3 difficult roster decisions the Brewers must address ASAP

The Brewers need to add an outfielder who can hit

Getting the Brewers' outfield sorted out should be their top priority over the next month or so. On one hand, Milwaukee's outfield defense in 2023 has been the best in the entire league by a mile and that is fantastic. Joey Wiemer, in particular, needs to be called out here as he has 8 Outs Above Average already this season.

However, the picture gets significantly worse when you look strictly at their offense. Brewers outfielders are in the bottom third in the league in wRC+, slugging, batting average, strikeout rate, RBI, and on-base percentage. That is a lot of numbers that all add up to the Brewers' outfield bats being quite bad.

The solutions here, though, are a little tricky to parse. First, Christian Yelich isn't going anywhere as he has been a strong defender while also posting a 119 wRC+ for the year. Joey Wiemer has, again, been awesome defensively, but he also has been pretty bad at the plate outside of some homers as he sports an 85 wRC+ in 258 plate appearances. Brian Anderson was being counted on for his bat in the outfield, but has had to play a bunch of 3B this season and his .219/.320/.375 slash line leaves something to be desired even if he shifts back to primarily the outfield. As a result, Milwaukee easily has room for at least one new outfielder who can actually hit.

The easiest solution may be an internal one as Sal Frelick is sitting there at Triple-A. However, he has struggled a bit in Triple-A in 2023 at the plate and doesn't look quite ready for prime time just yet as he is working his way back from a couple injuries. Jackson Chourio is one of the most talented prospects in all of baseball, but he has posted just a .724 OPS in Double-A so far.

That leaves us with the trade options and while the outfield market is pretty shallow, there are a couple options that could work for Milwaukee. Lane Thomas can hit a decent bit, has some speed, and the Nationals are truly terrible so they will be selling. However, he is pretty bad defensively which doesn't really work with Milwaukee's philosophy. A better fit is Adam Duvall who can defend and while he doesn't hit for average consistently, he hits for power and is pretty much a mortal lock to go wild for a month each season. The trick is whether or not Boston will recognize that they need to sell.