Milwaukee Brewers Free Agent Target: OF/1B Wil Myers

At this point in the offseason, the Milwaukee Brewers have relatively few unsettled positions on offense. Whether there is one primary starter or a multi-player platoon, most positions have some semblance of a plan.

One exception is in right field. Hunter Renfroe manned that position in 2022 before being traded to the Angels this offseason. Though the Brewers have some internal options there, they could choose to go external to fill the position instead.

Unlike some other positions, the right field free agent market isn't particularly deep this offseason. But that doesn't mean that there aren't still some options that could not only provide a bit more of a veteran presence in right, but give some depth else where too while also addressing a key deficiency in the lineup.

Here we will take a look at a possible free agent target for the Milwaukee Brewers in outfielder/first baseman Wil Myers.

Wil Myers enters the 2023 season looking to reach the big personal milestone of 10 years of MLB service time. He broke through to the bigs way back in 2013 when he also won the AL Rookie of the Year award as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Myers spent two years with Tampa before being sent to the San Diego Padres as part of a huge three-team trade. That is where he would end up calling home for his next eight Major League seasons.

His second season with the Padres in 2016 would see him make the first and only All-Star game of his career. As a result, Myers would end up signing a huge six-year extension that following offseason. Now, he finds himself in free agency for the first time in his career.

Myers has a solid, though not spectacular, .254/.329/.442 slash line (.771 OPS) in 1063 career games. That comes with 208 doubles, 153 homers, and 521 runs batted in, as well as 522 runs scored of his own.

Though he hit a little above his career average in 2022 (.261) he had the second lowest slugging percentage (.398) and OPS (.713) of his career. Still, Myers put up an above average OPS+ last year (108), something he has done in eight of his ten MLB seasons.

So at the very least, with Myers, you should get relatively decent offensive production at minimum. You will also get positional versatility. Though the Brewers could use him in right, Myers can play any outfield position when needed. He has also played a good amount of first base, somewhere a player one of his particular talents could come in handy.

That talent is the ability to hit lefties, an area where the Brewers have struggled in recent years. Myers has an .804 OPS versus left-handed pitchers for his career, and he hasn't slowed down in that department recently (.815 in 2022).

If Myers were to get any run at first base, he could present himself as a more effective right-handed platoon mate there than last year's version, Keston Hiura. Perhaps then the Brewers would consider divorcing themselves from the former 2017 first rounder.

Like any player, Myers comes with his red flags. For one, he has a career 27% strikeout rate and was at 30.1% in 2022, the second highest rate of his career. That wouldn't help a Brewers team that struggles in that area (their 23.9% rate last season was tied for 7th highest in MLB).

There are also injury concerns. Myers played just 77 games last season, missing a good chunk of the middle of the season due to a right knee injury. He played most of the three seasons prior to that but was limited in 2018 because of an oblique injury, resulting in just 83 games played that year.

Myers was originally set to make $20MM this season but was bought out of his contract by the Padres for $1MM. He wouldn't cost nearly that original price, especially after a down year and having just turned 32. He has decent pedigree, though, and free agent contracts have been pricey this offseason.

But if the Brewers actually want to look externally to bolster the outfield, Myers could be worth the price. With that move, you could consider one more position on the field settled (and consider others even deeper than before).