Yoho both received NRIs to big league camp last week.

Among position players, Tyler Black still has prospect status and has the inside track to the backup 1B job. Caleb Durbin, acquired in the Devin Williams trade, also appears in prime position to earn a big league roster spot.

What letter grade do you give the Brewers for their offseason efforts on assembling a competitive roster for this upcoming season? And why? - @MrEd315

This is a great question. So far, I'd give this offseason a "B" for the Brewers front office. They have done exactly what was expected, accomplished their primary goals, and not much else. They trimmed the pieces of the roster that needed to be trimmed, like Hoby Milner, Gary Sanchez, Frankie Montas, and the like, then they let Adames walk for a compensatory draft pick, which they made their peace with long ago.

They had a need for some proven back of the rotation help and another infielder to help replace Adames. They accomplished both of those needs with the Devin Williams trade, and that trade was another thing high on Milwaukee's to-do list this winter.

I'd also argue that they have a competitive roster already assembled for the 2025 season, so there wasn't much that needed to be done. Adames is really the only player that the Brewers lost this offseason that they're likely going to miss. The other free agents are more easily replaceable role players. The young core is why this team is competitive, and they are all still here. This roster is primed to compete once again.

Have the Brewers done enough to make up for the power they lost with Adames leaving? - @stvdanielhunt

Provided that they don't make any more additions to the position player and merely replace Adames with Caleb Durbin in the infield, on paper the answer is no. Durbin isn't a big power bat and won't come close to the 32 home runs and 112 RBI that Adames provided in 2024. However, that doesn't mean making up for that power loss can't come from elsewhere on the roster.

Internal improvements from players like Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio along with healthy versions of Christian Yelich and Rhys Hoskins could and should make up for the loss of Adames' power in the heart of the order. It'd be nice to see the Brewers bring in a power hitting third base option with Joey Ortiz likely sliding to short, but it's looking like the Brewers so far are going to rely on the players they already have getting better now with more experience under their belt.

Mitchell, I think, is the key. He has the most untapped power potential of the group. He played very well in the second half last year once he finally got an extended run of health. Mitchell staying healthy and productive like he was in the second half of 2024 is going to be crucial. His eight home runs in 196 ABs last year would put him on pace for around 20-25 home runs in a full season's worth of ABs.

Will there be a big name free agent this year? Woodruff back? - @Eric_Johnson79

Let's answer the last question first. Brandon Woodruff will be back. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com had an excellent feature on Woodruff's recovery and the hope is he'll be good to go for Opening Day.

As for the big name free agent, I wouldn't hold your breath. Alex Bregman would fit a need positionally, but unless he starts looking for a pillow contract similar to Rhys Hoskins, I'm not expecting Bregman to be an option.

Do you think the Brewers make a move for a proven third baseman? - @templeb2810590

I think it's possible. The third base market has been at a standstill waiting on Alex Bregman. Once Bregman signs somewhere, we'll see the players like Ha-Seong Kim, Yoan Moncada, and Paul DeJong start to go. There's also the matter of Nolan Arenado, whom the Cardinals are desperate to trade. If Arenado goes, that takes someone else out of the third base market and could also the Brewers a chance to swoop in for one of the remaining options.

Why be a fan of the Brewers with Mark Attanasio has not spent any money whatsoever and what the Dodgers are doing? Is it time for Attanasio to sell the team? - @LancePiep

The Dodgers have just thrown out another large, multi-year contract with the Tanner Scott signing and they are the new Evil Empire. It's incredibly frustrating seeing them flex their financial muscles in a way that no other team can.

However, not all is lost. The Brewers have the 6th-most wins in all of baseball since 2016 and the 3rd-most wins in the National League in that time. They are one of the most consistent and well run organizations in the game. They've made the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons. This isn't anything like Pittsburgh or Oakland (formerly) or the White Sox, where not only do they not spend they also have a bad team and generally bad process because of ownership problems.

Ownership is not the problem. What the Dodgers are doing and what the Brewers are doing is more reflective of structural issues in baseball's economic environment.

The game isn't played on paper. While the Dodgers did win the World Series in 2024, all this extra spending and their great roster still does not guarantee a World Series in 2025. This is baseball. Anything can happen.

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