The Brewers have told interested teams they’re unwilling to trade co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff or shortstop Willy Adames, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Milwaukee general manager Matt Arnold declined comment on any specific individuals but confirmed generally the team plans to “build around” their group of core players “to do the best we can here in 2023” (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).
Burnes, Woodruff and Adames would certainly qualify as core players on the Milwaukee roster. All three are entering their penultimate season of arbitration eligibility, which raised loose speculation that a Brewers team with a mid-tier payroll could look to move them at the peak of their trade value. However, Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported at the outset of the offseason Milwaukee planned to build around their core group. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic similarly suggested last night the Brew Crew was unlikely to deal any of that trio before the start of the season.
The early stages of Milwaukee’s offseason haven’t exactly followed that script. The Brewers parted ways with relievers Brent Suter and Brad Boxberger in the first few weeks. They exercised a $10MM option on Kolten Wong and tendered an arbitration contract with a projected $11.2MM salary to Hunter Renfroe, but both players immediately found themselves in trade rumors. They’re now division rivals in the AL West. Milwaukee sent Renfroe to the Angels for a trio of pre-arbitration pitchers two weeks ago. This afternoon, they dealt Wong to the Mariners in a roughly cash-neutral swap that brought in corner outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker (who’s making $8.25MM next season) and arbitration-eligible infielder Abraham Toro.
Subtracting Renfroe and Wong while adding Winker, Toro and pitchers Elvis Peguero and Janson Junk (acquired from Anaheim) probably represents an early downgrade for the Milwaukee roster. Yet parting ways with productive but not elite regulars like Renfroe and Wong is certainly not as impactful as dealing away any of Burnes, Woodruff or Adames would be. That’s particularly true in the case of the Wong swap, which wasn’t intended to slash payroll so much as dealing from an area of roster strength to add a potential offensive upgrade. Milwaukee has highly-regarded prospect Brice Turang as an option to step in at second base, while Toro joins Luis Urías and Mike Brosseau as internal candidates to play second or third.
The Brewers took a similar tack at last summer’s trade deadline. The Josh Hader trade was much maligned — both at the time and in retrospect — as Milwaukee subtracted one of the sport’s top relievers in the midst of a playoff race. Hader’s lofty arbitration salary and window of control dwindling to a season and a half certainly played a part in the front office’s calculus, but the deal wasn’t designed to wave the white flag on the 2022 season. The Brewers brought back a highly-regarded late-inning pitcher of their own in Taylor Rogers and added prospects Esteury Ruiz and Robert Gasser to the organization. Rogers underperformed during his few months with the Brew Crew, and now-former president of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged in retrospect he didn’t completely foresee how poorly received the loss of Hader would be in the clubhouse. Yet even if that trade didn’t work as intended, it’s clear it wasn’t designed to kick off any kind of rebuild.
Adames is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $9.2MM arbitration salary. Burnes and Woodruff are each forecasted at or just above $11MM. Those are notable figures but still significant bargains relative to those players’ productions. It’d make them the subject of strong interest on the trade market but also key contributors to a Brewers team looking to improve upon last year’s 86-win season. None of those salaries are so exorbitant Milwaukee would feel any urgent financial pressure to clear them from the books.
The Brewers opened the 2022 season with a payroll just under $132MM, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Roster Resource presently projects their 2023 commitments — including arbitration estimates — around $116MM. Even if owner Mark Attanasio isn’t keen on a significant payroll spike, Arnold and his staff should have plenty of room to retain each of Adames, Woodruff and Burnes while making a few targeted upgrades elsewhere on the roster. That’s before considering the possibility of trades subtracting a few more ancillary players. Rowdy Tellez, Adrian Houser and Keston Hiura are all speculative trade candidates this offseason, and it’s not completely out of the question the Brewers field offers on Winker.
Adding another bat in the corner outfield/DH mix could be in order. Winker’s probably best suited for bat-only work if he’s on the roster, which would leave right field to Tyrone Taylor as things currently stand. Milwaukee has a few prospects who could factor into center field, with Garrett Mitchell leading the group after debuting late in 2022, but could look for a veteran complement to add some depth. The Brewers also saw catcher Omar Narváez hit free agency, meaning they could explore ways to upgrade on Víctor Caratini. First base, presently manned by Tellez, is another area where the club may try to inject life into an offense that was only a bit above league average this past season.
Yes daddy
o_0
Contending all along or weren’t impressed with trade offers?
The offers will get better after Rodon and JV sign.
