Shortstop Jose Hernandez, who was just the third free agent signed by the Brewers to ever appear in the All-Star Game.
Since “opening day” here on the Brew Crew Confidential blog happens to coincide with the opening of the Major League free agent season, I thought it might be fun to go back and rank the greatest Brewers free agent signings of all-time. Turns out I was wrong: it was totally depressing.
For purposes here, I am defining a “free agent signing” as a player the Brewers signed to a Major League deal away from another team who had not been released (sorry, Kevin Seitzer), waived (sorry Scott Podsednik), or come out of retirement (sorry, Jim Edmonds). Using the transactions log from baseballreference.com, I was able to find 52 such players. Before we get to the rankings, a few thoughts on this group:
The Brewers, historically, are NOT GOOD at finding value via free agency. This was the depressing part. Using Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement (bWAR), only five of the 52 averaged production equal to that of a starting player (a bWAR of 2 per season or higher) throughout their contracts. Meanwhile, 14 provided a negative bWAR during their time with the Brewers, including Jeff Suppan ($40m/4 years), Jeffery Hammonds ($22.2m/3 years), and Matt Garza (a still active $55m/4 years).
The Brewers kept it in the family through the 1980s. Between signing Jim Slaton in 1979 and Dave Parker in 1990, Roy Howell was the only free agent the Brewers signed, the team adding him before the 1981 season. In fact, Parker was only the fourth free agent the Brewers had ever signed. However, during the same period, the Brewers managed to hold on to players like Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Ted Simmons, Cecil Cooper, and Rollie Fingers, all of whom became free agents in the ’80s, but resigned with Milwaukee . Part of this had to do with collusion on the part of MLB team owners, who essentially attempted to hold down player salaries by refusing to make competitive bids for free agents. Between 1985 and 1987, the Brewers – and almost every other MLB team – made no serious offers to free agent players.
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Big money has almost never worked. The ten richest free agent deals the Brewers have given out have produced more players with a sub-zero bWAR (3) than All Star appearances (2, Aramis Ramirez and Trevor Hoffman). These ten deals – paying out more than $227 million – have yielded an average of just under 1 bWAR per year. That is roughly the production that can be expected from a backup position player.
Anyway, on to the top ten list. I’ve based this on the size of the contract, the production the player provided, and (to a lesser extent) if he was able to contribute to winning teams.
“The Corba” takes a hack on his 1991 Score card.
10. Dave Parker, signed before 1990 season, $3m over 3 years.
The Brewers wanted a big bat and got one in Parker, the only former MVP to ever sign with Milwaukee . Parker gave the Brewers his last productive year, batting .289 with 21 homers in 1990. He was named to the All Star team, awarded the Silver Slugger and received MVP votes. He was traded before the 1991 season to the California Angels for Dante Bichette, who would go on to become a star after the Brewers traded him to Colorado.
Jim Slaton spent 12 years with the Brewers with one-year stop in Detroit in the middle.
9. Jim Slaton, 1979, $1.24m/5 years.
Slaton debuted with the Brewers in 1971 and was the franchise leaders in nearly every pitching category by 1977, when he demanded a trade and was sent to Detroit for Ben Oglivie. He became a free agent after the 1978 season and returned to Milwaukee for the richest contract the team had ever given to a pitcher. Slaton was versatile, but unremarkable during his second run with the team. He pitched well in the postseason in both 1981 and 1982.
8. Scott Fletcher, 1992 season, $300,000/ 1 year.
A little-heralded move at the time, Fletcher proved to be a valuable part of a team that won 92 games. He hit .275, hardly ever struck out, and was a plus defender at 2B, SS, and 3B. He was good enough for a 3.3 bWAR – one of the best seasons ever (yeesh) by a Brewers free agent. He moved on to Boston the next year, taking a healthy raise that the budget-minded Brewers could not afford.
The $11.5 million dollar deal the Brewers signed with McDonald was the largest free agent contract the team handed out until the Jeffery Hammonds signing in 2001.
7. Ben McDonald, 1996, $11.5m/3 years.
Big Ben was a very effective pitcher for the year and half he was healthy in Milwaukee . In 1996, he anchored the rotation while the team finished 80-82, their best season between 1993 and 2004. His 133 ERA+ that year was 8th best in the AL . He slipped a bit the next season, but was still an above-average pitcher before a shoulder injury ended his season. He was traded to Cleveland that off-season, but was returned to the Brewers when it was learned his shoulder had not properly healed. He never pitched again.
