Milwaukee Brewers 2016 Season Review
The Milwaukee Brewers finished the season with a 73-89 record, avoiding 90 losses, but still finishing 30.5 games out of first place.
The Good Stuff
Jonathan Villar – The Brewers acquired Villar in the offseason, assuming he would help to push uber-prospect Orlando Arcia and perhaps allow the team to give Arcia time in the minors if needed. Instead, Villar was fantasy baseball’s MVP on the season, earning more than any player in fantasy this year as he hit .285/.369/.457 with 60 extra base hits and 62 stolen bases, the latter number leading the entire league. Villar did struggle some once Arcia came up late in the season and the Brewers moved him to third base, but he’s got the range and arm to handle third base just fine with an offseason to prepare for the move. Villar also struck out 174 times. That will need to clear up going forward, but there are certainly great things to build on.
Unheralded Power/Speed Combos – The Brewers struggled to find guys at various spots around the diamond due to injury or poor performance, but a couple of the guys who emerged by season’s end in the outfield added to a trend around the team of having solid power/speed numbers. We’ve already discussed Villar and his major-league leading stolen bases along with solid power, but the Brewers also got two other prominent power/speed combinations in their lineup that no one would have predicted in March of last year.
Hernan Perez has been a utility man that has bounced from Detroit to Milwaukee. He had one career home run and 6 steals in 350 plate appearances before 2016. Then with the Brewers this season, he hit 13 home runs and stole 34 bases while hitting .272/.302/.428.
Alongside Perez in the outfield, Keon Broxton was a guy picked up in the offseason by Milwaukee who made a big impression. He started the season as the opening day center fielder, but after six games without a hit, Broxton was sent down to AAA until late May and then came back and struggled again, being sent down again in early July with a .125 batting average.
When Broxton came up in late July, he caught fire, and he simply was one of the best guys to own in fantasy baseball for the rest of the season. That final stretch was a slash line of .294/.399/.538 with 8 home runs and 16 steals over 46 games. His final line was .242/.354/.430 with 9 home runs and 23 steals on the year.
Junior Guerra – When plotting out how their rotation would shake out, I highly doubt that the Brewers were thinking that their best starting pitcher was going to be a 31 year-old rookie without electric stuff. Guerra went 9-3 over 20 starts and 121 2/3 innings with a 2.81 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, posting a 43/100 BB/K ratio. Guerra’s sinker/slider combo was working all season long, and he did a great job of suppressing hits. With better defense behind him, he very well could have done even better. Where he fits going forward and how much to believe in this production is yet to be determined, but it was a fun year to enjoy.
Bullpen – Coming into the season, many considered the bullpen to be one of the Brewers weak points on their team with an unsure closer situation and minimal experience in other parts of the bullpen. Jeremy Jeffress established himself as closer before he was traded away to Texas with Jonathan Lucroy and then Tyler Thornburg continued the excellent season he was having by taking over the closer role.
In middle relief, coming into the year, about the only definite spot in the bullpen was lefty Will Smith. He actually was more of a middling performer for the team once he lost the closer job in spring training, pitching to a 3.68 ERA in 27 games before he was traded to the Giants in midseason. However, Carlos Torres, who had been released by the Mets and the Braves from early February until the end of spring training, caught on with the Brewers and was a vital piece of the ‘pen, throwing 72 games with a 2.73 ERA.
The interesting part were the guys who came up and pitched well for significant stretches as older rookies or guys without much major league experience. Jhan Marinez, 28, had thrown 5 1/3 total innings in his major league career before 2016, yet after the Brewers purchased him from the Rays in May, he pitched in 43 games with a 3.22 ERA. Tyler Cravy, 27, made his debut as a long man in 2015, but focused more on straight relieving this year and had a 2.86 ERA over 20 appearances. Jacob Barnes, 26, made his major league debut and posted a 2.70 ERA over 27 games. Rob Scahill, 29, had been a journeyman that the Brewers grabbed off waivers from the Pirates and then posted a 2.45 ERA over 16 appearances for the team.
Next: The Bad