Continuing my 30 clubs in 30 days series, it’s time for the Milwaukee Brewers, who just made a big splash by signing free agent second baseman Kolten Wong. This is probably their biggest acquisition of the offseason thus far. The Brewers and the entire National Central had been fairly quiet up until the last few days when the Cardinals traded for Nolan Arenado and now the Brew Crew have signed former Cardinal Kolten Wong. However, there have been some other signings which include some familiar names.

We’ll get into those names shortly, but starting with Wong, the Brewers have snagged an elite fielding second baseman from one of their division rivals and this is a big deal, because Cardinals fans were still hoping that Wong would re-sign with St. Louis. Wong has reportedly signed a two year deal worth around $18 million with a third year option worth another $8 million. It was unlikely he would return to the Cardinals after they turned down his $12.5 million option for 2021 in order to free up money that probably helped them to sign Arenado.

Wong won consecutive Gold Gloves – one in 2019 and then another last season – and had a .350 on base percentage in 2020 with just 30 strikeouts in 181 at bats. Over the course of a full 162 game season in 2019, he had a WAR of 5.2, demonstrating his ability to be a difference maker as compared to an average second baseman. Now the Brewers will likely be shifting Keston Hirua over to the first base, keeping Hirua’s bat in the lineup and upgrading defensively at second base.

Additions

Kolten Wong 2B
Luke Maile C
Zach Green 1B (Minor League Deal)
Daniel Robertson 2B
Jace Peterson 2B (Re-signed/Minor League Deal)
Tim Lopes 2B
Pablo Reyes 3B (Minor League Deal)
Hoby Milner P (Minor League Deal)
Blaine Hardy P (Minor League Deal)
Luis Perdomo P (Minor League Deal)
Dustin Peterson OF (Minor League Deal)

Other than Wong, most of the moves the Brewers have made so far this offseason have been relatively minor. Nevertheless, a few names you might recognize, especially if you’re a Giants fan, are Daniel Robertson and Zach Green. I was a huge Zach Green fan when he was in the Giants organization, especially after he crushed 25 home runs in just 252 at bats in Triple A in 2019. He also had a .380 on base percentage and I never understood why the Giants didn’t give him a more extended opportunity at the big-league level. He will probably start the season with Nashville but if he hits like he did in Sacramento, the Brewers will definitely take notice.

Daniel Robertson, the former Rays prospect who played for the Giants last year, was signed to a big league deal worth $900,000 and will be a versatile backup for Milwaukee. He has good on-base ability, strong defense and puts the ball in play. Last year, Robertson hit .333 two RBIs in 17 games while making appearances at shortstop, second base, third base and the outfield. The Brew-Crew also claimed Tim Lopes off waivers from Seattle and he can also provide some infield depth. Luke Maile was signed to a major league deal as a good defensive backup catcher, but it is an interesting move because the Brewers already have about 80 catchers including Omar Narvaez, Manny Pina, Jacob Nottingham and maybe couple others and some catching prospects on the way, so obviously they’re thinking you can never have enough catchers. The last name that might jump out on your on this list is Luis Perdmo, the long-time promising San Diego Padres prospect. Unfortunately, he recently had Tommy John and won’t be a major factor for 2021, but it is an interesting move as Perdomo started to show great improvement after moving to the bullpen for the Pads.

Lineup

1. Lorenzo Cain CF

2. Kolten Wong 2B

3. Christian Yelich LF

4. Keston Hirua 1B

5. Avisail Garcia RF

6. Orlando Arcia SS

7. Omar Narvaez C

8. Luis Urias 3B

5e4f02ce0808b.image.jpg — Avisail Garcia

Here is a look at a possible starting lineup for the Brewers in 2021. Daniel Vogebach could also be in there as a DH if the DH ends up being instituted in the National League for 2021, which doesn’t look likely right now but who knows. If Wong doesn’t take over the leadoff spot, the incumbent leadoff man is 2019 Gold Glover, Lorenzo Cain, who opted out of the majority of 2020. The veteran will be turning 35 soon but in his most recent full season, he took a big step back offensively with the lowest batting average of his career and unimpressive advanced stats as well. His defense will still likely be solid, but the Brewers will need Cain to show he can still produce with the bat. I’m a huge Cain fan eversince his days with the Royals, but I wouldn’t bet on him having some kind of monster year at this point in his career.

Kolten Wong will be at second base and I do expect a great season from him defensively and offensively. This is a great signing for the Brewers. In left-field looking for a bounce-back season will be Christian Yelich, and I fully expect it will happen. After a miserable slump to start the season, he was showing improvement and looked to be slipping out of his slump just as the 2020 season wrapped up. Also, if you examine his advanced stats, he was hitting the ball just as hard as he always had. His exit velocity and hard hit percentage were elite. I predict a big bounce back year for Yelich where he’ll smash 38 home runs and hit at least .300.

Keston Hirua is another guy who struggled mightily in 2020 and will need to show big improvement in ’21. In 2019 he showed what he could do, hitting over .300 and crushing 19 bombs. Unlike Yelich, some of his advanced stats did show some regression in 2020. I honestly have no idea what to expect from him in 2021, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt after the weirdest year in the history of the universe. He’s only 24 years old and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a nice year from him, topping 20 home runs and hitting at least .270.

