Reuniting with this former Brewers shortstop is a recipe for disappointment

As the Milwaukee Brewers prepare for life after Willy Adames, the club has a pretty wide range of avenues to explore in filling his vacant spot at shortstop.

As of right now, the clear-cut top internal option is slick-fielding Joey Ortiz, a shortstop by trade who was blocked by Adames after coming over in the Corbin Burnes deal last offseason. Ortiz just put up 1.2 dWAR per Baseball Reference and finished in the 96th percentile in Outs Above Average while spending the majority of his time at third base this past year.

An external option they could pursue, at least according to FOX Sports' Deesha Thosar, is trading for old friend Orlando Arcia, who just wrapped up his fourth season on the Atlanta Braves.

Brewers' suggested reunion with Orlando Arcia is not what it's chalked up to be

Followers of the Brewers know Arcia's name all too well, as the now 30-year-old spent the first six years of his big league career as their team's everyday shortstop. While playing in Milwaukee, Arcia showed ever-so-slight glimpses of promise on offense, but his top calling card was definitely his defensive play at short.

Since moving over to Atlanta, that's pretty much stayed the case for him. Arcia record a 102 OPS+ through 67 games in 2022 and rode a 99 OPS+ in 2023 to the first All-Star Game selection of his career. To be clear: he's very much a different hitter than he was while he was on the Crew, but that doesn't mean he's the answer the club is looking for.

All throughout his career, Arcia has shown off some wildly impressive range at arguably the hardest defensive position in baseball. This past season, he finished in the 87th percentile in OAA while also outperforming Ortiz in the Arm Strength category by 15 percentile rankings. The problem is Arcia's bat has been extremely inconsistent including a pretty dreadful .625 OPS in 602 plate appearances in 2024 with the Braves.

Choosing to go the reunion route would feel too cheap for the Brewers, especially if it's for a player of Arcia's caliber. He's got some tools to bank on, but he's hardly the replacement the Crew is seeking at the position. The best bet would be to slot Ortiz in at shortstop and try to entice one of the many power-hitting third basemen on both the free-agent and trade markets.

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