I’m pretty sure with the interest all 3 of them generate, they’ve likely had some pretty decent offers, but that still doesn’t mean it’d be to their liking. With wanting to contend and needing to hang onto them to do so, any offer would likely have to be an “I dare you to say no to this” kind of offer. So it’d have to be an absolute haul. Basically include a prospect that the other team typically wouldn’t include for anybody else.
Waiting til midseason is the smart move. If they’re in contention, they could hold on to em. If not, there will be a desperate GM who might overpay to get that rare level of quality pitching.
Aside from injury or poor performance waiting til mid-season is smart. Of course, even if they’re in the hunt they could move any or all 3 anyway.
But if they don’t at least approach them with extension talks, they might all demand a trade. After word got out that they hadn’t (yet) approached Burnes, that situation could get a bit contentious I’m afraid.
I dont know how to contact the staff to ask, but do any of you know if this site has a dark mode?
Also, I thought we might hear a bit of a hot stove on Burnes this year. Guess not.
Im on mobile. Everything is dark mode for me because of my browser settings saving key battery life
Look into your browser settings?
Are you sure you don’t want to attach Yelich to Burnes and solve 2 of the jays problem for extra payroll space???
That would be a terrible idea for Milwaukee. Plus Yelich has a no trade clause
Ok. Hypothetical. Brewers like this idea,
Burnes/ Yelich to T.O.
Jansen/Gurriel and a prospect not in the top 5 is offered.
Whats your counter?
You get a C. You get an Of upgrade. You lose one of the SP you probably won’t sign anyway and get a # 8 or 9 organization prospect or two.
Jays get an actual ace and a reclamation project who could be MVP.
Seems fair to me
On the assumption we sign Belli or Nimmo of course, Yelich isn’t playing CF
So Yelich and Burnes for Jansen and a non top 5 prospect?
Are you serious?
I’m sure you think it’s fair
Gurriel is way better than Yelich at this point right. So it’s negative value
Jansen is a 100 maybe 200% upgrade on your C situation
We’re stick like 150 plus million here, not exactly buying you the best prospect when all is said and done
Not shafting you, obviously a prospect or two needs to be included to offset Burnes Value. But not the best ones. We’re eating 8 figures of salary
Im not crazy, seems legit
Yelich had a higher WAR than Gurriel this past year. Strike one
Burnes is a top 10 SP in the NL. Jansen and some mediocre prospect is not worth Burnes alone, let alone Burnes plus the surplus value of Yelich over Gurriel. Strike two. Add in the at least decent bet that Yelich is better than Gurriel for the next 5 years as Yelich is further removed from his injuries. And, strike three.
Also, I’m not a Brewers fan. I’m a realist.
I think forgot the biggest part, Yelich’s contract. While it may not YET be albatross he’s definitely not worth the contract at the moment.
I’m sure a team like Brewers that don’t typically run a big payroll would absolutely love to shed that contract if they could.
Yelich is over paid… but he’s still a good player. Not 40 homer MVP category, but still better than average.
Burnes is one of the top three MLB starters right now never mind just the NL, Yelich is burnt toast I’d rather have Gurriel myself. There will be many suitors for Burnes other than Toronto and attaching a crappy contract like Yelich will only kill his value we agree on that. If Burnes actually hits the trade market I would imagine both New York teams and the Dodgers are going to all be right there like salivating dogs so the whole Jansen and Gurriel plus a non top five prospect seems silly. Why would the Brewers want a back up catcher that trade would start with Moreno. Burnes still has two more years of control maybe a third but I’m not sure plus his salary is affordable.
Your big problem there is that while we get a catcher, we also lose a big part of our rotation.
I don’t see Burnes or Woodruff being dealt without at the very least getting a pitcher that’s be a part of the future rotation back. Hence why they’d likely not attach Yelich just to get him off the books if it were going to lessen the return for Burnes or Woodruff.
Are you serious?
=====================
Just for fun, explain why you don’t think he’s serious. Or at least say which side you like.
Agree, Burnes is a top MLB SP w/ 2 years left. Yelich isn’t absolutely terrible, even w/ his regression. Yes, the money is an issue for the Brewers, so the haul back won’t be huge. But you’re looking at Gurriel plus Moreno and another of their top prospects, and I’m not sure that gets it done. I have no horse in this race, btw, just looking at value, and the fact Yelich isn’t a complete albatross.
Since we know Yelich has a no trade, why are we still discussing this? Unless we hear that he’s willing to waive it..and for which team(s) why talk about nearly impossible scenarios?
