Brewers: 5 Players Who Didn't Work Out In 2023

The Milwaukee Brewers roster in the final days of August looks drastically different than how it did at the end of spring training. Some of this was by design as Matt Arnold knew prospects like Joey Wiemer, Sal Frelick, and Abner Uribe were close to being MLB ready, but others just flat out did not work out.

Here we will take a look at five of those new additions who didn't pan out.

Five new Milwaukee Brewers players who did not work out during the 2023 season.

1. RHP Javy Guerra

There was a lot to like about 27 year old Javy Guerra. Milwaukee traded for the flamethrower last November after the Tampa Bay Rays designated him for assignment. He had a good showing for Team Panama in the 2023 WBC, but unfortunately command was his biggest downfall. With the Brewers he threw 8.1 innings, walked nine batters, and surrendered eight earned runs. Since then he has rejoined the Rays organization and has remained their despite being DFA'd a few times and going unclaimed.

2. RHP Gus Varland

Gus "Bus" Varland was a long shot to remain a Brewer this year given the fact that he was selected by Milwaukee in the Rule 5 Draft. He struggled early on, took a comebacker off the hand courtesy of Manny Machado, and was eventually DFA'd and returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was called back up to the big leagues when the Brewers and Dodgers played and he ended up striking out Christian Yelich. Currently he is still on their big league roster and has given up one earned run over four outings.

3. 1B/DH Luke Voit

Luke Voit easily had the best camp out of anyone and after initially signing on a minor league contract he eventually was given a big league deal. Unfortunately he got cold once the regular season started, his reverse splits did not make for an ideal platoon situation, and he has since signed a minor league deal with the Mets after being DFA'd. In the minor leagues he did make the headlines after a streak of hitting a home run in six consecutive games.

4. OF Raimel Tapia

In June the Brewers signed Raimel Tapia to a big league deal. His signing came a few days after being DFA'd by the Boston Red Sox and came after both Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell had surgery. Frelick has since returned and after he made his MLB debut it made made keeping a veteran like Tapia around difficult to justify, especially when he was struggling to the tune of a .173/.267/.288 slash line.

5. 1B/OF/DH Darin Ruf

After the failed Luke Voit experiment the Brewers brought in Darin Ruf to bolster their lineup when facing left-handed pitchers. Initially it seemed like Ruf would be able to carve out a role either at first base or designated hitter but in his 11th game he fractured his knee cap after running into the tarp after a fly ball in Great American Ball Park. He is currently on the 60-day IL and with the Brewers, but unfortunately that signing did not go the way anybody anticipated.

It takes a lot of players to field a professional baseball team over the course of a 162 game season and the Milwaukee Brewers have realized that over the past few years. Thankfully the players they have now are the ones who will give them the best shot at winning the division and making a playoff run.