The Milwaukee Brewers are going to have a new shortstop in 2025. This past year, Willy Adames set numerous franchise records while hitting .251/.331/.462 with 32 home runs, 112 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. He also priced himself right out of Milwaukee. Widely considered to be the best shortstop on the agent market, there is little chance that he will return to the Brewers, especially after he turned down their qualifying offer to him worth more than $21 million.
Presuming Adames signs elsewhere, manager Pat Murphy has already announced that Joey Ortiz will be the team’s starting shortstop in 2025. As a rookie playing primarily third base in 2024, Ortiz hit .239/.329/.398 with 11 home runs, 60 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. At 25 years old, Ortiz’s best days are ahead of him and the Brewers are hopeful he has a bright future.
The Milwaukee Brewers Need to Find Someone to Play Third Base
One of the things that made the Brewers infield so good in 2024 was its ability to stay relatively healthy. Adames played in 161 games, Ortiz played 142, Brice Turang played 155, and Rhys Hoskins played 131 (though some of those starts were at DH). Jake Bauers, their first baseman/outfielder utility player, appeared in 116 games.
The fact that Ortiz, in particular, was able to stay healthy for the majority of the season was key to the Brewers’ success because their other options at third base are less than ideal. Other players that manned the hot corner for Milwaukee in 2024 include:
- Andruw Monasterio (.208/.303/.272, one home run, 16 RBI)
- Oliver Dunn (.221/.282/.316, one home run, seven RBI)
- Owen Miller (.185/.185/.222, three RBI)
- Vinny Capra (.111/.111/.222).
Down in the minors, Milwaukee has Brock Wilken who plays third base and is their eighth overall prospect. He hit 17 home runs and 51 RBI last year in his first full season of professional baseball. But he only slashed .200/.314/.365 and struck out 133 times in 109 games. Wilken also has not played a single game above Double-A.
Tyler Black is Milwaukee’s fifth overall prospect and did get called up to the Majors for the first time last season. However, he is primarily a first baseman. He did play nine games at third for the Nashville Sounds last season and has some experience in the outfield.
However, his future probably lies at first base and he did struggle at the plate in the 18 games he played in Milwaukee.
With no good internal options, the Brewers will have to look to free agency and/or the trade market to find someone to fill the hole at third that will be created when Ortiz moves to shortstop.
Exploring the Possibility of a Nolan Arenado Trade Between the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals
It is not every day that division rivals trade with each other, but there is a history of trades between the Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals that should not discredit the possibility of one happening. Even after Milwaukee switched from the American League to the National League, the two teams did not shy away from doing business.
The most recent of these trades was, admittedly, nearly a decade ago, when the Brewers sent Jonathan Broxton to the Cardinals for Malik Collymore. Two years prior, Milwaukee sent Jonathan Axford to St. Louis for a player to be named later (who turned out to be Michael Blazek).
Between 1999 and 2003, though, the Brewers sent three significant players to the Cardinals. The first of these was the 1999 trade that saw Fernando Vina sent to the Cardinals for Juan Acevedo. In 2002, Milwaukee sent their former ace, Jamey Wright, to St. Louis. Finally, in 2003, they sent their former closer Mike DeJean to their division rivals.
As fans may recall (at least, those fans who were still fans in those dark days), the Brewers were one of the worst teams in baseball during that time. Now, the Cardinals are nowhere near that level of bad, but they are entering a rebuilding phase, and they are making 10-time Gold Glove Award winning third baseman Nolan Arenado available for trade.
This past season, Arenado hit .272/.325/.394 with 16 home runs and 71 RBI. And that was a bad year for him. From 2015-2023, the six-time Platinum Glove winner averaged .288/.348/.542 with 33 home runs and 105 RBI per season. The only seasons in which he failed to hit 30 or more home runs was 2020 (COVID-19 shortened season) and 2023 when he hit 26.
Arenado will be 34 in 2025, and there are signs that his bat is declining. But the fact of the matter is that he is a much better option than other third basemen in the Brewers’ system and better than the free agent class.
That being said, he is owed $17 million a year over the next three years. This salary, along with whatever extra prospects Milwaukee would have to part with because the Cardinals are a division rival, likely would kill the deal.
But St. Louis is desperate to move him and he desperately wants to play for a contender. He would ensure the defense does not suffer (the Brewers won the NL Team Gold Glove Award in 2024) and he does love hitting at American Family Field. In 45 career games visiting Milwaukee, the eight-time All-Star has a .331 batting average, 14 home runs, and 37 RBI.
The salary is steep. It is the same amount the Brewers are paying Hoskins in 2025. But Arenado’s defense alone makes him worth it, and being an average hitter on top of it would be the icing on the cake.
A trade between the Brewers and Cardinals involving Arenado may be a long-shot, but it may be Milwaukee’s best shot at adequately filling that need.
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