State of the Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers have been hanging around the fringes of the the postseason for a few years now.  They invested in some serious talent before the 2018 season, but then announced they lost money in 2019 resulting in a pullback in payroll for 2020.  Let's break it down:

Ownership:  Mark Attanasio head up an investor group.  He made his stash running an investment firm and bought the Brewers from the Selig family in 2004.  He's operated about the way you would expect a smaller market owner to operate but drew some fire this past offseason when he claimed the BrewCrew "operated in the red" which many analysts felt was a misrepresentation of the true situation.

Grade C

Management:  GM David Stearns and Manager Craig Counsell generally get positive reviews for roster building and field managing respectively. Not outstanding but very competent.

Grade B

Current Roster:

Starting Eight:  Omar Narvaez C, Ryan Braun 1B, Keston Hiura 2B, Eric Sogard 3B, Orlando Arcia SS, Christian Yelich LF, Lorenzo Cain CF, Avisail Garcia RF.

Bench:  Manny Pina C, Brock Holt UT, Luis Urias IF, Ben Gamel OF, Jedd Gyorko IF.

Starting Rotation:  Brandon Woodruff RHP, Adrian Houser RHP, Brett Anderson LHP, Josh Lindblom RHP, Eric Lauer LHP.

Bullpen:  Josh Hader LHP(Closer), Brent Suter LHP, Freddy Peralta RHP, Corey Knebel RHP, Alex Claudio LHP, Corbin Burnes RHP, Ray Black RHP.

Eric Sogard, starting 3B?  Yikes!  I took this from MLB's Depth Chart for the Brewers.  Hope there is some competition for the position!  I would also say that any starting rotation with Brett Anderson listed as #3 is probably not elite, although there are several pitchers listed in the bullpen who could slide into the rotation so there is some depth.  Yelich is probably one of the top 5 players in all of baseball and Ryan Braun will become a whole lot more valuable with a universal DH. Will Keston Hiura join them in elite status?  Overall, it's bit tough to see this outfit contend for the postseason without further upgrades in the starting rotation.

Grade C+

Farm System:  Brice Turang is the top prospect but is a few years away.  Not much in the way of immediate help with the first 2020 ETA coming from LHP Drew Rasmussen at #9.

Grade C.