5 Recently Non-Tendered Players the Brewers Should Consider Signing

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.