3 Pending Free Agents The Brewers Need To Let Walk, 1 They Need To Keep

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The Milwaukee Brewers will have some decisions to make this offseason. While we aren't there yet, the final few weeks of the regular season could help determine what course the Brewers want to take with some of their pending free agents.

Milwaukee's slated to have a handful of free agents this winter. While the Brewers may already be leaning a certain direction with most of them, let's dig into who should stay and who should go.

Here are three pending free agents the Brewers should let walk and one they absolutely need to keep.

Free Agent to let walk: DH Jesse Winker

Based on how this season has gone, it's no surprise Jesse Winker finds himself on this list. Prior to the season, there was hope that a bounce-back year could lead to Winker sticking around even longer. That's not going to happen anymore.

The plan was for Jesse Winker to be the DH just about everyday, returning to the form he had when he was with the Reds, hitting for average and power. Instead, he's done neither. Winker underwent a couple surgeries last offseason, including a neck surgery, that likely impacted his performance. Winker has battled more injuries through the course of this season.

Winker hit just one home run this year and was batting just .199 in 61 games. He's been on the injured list with back spasms since late July. Winker went on a rehab assignment but just as it was expiring he suffered a setback and went back on IL. He's now out on another rehab assignment.

Winker simply may not play for the Brewers the rest of this season, and they won't miss him in the lineup if he doesn't. There's virtually no chance Winker is signed back in Milwaukee for next season. He'll walk, and maybe he'll sign a cheap, one year prove it deal somewhere else.

Free Agent to let walk: 3B Brian Anderson

Honestly, the Brewers probably should just let Brian Anderson walk right now. The man hasn't been in the lineup since August 22nd. He was allowed into the game on Monday as a substitute only because the Brewers were already up by 11 runs. He's clearly not factoring into Craig Counsell's plans anywhere on the field.

Anderson was a big part of the Brewers lineup in the first half of the season. Then he suffered a poorly timed injury in early July. With Anderson out, the Brewers acquired two players at the Trade Deadline, Carlos Santana and Mark Canha, that shifted the roster math enough that when he returned from the IL just a few days later, there wasn't really a starting spot for him. Since he's come back, he played a handful of games that first week, but since then, crickets.

Based on Anderson's extreme lack of playing time, it's clear he's not in the Brewers plans not only for the rest of this year, but going forward. He had a good month or so in the beginning of the year, but he's fallen out of favor.

Overall, Anderson's numbers aren't great, but they aren't awful either. He's hitting .224/.309/.364 with nine homers. Those numbers are right around where they were in 2022 with the Marlins before he was non-tendered that offseason. The Brewers were hoping for a bounce back to his previous levels, hitting in the .250-.260 range with a .340-.350 OBP, but that hasn't happened and Craig Counsell clearly doesn't believe it's going to happen and has benched him.

The Brewers will be willing to let Brian Anderson walk, but with the way the last month has gone for him, Anderson might not be walking but running out of Milwaukee to a different organization.

Free Agent to let walk: 1B Carlos Santana

This may be somewhat tough as the Brewers just brought Carlos Santana in at the Trade Deadline and he's performed just about as expected. He's added some power to Milwaukee's lineup, slugging seven homers since his arrival, and hitting for around a .230 average, which is what can be expected of him at this point.

Santana's biggest value is his veteran experience and leadership, which will no doubt be of use to Milwaukee in the playoffs this year.

The 37 year old Santana is a free agent at the end of the year and it doesn't make much sense for the Brewers to sign him back for another season. Milwaukee has other options they could go with at first base and DH that are younger and will be cheaper as well. Santana is making $6.725MM this season.

The Brewers' MO generally doesn't involve signing veteran position players in their upper 30s to full season deals. They'll bring them in at mid-season if needed as reinforcements but it's hard to envision them signing Santana back this offseason.

Right now the Brewers are in the process of transitioning cores. They're remaining competitive while several key players, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Willy Adames among them, are nearing free agency themselves. There's been a youth movement this year with several rookies and there will be more in the future. Milwaukee let veterans walk last year to clear room for these rookies and they aren't likely to keep Santana around to potentially block playing time for the next wave of rookies.

There's a lot to like about what Santana brings, but the Brewers need to let him walk this offseason.

Free Agent they need to keep: C Victor Caratini

As much as the Brewers like their youth movement most places on the roster, manager Craig Counsell prefers catchers with a lot of big league experience and Victor Caratini has plenty of that.

Caratini has been the Brewers backup catcher this year as William Contreras was brought in last offseason to bring some needed offensive improvements at the position. Caratini is a very good option for a backup catcher and could potentially be a starting catcher for another team, which may make keeping him tougher.

Caratini is a pretty inconsistent hitter, but he's put up a respectable slash line of .247/.327/.368 and he is a switch hitter, which is rare in a catcher and makes him quite valuable, especially with a solid slash line like he has.

Now you can find backup catchers just about anywhere, but to further the case for why the Brewers should stick with Caratini as their backup, let's look at when he plays. Caratini has become the personal catcher for Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes. Burnes loves pitching to him and that's no small matter. Caratini was previously the personal catcher for Yu Darvish, another ace-level talent with tons of pitches in his arsenal.

Burnes is under team control for one more year, barring a miraculous turn of events in those non-existent extension talks. Provided the Brewers don't look to trade Burnes this offseason, it makes sense to sign Caratini back on a one year deal as well.

The "catcher of the future" down in the minors for Milwaukee is Jeferson Quero. He's in Double-A this year and the Brewers could look to put him on a timeline where he's ready for the big leagues in 2025. Quero could realistically spend all of 2024 in Triple-A then be ready for his promotion next year. In the meantime, Caratini should complement Contreras behind the plate.

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