FanPost

State of the Brewers

To start off, the Brewers have outstanding ownership and a terrific fanbase, especially for a small market team. In addition, they have what I see as a very competent GM and front office. From there, you have Ron Roenicke as manager, which I think is hard to comment on for anyone not directly involved with the team. However, from strictly a game management standpoint, Roenicke makes some questionable moves that don't always seem to work out, like taking a Reynolds/Overbay platoon when you have a young lefthanded hitter with big time power in Juan Francisco. Despite that, it still is unclear from my standpoint whether the Brewers would be better served parting ways with Roenicke.

Next, is the players roster. This is the area which I think everyone would agree needs some type of renovation. This year, my schedule gave me the privilege of allowing me to watch a large portion of Brewers games. It seemed at times, the Brewers struggled against good right handed pitching, which would explain why the Cardinals were such a thorn in the Brewers season, given their right handed heavy pitching staff(guys like Wainwright, Lynn. Miller, Neshek, etc.). Upon doing some research, the stats supported my observation to some degree. Guys like Braun, Aramis, and LuCroy are good against right handed pitching but absolutely crush left handed pitching while guys like Reynolds and Davis are fairly mediocre against right handed pitching. With that being said, it does appear that a left handed power bat would undoubtedly make the Brewers lineup more balenced and probably make it that much more consistent overall. Here is the roster with potentially open spots:

C - LuCroy

1b - ?

2b - Gennett

3b - Ramirez

ss - Segura

of - Braun

of - Gomez

of - Davis

Bench: Maldonado, Parra, Bianchi, Herrera

SP - Gallardo

SP - Lohse

SP - Garza

SP - Peralta

SP - Nelson/Estrada

CL - Broxton

SU - Jeffress

SU - Smith

MR - Kintzler

MR - Henderson

MR - Thornburg

LR - Pena/Fiers/Wooten

All in all, I think the Brewers' biggest need this offseason is a big lefty bat to complement their right handed heavy lineup. The first name that comes to mind for me is CarlosGonzalez from Colorado. CarGo offers a well above average lefty hitting outfielder that can beat you a number of ways when healthy. With that being said, even if the Brewers could get a healthy CarGo for 400 AB's, I think they should take it. (especially if you have Parra as insurance) From the Rockies perspective, they may very well be looking to trade him to possibly rebuild or free up payroll to spend elsewhere (most likely on pitching). If there is one thing the Rockies need it is established starting pitching. Although the Brewers lack prospects, I thought what if they were to trade one of their starters. The most tradeable starter on the Brewers side would most likely be Gallardo if the Brewers pick up his option. (Franchise Player for Franchise Pitcher) The contracts of both would essentially cancel each other out as well under this scenario. I could see a hypothetical trade proposal looking like this:

MIL - Gallardo, Khris Davis, and Kintzler for

COL - CarGo and Christian Friedrich

While I like both Gallardo and Davis, neither are the caliber player CarGo is. I included Friedrich as a left handed pitcher with upside who may benefit pitching away from Coors Field. He could potentially compete for a rotation spot with Gallardo's departure. From Colorado's perspective, it would fill a need while removing the longer term commitment owed to CarGo and still getting a quality offensive player in his own right in Davis and a groundball reliever in Kintzler.

Other smaller moves I would suggest are signing Matt Carp to play first base, Gordan Beckham to come off the bench, re-sign one of Zach Duke or Gorzelanny, and sign another Rockie from last year in free agent starter Brett Anderson.

Carp is a guy that seems to play better with consistent AB's and would seemingly play well in Miller Park, not to mention he's a lefty with power and can also play the outfield if needed. Furthermore, it shouldn't take much at all to acquire him.

Beckham is another guy who is versatile in the field and has always had some upside as a power hitting infielder, essentially a low risk, high reward type player who at worst crushes leftys and could platoon with Gennett at second base.

Anderson is almost a lock to get injured at some point during the year. However, when he plays, he's a legitimate ace lefty with a decent fastball and quality secondary pitches that he can throw for strikes. A low base incentive laden contract may work here.