I’ll add this though..IF it became possible, I feel MKE would need to eat a healthy chunk of the remaining balance to get a good return, even with Burnes attached. At that point they better get a real haul of players/prospects back.
Because guys will waive no trades pretty frequently to play on a team better positioned to win
Yelich is better than Gurriel for the next 5 years as Yelich is further removed from his injuries.
================================
1-I’d bet that Gurriel will have a better WAR/$$$ than Yelich over any portion of the contract.
2-As Yelich is further removed from his injuries, he becomes further away from age 30.
Think of it from a different perspective. If Gurriel was put on waivers, would anyone claim him? I’d say almost definitely yes. If Yelich was put on waiver, no team would even sniff him.
The fact is, Yelich has an awful contract. He is due $162M/6,, ending at age 36. What you need to do is to consider how much cash the Brewers would have to include to trade Yelich for a -0- return, and then figure out the excess value for Burnes.
But Burnes + Yelich probably equals a -0- return.
People forget how potent the Brewers lineup was in 18 and 19 when he had his 2 best years. Cain. Aguilar was raking. Thames was a threat. Braun was still around and of value. Pitchers had to pitch to Yelich because either guys were on base or guys behind him were a threat. (Of course he hasn’t been the same since the kneecap and back issues) but who have they had in the lineup surrounding him the past few years?
Pretty sure, if Yellich was put on waivers – teams would wait for him to clear waivers, then pick him up at league minimum, with Mil being responsible for the contract – so I imagine, just like with Belli- many teams would be on him.
Burnes and Yelich should be dealt together. The receiving team must eat all of Yelich contract. Otherwise trading Yelich without that does the Brewers no good.
Unless the Brewers wanted to do a total rebuild, it seems like the off-season moves were reasonable. I could see them trading Winker to free cash for a catcher. Mitchell Frelick and Ruiz all have potential to help right away. Chourio is a couple years out.
I think they could get as much if not more at the deadline when teams get more desperate
Or when receiving teams know your desperate and will take anything to make the deal. Especially if there is no way to renew contract.
The Brewers are juat not a good team. They aren’t bad or anything but they’re not really going anywhere. Probably best to just rebuild imo.
And constantly sit in rebuild mode while waiting for batches of prospects to succeed before building a team? Pass.
With the division they’re in having 2 teams that are constantly in that rebuild flux, one that has the money to avoid doing it, but does it anyways, and only one constant threat for the division, this is exactly the right route for them.
They’re never going to have a huge payroll, but they’re also never going to have a pile of prospects all pan out at the right time. The Cardinals also don’t run out high payroll teams that they have to compete with.
Each year, they basically just have to worry about the cardinals and MAYBE one of the other 3 gets into the picture.
But rebuilds are the worst. That’s when you put yourself into the position where you’re always going to be waiting for the cards to fall perfectly. Then having to take gambles on when’s the right time to leave it.
brewsingblue8227 mins ago
And constantly sit in rebuild mode
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Nice casual Brewer fan.
Do you believe that they are “constantly in rebuild mod”? If you do, then you know less about the Brewers than I do. They averaged > 90 wins for the past5 years, excluding 2020.
I don’t believe he means they ARE in constant rebuild mode now. Rather that they WILL BE if they tore it down and started to rebuild by trading Burnes, Woodruff, etc.
“We’re going to do the best we can here in 2023.”
As a fan this statement would piss me off so bad. It just sounds so meek and pathetic coming from an MLB front office. Almost like they are already admitting defeat.
Yes, it sounds like “we know we aren’t the best team on paper, but you never know.”
They participated.
Apparently the Brewers are giving the Cards the Central for Christmas. Ummm, thank you?
Kruk’s Left Nut;
Careful here. The MLB.com quote in the article was a butchered quote of what he said, and you’re butchering it more:
— Milwaukee general manager Matt Arnold declined comment on any specific individuals but confirmed generally the team plans to “build around” their group of core players “to do the best we can here in 2023”. —
This happens to young GM’s / POBO’s when they first address the media and try to be honest about their teams’ status.
Fans of the Brewers know the reality of their teams situation, in the same way that all small market and many mid-market teams fans do. The players are going to do what’s best for them. The FO needs to do what’s best for the team. This is true of all professional sports today. Few teams in any league contend year-after-year. If they get a 5 year run that’s exceptional. The Astros 8 (going into 9) year run is simply remarkable. Have to go back at least 20 years to see something like that in MLB.
