Brewers: 2 Free Agents Fans Better Hope Don't Land In the NL Central

The Brewers involvement in free agency over the past several years has been drastically different when compared to other teams. Being in a small market and having financial constraints has limited them from shelling out large multi-year contracts to free agents.

Because of this, they have to look for other ways to improve the team. This year, under Matt Arnold, the team has performed a few trades and made some under the radar signings. For the Brewers, this is about what you would expect.

On the flip side, other NL Central teams have been adding talent through free agency.
The Chicago Cubs have added Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon. In St. Louis, they locked up Willson Contreras for potentially the next six seasons. And even the Pirates have been active in adding Carlos Santana and Ji-Man Choi.

With all this activity going on in the NL Central, here are two more free agents that Brewers fans hope don't land within our division.

1. LHP Carlos Rodon

After Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander signed their respective free agent contracts, Carlos Rodon became the top free agent pitcher left on the free agent market. The left-handed starting pitcher has been dominant each of the past two seasons while finishing fifth (2021, AL) and sixth (2022, NL) in Cy Young voting each year.

Rodon has a 2.67 ERA over 55 starts the last couple seasons, numbers that any team would be happy to have if they can pay the price. Unfortunately, the southpaw has been linked to the St. Louis Cardinals as Jon Heyman reported them as a "mystery" team to sign him.

It will take a hefty contract in order to get Rodon to sign as he opted out of the second year of the contract he signed with the Giants last offseason. As Brewers fans, we know how well pitchers tend to perform while in St. Louis, so Rodon going to the Cardinals would clearly be a worst case scenario.

2. SS Dansby Swanson

Now that big names like Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, and Xander Bogaerts have signed their free n agent deals, former Brave Dansby Swanson is the last big name shortstop left on the free agent market. Not only have talks between Swanson and his former team gone nowhere as of this point, Jon Heyman has also indicated that the Cubs have expressed interest in him.

Swanson took a few years to find his stride offensively, but he became a big part of the Atlanta offense over the last few seasons. From 2020 to 2022, he has slashed .265/.324/.451 with 80 doubles, 62 homers, and 219 RBIs in 382 games. He also earned his first All-Star nod and Gold Glove last season and received NL MVP votes in 2020 and 2022.

The Cubs traded away a lot of their higher salary players a few seasons ago, but they now appear ready to make some splash signings. Adding Swanson to an infield mix that includes Patrick Wisdom, Nico Hoerner, and Christopher Morel (also can play outfield) would help get them back on track and closer to contending again.

Right now rumors have linked Rodon to the Cardinals and Swanson to the Cubs. Brewers fans will certain hope nothing comes to fruition surrounding this and these two players end up signing outside of the NL Central.