Brewers Offseason Grade

[wibadgers23]

With Opening Day just a couple of days away, it’s probably safe to assume the offseason is all but done. What grade would you give Stearns and his team? The lockout obviously didn’t help, but it was a relatively quite offseason for the Brewers. The two “big” additions were Renfroe and McCutchen. The Renfroe addition was basically a lateral move as we lost Avi Garcia and the McCutchen signing was just meh. It was another offseason where we didn’t address 1B or 3B - we’ll see how Urias and Rowdy does. The bullpen additions were ok - not anything exciting but I wasn’t expecting much there anyway. Overall, was really hoping for a big time bat but didn’t get it so I’ll go with a C- for a grade.

[MVP2110]

I'll give it a B. It was fine and about what I expected. I can see the 1b argument but I am excited to see Urias continue to grow. He had 23 HR and a .345 obp last year and I'd like to see if he can continue to improve. Overall this offseason was fine

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'll give them a C+. They held steady on a 95-win team but did very little to push the team forward when it needed just another bat or two to be pretty elite.

[StearnsFTW]

I'd go C+/B-.  I was fairly underwhelmed.  I imagine there will be additions during the season though.

 

Also not sure why we'd need to address 3B.  We already have a very good young 3B.  1B, I agree that we need some help there.

[brewers888]

The offseason to me deserves an F. The lineup needed a big upgrade and we flat out did not get it. A smaller move that I dislike was bringing back Boxberger over Hunter Strickland.

I think this lineup is way short of championship level and don't see the team addressing it in any meaningful way during the season. If anything expect an Escobar type of trade at the deadline which is not nearly enough. Castellanos would have been a perfect acquisition but we went the cheap route with McCutchen which won't help this team at all.

Other than Adames who has had a brutal spring and hopefully Urias I don't see much upside in this lineup. Yelich and Hiura must both come through but its difficult to expect it to happen.

[monty57]

I think they did fine. According to Cots, their opening day payroll will be $129.3M (with Houser still pending an arby hearing). That is the highest opening day payroll in team history, surpassing 2019's $122.5 mark.

Stearns worked magic by not only getting out of Bradley's contract, but adding the "lateral move" to land Garcia's replacement in Hunter Renfroe. This move not only replaced Garcia's production in the offense, but also gave the team some payroll relief that allowed them to sign McCutchen to a one-year deal that will not hamper them next year when payroll will be even tighter.

We had a 95-win team last year and it doesn't look like we've taken any steps back. Management knew that the arby increases would make payroll tight, and they were still able to replace their biggest loss (Garcia) and improve in their biggest weakness (hitting vs LHP). 

They are the odds-on favorite to win their division, and MLB.com recently placed them #4 on their pre-season Power Rankings. Not bad for a team that lost one of their best offensive contributors to free agency and had no money to spend going into the offseason.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

B. They didn't cave into the idea of trading Hader or any of their starting pitching depth in an attempt to grab another bat. This team is going to be driven by solid pitching. It is a playoff team. Whether they are a World Series contender depends on if Yelich can stay healthy and find something resembling his 2018-19 self, and whether Hiura has figured anything out. I expect Wong to be fine, Adames to be an All Star and Urias to continue his upward trajectory. Renfroe will hit 30 bombs, but his slumps will be frustrating. If Cain can stay healthy, he should be fine. If he can't, Taylor is a solid breakout candidate.  McCutchen's energy and leadership will be fun to watch. He can't be any worse than JBJ. I know, low bar.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, I’d give it a B.

Would have been nice to make a “bigger splash”, but it turns out having a bunch of awesome young players in Arby’s gets expensive fast & they got an Avi replacement while dumping JBJs contract & appear to be setting an OD payroll record, so kind of hard to complain unless you thought they were going to push payroll to like 150 million or something.

[Ewitkows1]

D, This is their window and they did nothing to improve on it. 

[StearnsFTW]

I would've been very open to trading prospects for a bat. 

Now, obviously, I have no idea what was on the table so I'm not really mad about it.  And I think that possibility is still strong until the trade deadline.

I trust the guy in charge 100% to do the right thing overall.