Dodgers?
The Brewers have now created enough financial flexibility that they dont have to move any of those three
The Brewers are a weird team.
As long as there good I’m ok with your wierd thoughts
Small market teams have to be weird. They don’t have the luxury of unlimited spending. A good chunk of their top 10 is major league ready so they need to start tapping into that.
They say this now…..but they haven’t been offered Frazier and Andujar.
Or Rob Refsnyder.
Booooom! Dropped the Robbie Ref! It just got real in this house.
Sorry to be that guy, but the Brewers aren’t division rivals with the Mariners and Angels
I had to scratch my head too, but I think he meant the players are division rivals now that they both are in the al west.
Angels have the two best players in baseball and can’t do anything with it
I would
Yeloch and Winker both play LF. I’m not sure RF is much of an option for either. Winker might not want to get too comfy.
Yelich DH’d a ton last year. Now it’s a logjam there too. Cutch didn’t pan out as well as we hoped, but at least he wasn’t a liability in the OF. I don’t know if I want Yelich or Winker out there even somewhat regularly. But if they don’t flip Winker 1 of them almost has to play LF.
Why is this even a discussion? I could see if it were in the next offseason but these guys have 2 years of control left and you have another shot to win next year. They were barely beaten out by Philly and look where Philly ended up. With those two pitchers atop a rotation they would be a good playoff team.
Burnes and Woodruff have to have looked a what deGrom just got with all of his injuries and lack of production in the past 2 years, and figured that they’re worth at least double what they’ll be paid in 2023 – even thought they don’t have the years in (the same for Bieber in Cleveland and any other TOR pitcher in MLB).
If the Brewers aren’t in serious contention – i.e. appear to be able to get to the playoffs and go deep in them – they need to get whatever young controlled players they can for both of these pitchers during the 2023 season before one or both both of them wakes up with a sore arm. Like it or not, small market teams that are not in serious contention need to be nimble. The Rays are doing it correctly. It’s sad for their fans, but sadder when they attempt to do the same as the larger markets and end up with a Yelich contract that drags the team down for years.
“It’s sad for their fans, but sadder when they attempt to do the same as the larger markets and end up with a Yelich contract that drags the team down for years.”
Truer words have bever been spoken…
As long as you have Burnes and Woodruff, you will remain competitive. I’d actually like to see the Brewers get some bats with high on-base percentage who don’t necessarily have to hit home runs. Use Mitchell and others to steal more bases. Generate offense differently.
BucksPackersBrewersWow!;
A starting pitcher today that’s healthy throws around 175 innings a year.
An MLB team pitches around 1,400 innings a year.
We shall see what becomes of Woodruff with the introduction of the pitch clock. I can brew a batch of tea before he throws a pitch.
With the new rules you will have to switch to a Keurig.
In other news, the sun will set in the west tonight…
Hi
2023 NL Central Champion Stl Cardinals!
“We are not trading Juan Soto”
I found it odd the Brewers would consider dealing any of them anyway.
People are sleeping on the Brewers because they had a bad second half. It’s a mistake. When I heard about the Winker trade I cussed out loud. Classic Brewers. Winker may have been a dirt bag last year for the Mariners and maybe he’s just a dirt bag in general. But NL Central fans remember his time in Cincy and he was a beast at the plate. Exactly the kind of guy the Brewers need in the middle of their lineup. If they can get him motivated and productive, the Brewers are going to be TOUGH. And I don’t just mean riding roughshod over the Cubs, Reds, and Pirates. Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta and a bunch of don’t know when to quit, street brawlers makes for a difficult match up in a win or go home series.
Feel like if MIL is out of contention by June all 3 of these guys will be traded.
And if Yelich can actually put together a good first half, they can include him in a deal for little return just to get his contract off the books. I could see MIL matching up with LAD.
The one thing a mid/low revenue team can’t do is sign a player to a long term high dollar k then he does not perform at a AS/elite level. At every turn the Crew is humped by the Yelich K.
Before you all get giddy about this article did you happen to catch the word PLANNING? this doesn’t mean anything more than keeping them if they DON’T get a mega offer from someone, it isn’t any guarantee they would not accept an offer and trade any of the three, although I hope they keep and build a W.S caliber team around them but as they say it is a business, now let’s move on and find a suiter to take on Mr. Yelich’s contract to be able to sign these guys.
Solid advice. Don’t be happy they PLAN to keep those 3, but hope they DO trade a guy with a no-trade clause, and little to no value on his own.
2 thumbs up.