The Milwaukee Brewers finished the 2016 season with a record of 73-89, taking their first steps in their rebuild. What do they need to do next?
Roster/Financial Decisions
The Brewers have a number of important parts of their 2016 team that are eligible for arbitration. The team has eight players eligible for salary arbitration: Chase Anderson, Chris Carter, Scooter Gennett, Martin Maldonado, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Wily Peralta, Tyler Thornburg, Carlos Torres.
That is a list that includes two members of the Opening Day starting rotation, the eventual closer, the starting first baseman, the starting second baseman, the catcher who was starting to finish the season, the center fielder who played the most innings at the position on the season, and the guy who threw the most relief innings on the Brewers roster. All important pieces.
Then you look at the free agent list and see two fairly important Brewers from the 2016 team, relievers Chris Capuano and Blaine Boyer. Capuano had an elbow injury and likely won’t be back, but Boyer did make 61 appearances in the Milwaukee bullpen.
As the 2017 team comes to fruition, the Brewers have a very loaded farm system that has arms knocking on the door of the major leagues. That could impact their decisions on guys like Peralta and Anderson. It could also impact decisions on bullpen arms if they plan on moving any of the arms to the bullpen for impact reasons.
It seems to make sense to sign Anderson, Carter, Gennett, Maldonado, and Thornburg. Nieuwenhuis and Peralta could end up being non-tendered due to poor performance, and Torres could end up costing more than what the Brewers are willing to pay. Once those decisions are made, the Brewers can attack their offsesaon, but that’s the first thing that needs to be determined.
Next: Catcher