5 Recently Non-Tendered Players the Brewers Should Consider Signing

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Yesterday evening MLB's non-tender deadline finally arrived. As expected, the Milwaukee Brewers did not tender contracts to a few players, including fan favorites Rowdy Tellez and Brandon Woodruff. They also avoided having to make a decision on another player when they traded away infielder Abraham Toro earlier in the week.

While the Brewers ended up removing a trio of players from their roster, other teams were making the same types of decisions. In fact, 63 such players were non-tendered by their teams yesterday, making all of them free agents.

This means that there is now a whole new crop of players added to the free agent pool that the Brewers can consider signing. And with some key holes to address on their roster for the 2024 season, there are a few names in particular that stick out.

Here are five recently non-tendered players that the Milwaukee Brewers should consider signing.

1. 1B/DH Mike Ford

One thing is for sure: the Brewers need to address the first base position this offseason. Tellez is no longer the plan at the position, and even though Jake Bauers was acquired in his place, the team needs a better option than that going into 2024.

The best option for that among recently non-tendered players could be Mike Ford. Originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Yankees, he came a little bit out of nowhere to debut in 2019 and had a very good rookie campaign, hitting .259 with a .909 OPS and 12 homers in 50 games.

His bat would cool down quite a bit the next few seasons as he bounced around with some different teams. But in 2023, he would finally put up some halfway decent numbers again. Though his average stayed low at .228, he would have the second highest OPS (.798) of his career and also hit a career high 16 homers in 83 games.

Like the Bauers move, a Ford signing shouldn't be the only thing the Brewers do to address the first base position. But it couldn't hurt to have multiple options going into spring training and if someone like Ford were to win out a spot, then that would only be good news for the Crew.

2. C Andrew Knizner

Another spot the Brewers need to address is at the catcher. Clearly their starting catcher spot is set with 2023 MVP vote-getter William Contreras at the helm. Currently, though, he has no backup as Victor Caratini became a free agent at the beginning of the offseason. Top 10 prospect Jeferson Quero will likely be the backup some day, but he missed a lot of his 2023 Double-A season due to injury and likely needs some time at Triple-A before making his MLB debut.

Perhaps, then, they could look to a recently non-tendered catcher from a division rival in former Cardinal Andrew Knizner. The 28-year-old had a decent year hitting in 2023, hitting .241 with a .712 OPS, but was essentially squeezed out of the picture in St. Louis with other younger players ready to take a larger role.

The Brewers do tend to value strong defense out of their backup catchers and Knizner falls a little short in that category with a career -13 defensive runs saved and 21% caught stealing rate. We all know the wonders Milwaukee's catching development team can work, though, so if he can hit perhaps they can turn the defense around.

3. OF/DH Austin Meadows

It seems as though every offseason the Brewers take a shot on a player who could have a bounceback season. One such player with a strong pedigree and multiple seasons of proven offensive success is former ninth overall pick Austin Meadows.

Meadows has a career .259/.333/.472 slash line and 120 OPS+ in six seasons with the Pirates, Rays, and Tigers. His strongest seasons were in 2019 when he hit 33 homers and 89 RBIs with a .922 OPS and was an All-Star and in 2021 when he hit 27 homers and 106 RBIs. He received MVP votes in both of those seasons.

Then came 2022 and 2023. It started with missed games due to vertigo and an achilles issue and then resulted in him stepping away from the game entirely to address his mental health. Meadows has been working on a return to MLB and would be a great story if he's able to complete that process. And with the designated hitter position being such an issue for most of 2023, the Brewers should give him a look.

4. SP Dakota Hudson

Rounding out the biggest positions of need for the Brewers is the starting rotation. The Crew took two big hits to that group when Wade Miley opted out of his portion of a mutual 2024 contract option and Woodruff was non-tendered yesterday, though he was already going to miss most, if not all, of next season due to injury anyway.

To bolster the rotation, the Brewers could look to another former first rounder in Dakota Hudson. The former 34th overall pick looked to be the potential future ace of the Cardinals staff early in his career. In his first three seasons, he went 67-40 with a 3.17 ERA in 69 games, taking 5th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2019.

But Tommy John surgery in late 2020 derailed all that progress, causing him to miss most of 2021 and put up a combined 4.64 ERA over the last two seasons. The important part is that he is healthy and in the right hands, like those of Brewers pitching development, perhaps he could regain his old dominance.

5. SP Brandon Woodruff

Hey, there's no rule saying you can't re-sign a player right after non-tendering them. And despite the fact that he might not even pitch next season, there's no denying the talent that has been displayed over the years by starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff.

Many fans were hoping that the Brewers might find a way to sign Woodruff to a backloaded two-year deal instead of non-tendering him, expecting then to pay him what he was due to make next year in 2025 instead. Perhaps the two sides were in fact trying to figure out that sort of deal and just ran out of time. So who's to say that they can't still try and work something out?

The nature of a non-tender decision is generally that a player isn't deemed good enough to keep around anymore or doesn't have the production to match a projected arbitration year raise, thus the talent level of the non-tender pool is mostly low on average. Still, that doesn't mean that there aren't some possible diamonds to be found in the rough.

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