Brewers: 2 Players Who We Should Be Patient With, 1 Who We Shouldn't

Major League Baseball seasons are long. At 162 games across six full months, plus some in March and October, there's a reason they call it the Dog Days of Summer. And with such a long season, even the best players go through their cold stretches.

When it comes to the Milwaukee Brewers, there are very few players on the team you could say haven't gone through some sort of a slump in 2023. More position players have fallen into this category than pitchers, but it's happened across the board nonetheless.

Now while some have snapped out of theirs (see: Christian Yelich), others haven't, leaving fans frustrated and wondering when things will ever get better. Some of those players should probably be given a little patience. Others, not so much.

Here are two Brewers players who deserve a little patience right now and one who doesn't.

Brewers DH/OF Jesse Winker deserves a little patience

Last offseason, rumors started swirling that Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong could be traded to the Seattle Mariners, the only question was for what return. Eventually, the trade happened, and the main piece Milwaukee got in return was a foe who used to terrorize them as a member of the Reds: DH/OF Jesse Winker.

Winker was coming off of a down year with Seattle in which he slashed just .219/.344/.344 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs in 136 games. He finished his first year there on the IL with a neck strain and there were also rumors of him not meshing well in the clubhouse.

That was a far cry from his production before that with Cincinnati. In five seasons, capped off with an All-Star appearance in 2021, Winker never batted below .255, never had an OPS below .830, and had three double-digit home run seasons. The Brewers got to see much of the damage he caused firsthand.

And that is largely why Winker still deserves a little bit of patience. Five out of his six seasons prior to arriving in Milwaukee were very productive, which is why the Brewers saw him as a prime bounceback candidate.

Winker has also gone through a bout of bronchitis as well as an IL stint for yet another neck issue, making it tough to get going this season. But he's 29 and in his prime, has a productive history, and has plenty of the season left to go. Plus, he's making enough money to the point that he isn't going anywhere anyway. So let's be patient.