6. Aramis Ramirez, 2012, $46m/4 years.
One of the highest-profile Brewers signings ever, AmRam hit when he was healthy, but injuries held him back from ever really living up to the money. He was a force in 2012, batting .300 with 27 homers and 50 doubles on a team that flirted with a wild card spot. He lost half of the next season to injuries, but rebounded in 2014, earning a starting spot on the All Star team. Unfortunately, his 2015 was dreadful. He was sent to Pittsburgh at the trading deadline and retired after the season. Ultimately, he was one of the top third basemen of his era and there will likely be a good debate about his Hall of Fame candidacy in five years.
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5. Jose Hernandez, 2000, $10m/3 years.
Remembered mostly for striking out sixty thousand times a season, Hernandez was actually a pretty solid shortstop at a reasonable price during three of the Brewers’ black hole years of the early 2000s. He had a couple of 20+ homer seasons and his 2002 was probably the best season by a Brewers shortstop since Robin Yount. That year, he made the All Star team and hit .288 with a .478 slugging percentage. He was also pretty slick in the field, building up 3.4 defensive wins above replacement per bWAR.
Larry Hisle slugged his way to the All Star team and a Bazooka Gum comic during his first year with the Brewers.
4. Larry Hisle, 1978, $3.12m/6 years.
From the onset of the modern free agent era in 1976 through the players’ strike in 1981, teams actually had to “draft” free agents in order to negotiate with them. A player could be drafted by as many as 12 teams, and teams were limited in the number of players they could negotiate with. Hisle was one of the premier free agents of that year’s class and his deal with Milwaukee was one of the biggest surprises of the off-season. And for one glorious season, Hisle was worth all the cash and hype. Leading a Brewers team that won 93 games – 17 more than any other team in Brewers history – Hisle batted .290 with 34 homers. He finished 2nd in the league in slugging, 3rd in RBI, and 2nd in home runs. For this, he was rewarded with a spot on the All Star team and enough MVP votes to place 3rd in the AL. Unfortunately, 1978 would also be the last healthy season of his career. He played in only 79 games over the next four years before retiring.
Willie Randolph rips one during his only Spring Training with the Brewers, depicted here on his 1991 Upper Deck card.
3. Willie Randolph, 1991, $500,000/1 year.
Long-removed from his days as a main cog in the great New York Yankees clubs of the late 1970s, Willie Randolph was brought into training camp in 1991 mostly as a way to put pressure on Jim Gantner to accept a lower contract offer. Randolph played sparingly in the first part of the season, but took over at second base when Gantner was moved to third to fill in for the injured Gary Sheffield. The result was one of the best seasons of Randolph ’s career. He finished 3rd in the league in hitting with a .327 average and 2nd in on base percentage with a .424 mark. Milwaukee ’s paltry $500,000 investment yielded them one of that season’s best hitters. Over the final two months of the season, Randolph was a catalyst on baseball’s hottest team as the Brewers went 40-19 and finished just eight games out of first place.
The first-ever free agent signed by the Brewers, Sal Bando got the infamous Topps airbrush treatment on his 1977 card.
2. Sal Bando, 1977, $1.4m/5 years.
The first free agent ever signed by the Brewers, Bando provided a 9.4 bWAR over his five seasons in Milwaukee , easily the highest ever by a free agent. He had been a star in Oakland , where he won three World Series rings, and certainly helped to develop the young players that came up in the late 1970s to form the core of one of the AL ’s best teams. He was a big part of the 1978 team, batting .285 with 17 homers, but fell off pretty quickly afterward. His last season, 1981, saw the Brewers first post-season appearance.
It’s a tough world out there as a small market club. And when it comes to free agents in Milwaukee, it doesn’t get any better than Cam.
1. Mike Cameron, 2008, $16.25m/2 years.
Yep, Mike Cameron is the greatest Brewers free agent signing of all-time-forever. Why? Well, he was an above-average hitter who got on base and hit for power. He played a premium defensive position (CF) and played it, by most measures, very well. He had a big role on a playoff team in 2008, even leading off for a good part of the season for some reason. He was never a payroll burden and was actually pretty reasonably priced. In short, he was everything you would expect from a free agent signing. Ranking Cam on the top of this list is pretty indicative of just how tricky it is to find value in the free agent market, especially for a small-market club. So, as the Brewers appear to be taking it easy on the market this off-season, rest assured that it is probably for the best.
Next week on BCC: I have some real fun and look at the ten worst free agent signings ever. Can I resist the urge to plug Jeff Suppan into all ten slots? Check back and find out!
