The Milwaukee Brewers are in a difficult position headed into 2016. They’re by no means competitive, but they’re not a terrible team. However, playing in the National League Central isn’t going to do them any favors.
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As the team decides whether it wants to re-tool or rebuild, it has plenty of decisions to make this spring. Milwaukee, as much as any other team in baseball, has a lot to decide before the regular season actually begins.
Key Additions: 1B Chris Carter, IF Aaron Hill, SP Chase Anderson
Key Subtractions: 1B Adam Lind, SS Jean Segura, RP Francisco Rodriguez
The Rotation: The starting staff is relatively unproven, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be productive in 2015. Matt Garza is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career; he went 6-14 with a 5.63 ERA last year. There is almost no chance he’s that bad again.
Most of the rest of the staff is inexperienced, but has a lot of upside. Wily Peralta took a step back in his age-26 season, posting a 4.72 ERA after winning 17 games and putting up a 3.53 ERA in 2014. His progression into this year could determine how competitive the Brewers can be this season.
The pairing of Jimmy Nelson and Taylor Jungmann will be really interesting to watch. Each showed promise last year in their first prolonged major league action. Nelson is a big power righty that went 11-13 with a 4.11 ERA last season and got better as the year went on. Jungmann has the higher ceiling, but has only started 21 games in his career. In those games, all of which took place last year, he went 9-8 with a 3.77 ERA.
Chase Anderson, who was acquired from the Diamondbacks last week, looks poised to claim the No. 5 starter spot, but he will face competition from Zach Davies.
The Lineup: Despite losing some talented players this offseason, the lineup should actually be slightly above average. The middle of the lineup has some serious pop, so they might be able to win some games with the long ball.
Of course, teams that depend on the long ball to win games often don’t perform consistently enough to win 85-90 games, so they’ll have to play small ball as well.
Here’s what the lineup could look like:
- 2B Scooter Gennett
- C Jonathan Lucroy
- OF Ryan Braun
- OF Khris Davis
- 1B Chris Carter
- OF Domingo Santana
- SS Jonathan Villar
- 3B Aaron Hill
There’s not a ton of depth there, but each hitter in the 3-6 spots has the potential to hit 25 home runs. If Lucroy has a bounce-back season and Hill can be productive at the bottom of the order, this team could be surprising.
The Bullpen: After trading closer Francisco Rodriguez this offseason, the Brewers could be in serious trouble. Will Smith, the projected closer, and Tyler Thornburg are both dependable relievers, but nobody else in that ‘pen is a proven option.
Milwaukee fans are going to be biting their fingernails late in games often as the bullpen tries to survive and hold leads.
Competition: Most of Milwaukee’s spring competitions will involve depth. Specifically, the fifth starter spot is up for grabs between Davies and Anderson. Each have their own upside and whoever loses the battle may end up being a long reliever and spot starter.
It’s unlikely, but if someone can emerge and play shortstop, they could overtake Villar at the position. Look for Santana to emerge in the spring and go on to a breakout year in 2016. That would provide a big boost for a Brewers team that is stuck in neutral right now.