The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t need to do anything crazy at the trade deadline. They didn’t need to add Eugenio Suarez, a pricier name and poor position fit. They didn’t even need to add someone like Ryan O’Hearn at the cost it took to get him – not with first baseman Andrew Vaughn launching bleacher bombs at the same primary position.
But doing nothing wasn’t a great option, either, for a team that ranks 23rd in homeruns and 26th in isolated power.
It’s not that Milwaukee can’t score runs. The offense ranks 7th in runs per game. Rather, adding a modest dose of power would provide some insurance – for slumps, for batted ball luck, for injuries – on a team that, in the words of owner Mark Attanasio, has “a chance to do some good things.” Which would be putting it lightly. 2025 is not a season to be wasted. The lack of reinforcements looks even worse now that Jackson Chourio, second on the team with 17 homeruns, is injured.
Particularly for a deep playoff run, longballs tend to be a critical element to surviving against elite opposing pitchers and stacked bullpens. Facing an ace, a team won’t always be able to fill up the box score with hits, but getting a hold of one mistake pitch can change the entire outlook of a game.
Reporter Curt Hogg posed the question of postseason power to general manager Matt Arnold. Despite plenty of fan frustration, he isn’t concerned. Given that he’s the one pulling strings in the front office, the head honcho of trade deadline hesitance, it’s not surprising to hear him say so.
Milwaukee Brewers might be toeing the line with lethargic trade season, but Arnold remains confident
Arnold does make some good points. As GM, he knows the team pretty well.
“I do,” he said when Hogg asked him whether the order has adequate brawn. “I think we win games in a lot of ways. That’s certainly part of it, we have the ability to do that and we have the ability to do a lot of other things as well.”
To Arnold’s point, Milwaukee is tied with the Cubs for second in steals and is sixth in on-base-percentage. They take the extra base, play defense, do all the little things. Plus, of course, the starting pitching.
“I think we have a really dynamic group,” Arnold continued. “These guys have a really strong-knit culture down there. That’s super important, and adding someone like Danny Jansen adds to the culture and adds to the power component we have. We feel good about the well-balanced offense we have.”
Moving forward, though, “well-balanced” might read more like a euphemism for “power-challenged,” depending on how long Chourio stays out. Trading for Brandon Lockridge as the roster’s sole incoming position player isn’t going to alleviate concerns.
For the foreseeable future, the Brewers will rely on Christian Yelich and Vaughn as their only power bats, plus trade pickup Jansen when he plays (11 homeruns, .185 isolated power). Rhys Hoskins is out. Jake Bauers, too.
Overreaction is a risk, to be sure, but Chourio’s absence could deal an exaggerated blow to the lineup. Walks, singles, and steals have taken the Brewers pretty dang far, but how much more can they cut the power circuits? There’s a tipping point.
Hopefully for Arnold, the Brewers can bail him out of this one by coming up with yet another unexpected source of mmph.
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