The same story goes for Avisail Garcia, who hit at least 18 home runs for 3 straight seasons and then in 2020 managed just 2 in 2017 at bats with a .238 average. He hit .282 over a full season in 2019 with Tampa Bay and owns a career line of .271/.324/.422. Expect him to hit a lot more moonshots and produce much better in 2021 while providing adequate defense in the outfield. The Brewers avoided arbitration with Orlando Arcia for 2021 after he had a nice 2020, playing in all but one game and driving in 20 runs with a .317 on-base during the shortened season. As far as catcher, as I said, they have a ton of them but none are exactly elite. Narvaez hit a pathetic .176 in 2020. Manny Pina is the other main option but he hasn’t been much better for a long time, so the Brewers are definitely not super-strong at catcher, at least as far as I can tell. Lastly, at third, Luis Urias is still their best option even though he had major issues in 2020 including getting Covid-19, breaking his hand, and just generally not playing very well. Daniel Robertson, Tim Lopes and Mark Mathias will also get a shot to spend some time at third base and other infield positions as well if necessary.

Unfortunately, even with Kolten Wong and assuming Yelich and Hiura will be back to their normal selves, I don’t think this lineup is as strong as some of the other lineups in the Central such as the Cardinals, who I just previewed a couple days ago. Nevertheless, it’s not a terrible lineup. There is good power in the middle with Yelich, Hiura and Garcia and the addition of Wong as a guy who rarely strikes out is huge. Still, the lineup seems to kind of fade off too soon. Unless guys like Arcia, Urias and whoever is behind the plate really step it up with the bat, I don’t see this lineup being overly dangerous. It’s not the worst lineup, but it’s certainly not the best and I’m going to give it a C+.

Rotation

1. Brandon Woodruff

2. Corbin Burnes

3. Adrian Houser

4. Josh Lindblom

5. Eric Lauer

At first glance, The Brewers rotation looks impressive - at least at the top. #1 and #2 are home-grown talents that both have a chance to be 2021 All Stars. Brandon Woodruff followed up his 11-3 2019 campaign with a great 2020, striking out 93 in 73 and lowering his ERA to 3.05. Corbin Burnes was a legitimate Cy Young Candidate and ended up striking out a ridiculous 88 hitters in just 59.2 innings of work. He had an ERA of 2.11 and was one of the major reasons the Brewers made the playoffs in 2020.

Unfortunately, after that, the other three had disappointing seasons last year. Houser is also a home-grown talent and the most likely to bounce back due to his great stuff he has shown when he’s on. He started the year looking dominant before falling apart and getting moved to the bullpen. I think the Brewers believe in Houser and will give him another shot in 2021 and I think he’ll be much better. If not, there could be big problems in the rotation because after that, Josh Lindbloom and Eric Lauer follow and neither impressed much in 2020. Lindbloom was awesome in South Korea but hasn’t shown the same ability in the Big-Leagues while Eric Lauer had an impressive – in a bad way – ERA of 13.09. Hopefully by Opening Day the Brewers will have signed another starter like Rich Hill or something, because as of now, the rotation is pretty shaky. Nevertheless, because of the dominance of Woodruff and Burns at the top and the potential of Houser and my belief that he’s going to have a nice 2021, I’m going to give this rotation a B-.

Bullpen

Josh Hader

Devin Williams

Brent Suter

Freddy Peralta

Eric Yardley

Drew Rasmussen

Justin Topa

Ray Black

J.P. Feyereisen

Bobby Wahl

Phil Bickford

Angel Perdomo

The bullpen may actually be their strongest area with Josh Hader and Rookie of The Year Devin Williams both ready to come in and shut teams down. Hader continued to send guys back to the bench in 2020, striking out 31 in 19 while Devin Williams turned the big-leagues in MLB The Show by striking out 53 in 27 with a 0.33 ERA. While it’s understandable he won’t be able to keep up that type of production over a full season in 2021, the Brewers may have found an absolute superstar here in Devin Williams. Other than those two, former Giant Ray Black can touch 100+ and has a great potential, Brent Suter has been awesome out of the bullpen and as an occasional starter with his kind of weird delivery that makes the ball hard to pick up and amazingly they still have Phil Bickford, who Giants fans will remember as our first round draft pick back in the day. Other than that, there are plenty of decent arms to choose from and I actually like this bullpen. I’m going give the Brewers’ pen a B+.

Conclusion

My final analysis on the Brewers is that so much depends on certain guys who basically sucked in 2020 and need to bounce back in 2021. This list includes Christian Yelich, Keston Hiuria, Luis Urias, Omar Narvaez and the last three guys in that rotation, especially Houser. I believe most of them will be better in 2021 although I’m a little concerned about Lorenzo Cain due to his age, but maybe he’ll feel fresh after only playing in 5 games in 2020. Still, this team will need to make a few more moves before Opening Day to be a serious contender in 2020 in my opinion. I’m going to this Milwaukee Brewers as of right now – February 4th, 2021 – a B- as an entire team.