Offseason's First Big Moves Create Opportunities for Brewers

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Photo Via Juan Soto - Instagram

Juan Soto

Juan Soto

The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t been involved in any of the biggest moves of the MLB offseason to date, but it’s possible some of the top headlines of the last week could generate opportunities for the Brewers to take advantage of.

First, the Yankees made the biggest splash of the winter meetings when they acquired outfielder Juan Soto from the Padres in a seven-player trade. Offensively Soto is a generational talent: He only recently turned 25 years old, but he’s already played in nearly 800 MLB games and batted .284 with a .421 on-base and .524 slugging. His value comes almost exclusively at the plate, however: He’s a below-average baserunner and over the last two years he’s been an extremely poor defender.

Soto, former American League MVP Aaron Judge and recent addition Alex Verdugo combine to give the Yankees a projected starting outfield that could be a juggernaut offensively, but when that trio plays the field together it’s unlikely to be pretty. Verdugo has graded out as a below average defender in two of the last three seasons and Judge is miscast as a center fielder, a position he only played a handful of times in 2023.

The Yankees also acquired former Brewer and two-time Gold Glove winning center fielder Trent Grisham in the Soto deal, but his offensive numbers make it a difficult proposition to play him regularly. Grisham has played in over 300 games across the last two seasons but batted just .191 with a .300 on-base and .347

slugging over that time. His defensive value has been enough to make him a net positive in San Diego, but it comes at a cost on offense.

Surplus of Outfielders

The Brewers, meanwhile, have a surplus of young outfielders that could fill the Yankees needs. As things stand right now they only have at most three outfield spots and a DH role to give to Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer and the newly-extended Jackson Chourio, and the fact that Yelich, Frelick and Mitchell all bat lefty creates an additional lineup challenge. If the Yankees are looking for another candidate to upgrade their outfield defense, the Brewers have pieces that could be available.

The Soto deal wasn’t baseball’s top headline for long, however, because over the weekend the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a ten-year contract. The only two-time unanimous MVP selection in MLB history, Ohtani will be a designated hitter for the Dodgers this season while recovering from elbow surgery in September and is expected to return to two-way action as a pitcher and designated hitter in 2025.

Ohtani’s move west means the Dodgers likely have most of their at bats at designated hitter tied up for the foreseeable future, and Freddie Freeman seems likely to play nearly every day at first base through the end of his contract in 2027. That leaves them in an odd spot with infielder Max Muncy, who would likely be best served by playing in one of those two spots.

Muncy’s offensive production has dipped a bit since he received MVP votes and was an All Star in 2021, but he’s still averaged 38 home runs per 162 games played over the last five years. The struggles he’s experienced over the last couple of years largely coincide with a position change: He spent more time at third and second base over the last two years, and it hasn’t gone well. The Dodgers, for their part, are committed to him. Instead of exercising their club option for him for 2024, they signed him to a two-year contract extension in November.

While Muncy would need to be shoehorned into the Dodgers’ defensive alignment, he’d fill an obvious need for the Brewers. There’s no clear candidate in the organization right now to play first base since Carlos Santana became a free agent and Rowdy Tellez was not offered a contract for 2024. Even at 33 years old and coming off a pair of weaker offensive seasons, Muncy would be a clear upgrade in Milwaukee.

The Brewers weren’t expected to trade for Juan Soto or sign Shohei Ohtani this offseason, and they likely won’t be involved in many of the highest-profile acquisitions that take place over the rest of the winter, either. The fallout from those moves, however, might make some players available that give them an opportunity to get better anyway.