Photo by Tyler R. Klein
Bernie Mowing the Infield
Bernie Brewers mows the infield at American Family Field.
The Milwaukee Brewers have reached the postseason in six of the last seven seasons, including four seasons where they won the National League Central. Somehow, they’ve been able to maintain that extended run of success while routinely asking their front office to do more with less.
The Brewers have only been in the top half of MLB teams in Opening Day payrolls twice this century: In 2008 when they were 15th, and in 2012 when they were 13th. More recently they were 19th in 2022, when they set a franchise record in raw numbers with almost $132 million committed. They cut that figure to just under $119 million in 2023 and again to just over $104 million in 2024. It’s likely to be closer to the 2024 number than the 2022 number again in 2025.
Those payroll cuts have led to some difficult decisions and unpopular departures. Since 2022 the Brewers have traded A Cy Young Award-winning starting pitcher and two different closers who won the National League’s Reliever of the Year Award in Milwaukee. They’ve also lost a multi-time MVP candidate shortstop to free agency and seen the winningest manager in franchise history leave to manage their archrivals. Yet somehow, they’ve kept winning.
Spend Less, Win More
Photo by Tyler R. Klein
Brewers Game
A view from the stands at American Family Field.
That 2022 team that had the highest payroll in franchise history went 86-76 and missed the postseason. Since then, the Brewers have spent less and won more each year, winning 92 games in 2023 and 93 in 2024. The fact that they’ve routinely weathered the loss of stars and bounced back was enough for some national writers to excuse their relatively quiet offseason this winter.
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“The only reason I don’t include them is that they have a track record of succeeding and exceeding expectations and at this point I feel like you doubt the Brewers at your own peril until proven otherwise,” Ben Lindbergh said on the Effectively Wild podcast while excusing the Brewers from his list of this winter’s most demoralizing offseasons. “They’ve just found guys. They’ve managed to just kind of churn, let guys go and bring in replacements who were less heralded but were pretty productive, and they’ve been doing that for a while now.”
Not everyone is convinced, however. In February Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic called out Mark Attanasio for the organization’s lack of spending and the risk that eventually his front office won’t be able to patch the holes.
“Mark Attanasio keeps getting away with it,” Rosenthal said. “Yet, as Attanasio continues to clamp down on spending, his team’s margin for error keeps shrinking. And if this is the season his frugality finally costs the Brewers, he will deserve some, if not most, of the blame.”
Overcoming Challenges
For better or worse, the Brewers’ organizational personality now sits in a class with teams like the Guardians and Rays, perennial contenders with front offices that overcome budgetary limitations. It’s part of the reality for the players that remain.
“That’s part of what comes with playing here. You just know that’s how it’s going to be,” Christian Yelich told Rosenthal in that February piece. “We face different challenges every year, it seems like. We’ve (succeeded) time and time again. We’ve got to figure out how to do it one more time.”
After guiding the Brewers through the challenges they faced during the 2024 season senior vice president and general manager Matt Arnold was selected as the sport’s Executive of the Year by The Sporting News, Baseball America and Major League Baseball. To return to the postseason in 2025, however, Arnold and the magicians in the Brewers’ front office might need to pull an even bigger rabbit out of an even smaller hat.
