5 Burning Questions Facing The Brewers Right Now

The Milwaukee Brewers are entering an offseason with a ton of question marks after yet another early exit from the postseason. The questions are bigger and more numerous than they were last year or in most offseasons past.

Last year, the big question was about Matt Arnold taking over as GM for David Stearns. That question has been answered pretty positively, but this year there's another question in leadership that faces the Brewers, among several others.

These five questions will surround the Milwaukee Brewers as the 2023-24 offseason begins.

Question #1: Will Craig Counsell return to manage the Milwaukee Brewers?

Craig Counsell chose to "play out" his contract and push off any talks of an extension and returning for the 2024 season and beyond until after the 2023 season finished. That has fueled plenty of speculation nationally about Counsell's future.

It was believed among many that Counsell wanted to step away from managing in order to watch his two sons play college baseball and spend time with his family. Reports have since circled about other teams wanting Counsell and other managerial openings have come up, leading Counsell's name to be connected. Some even have pushed for Counsell to follow David Stearns to the New York Mets.

Recent reports have seemed to indicate that Counsell does indeed plan on managing in 2024, and if that's the case, there's a very good chance that he sticks with the Milwaukee Brewers. GM Matt Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio are both in agreement that they want Counsell to return as manager. However, they will give him the space to make his decision as he's earned that right.

Still, as we sit here in mid-October, there's uncertainty with the manager's position. If Counsell ends up leaving, the Brewers will be late to the carousel of managerial candidates being interviewed. The whole coaching staff could get shaken up as well if Counsell leaves.

The Brewers are Counsell's hometown team and it's a destination job for him. If he wants to manage next year, it's difficult to see him with any other team besides Milwaukee. Yet until he puts pen to paper, anything can happen.

This is the most pressing question facing the Brewers and the one that will have an answer the quickest. Before free agency begins, we'll know if Counsell is coming back to the Brewers or not.

Question #2: How will the Brewers compensate for the loss of Brandon Woodruff?

It was just announced that Brandon Woodruff is likely to miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing surgery on the anterior capsule of his throwing shoulder. Woodruff is the co-ace of this club and losing him dramatically lowers the ceiling of this rotation and team.

Perhaps the silver lining of this news and the timing of it is that the Brewers are now fully aware they will be without one of their top starters all season and can plan accordingly. They missed Woodruff for 4 months this season when they were planning on him being available, which left the rotation in a bind.

The Brewers have a couple of weeks before free agency begins, allowing them to map out plans for who, if anyone, they want to pursue as a free agent and they can do the same scouring the trade market. In his end of season press conference, Matt Arnold said that he would aggressively pursue more pitching depth this offseason and now with Woodruff out, that pursuit is going to get even more aggressive.

There's also the possibility of opening rotation spots for rookie pitching prospects such as Robert Gasser, Carlos F. Rodriguez, and Jacob Misiorowski. The Brewers could go that route, depending on rookies to fill the void, understanding that these young arms will be key to the rotation staying strong into the future. Still, it's a risky proposition to depend on rookies to fill Woodruff's shoes.

I would expect some free agent or trade acquisitions for this rotation to help address the void left by Woodruff's injury, and there will still likely be plenty of opportunities for those young pitchers in 2024. How they address Woodruff's void on the open market remains to be seen. Lucas Giolito, Sonny Gray, and Jordan Montgomery are some of the top options on the market, but will the Brewers want to give out multi-year deals with big money to fill the Woodruff void for one year?

As the offseason goes on, we'll take a closer look at rotation options, but how the Brewers will compensate for the loss of Woodruff is the largest roster construction question the Brewers face right now.

Question #3: Will Mark Canha and Wiley Miley see their contract options picked up?

Two of the Brewers top performers this year were Mark Canha and Wade Miley. Canha came over at the trade deadline from the Mets and was the Crew's best hitter down the stretch, posting a .287 average with an .800 OPS. Miley became a key piece of the rotation while battling some minor injuries but pitching extremely well when the Brewers needed him most.

Canha has a club option for 2024 that's valued at $11.5MM with a $2MM buyout. Miley has a $10MM mutual option for next year that both the team and Miley have to pick up. Mutual options are rarely exercised by both parties.

The Canha decision could solve one problem for the Brewers before it really gets started. While he's an outfielder by trade, Canha plays a solid first base and he could present a short-term solution at that position after Rowdy Tellez struggled mightily in 2023. Canha showed he's still a quality hitter and his salary isn't too bad for the production that he brings. By putting Canha at first base, they solve one of their offseason needs while continuing to allow the young outfielders in the organization opportunities on the grass.

Miley's decision is a little more complex. Miley is going to be 37 years old next season and was already contemplating retirement. Now, after pitching to a 3.14 ERA this year in Milwaukee, Miley may want to keep going, but for how long? Miley could decline his end of the contract option and seek a two year deal but at his age will anyone give that to him and will he even want that?

Maybe Miley wants to go year-to-year the rest of the way. He could potentially earn more than the $10MM on his option if he were to hit the open market, but there's no guarantee.

For the Brewers, now that they know they won't have Woodruff, they need all the rotation help they can get and if Miley can continue to pitch like he did in 2023, they won't find anyone better on the market for less than $10MM. The Brewers like Miley and he's been great in the clubhouse, so a reunion makes sense, but will it happen?

Question #5: Has Corbin Burnes thrown his last pitch for the Brewers?

The Brewers took Corbin Burnes to a contentious arbitration hearing last spring that damaged the relationship between the two. His projected price tag for 2024 is over $15MM.

Many have pegged this offseason as the time for the Brewers to trade Burnes away. Milwaukee hasn't had a top homegrown player reach free agency as a Brewer since Prince Fielder in 2011. They sent out Josh Hader in 2022 because of his rising price tag and it felt like they would do the same to Burnes eventually.

If they're going to do it, now would be the time. A Trade Deadline move would be waving surrender when the team is likely to be competitive, which causes problems in the clubhouse, like it did with the Hader trade. So a Deadline deal can be ruled out. That leaves just this winter.

The problem with that potential plan is that now the Brewers have lost Brandon Woodruff for the entire 2024 season, throwing a wrench into their rotation picture.

The answer to losing one of your co-aces for the season to injury is NOT to trade away your other, healthy co-ace. Not if the team plans on contending, anyway. Knowingly not having Woodruff and then shipping out Burnes would be waving the white flag on the 2024 season before it even starts. That doesn't sound like a strategy the Brewers would employ.

Burnes makes the Brewers a better team. Yes, they could get a solid return for him in a trade, but that doesn't mean trading him is the best move. Matt Arnold said he expects Burnes to be a Brewer in 2024, but that "we'll see what happens" over the course of the offseason.

Arnold didn't fully close the door on a Burnes trade. If some team meets his asking price, would Arnold pull the trigger, knowing that he won't have Woodruff to count on in the rotation this year?

These are the big questions facing the Brewers as this offseason gets going earlier than anyone was hoping. Some answers will come sooner than later, but we'll get answers to all of them over the coming weeks and months.