4 Brewers who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

The Milwaukee Brewers are going to have to make some tough roster choices going into 2024.
Chicago Cubs v Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs v Milwaukee Brewers / Patrick McDermott/GettyImages
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Rowdy Tellez

Rowdy Tellez seems like a pretty easy guy to pick on here. In fairness to Rowdy, he has had some pretty crummy injury luck in 2023. He went on the injured list with a forearm injury and then right before he was supposed to return, Rowdy got his finger stuck in a wall shagging fly balls that resulted in a broken finger and a bunch of stitches in mid-July. It will still be a bit before he returns, but he has gotten the stitches taken out at least and hopefully he doesn't hurt himself again.

However, the fact remains that Tellez has been a colossal disappointment for Milwaukee this season even before the injuries. In 288 plate appearances in 2023, Tellez has slashed .213/.285/.388 with 12 homers. If Tellez had a consistent track record before this season, one down season could be written off. However, this is a guy that has consistently struggled with his hit tool in his career and that is problematic for a team with playoff aspirations. When Tellez is good, he is really good. However, he just isn't good enough of the time and now he seems like a non-tender candidate this offseason instead of Milwaukee's first base/designated hitter of the future.

Joey Wiemer

This is a really tough one just because of Joey Wiemer's value with his glove. In 927.2 innings in the outfield in 2023, Wiemer has been one of the game's better defensive outfielders with 9 Outs Above Average out there. That does have some real value and the team's overall defense has been a big reason why they have hung around at all this season. No one is arguing otherwise here.

The problem is that Wiemer just can't hit. With a .214/.293/.394 line with 13 homers this season, all of Wiemer's defensive value has essentially been cancelled out by that 84 wRC+ of his at the plate. Wiemer's value with his glove is unimpeachable, but Milwaukee needs offensive production and may be better served by moving Wiemer to a team who has the time to try and fix him offensively especially with Jackson Chourio moving up the minor league ranks in a hurry.