The Milwaukee Brewers currently have not yet made a significant splash in free agency. Pitcher Joe Ross and catcher Eric Haase are the only two new players to sign major league contracts. Both players currently slot in as depth options at their respective positions.
One position that may need to be addressed this off-season is third base. Rookie Andruw Monasterio did a fine job there last year, Owen Miller filled in at times, and newly acquired Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra could factor in along with prospect Tyler Black, but none stand out as the for sure every day player.
As luck would have it the Brewers odds of acquiring a free agent third baseman may be increasing. This player has won four gold glove awards and his former team recently signed his presumed replacement.
Former Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman is a free agent that the Milwaukee Brewers could consider pursuing.
Shortly after Christmas the Toronto Blue Jays signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a contract. He presumably will be playing third base and replacing Matt Chapman. This makes a reunion with the four time gold glove award winner less likely in which he won the award three times with the Oakland Athletics and most recently a season ago with the Blue Jays.
At the plate Chapman has not had a season with an OPS+ less than 100. Across those seven seasons he has eclipsed 30 home runs once and has hit 27 long balls on two different occasions. Situationally he hits better against left-handed pitchers, but at times he has struggled with runners in scoring positions in which last year he hit for just a .217 batting average in those situations.
As a free agent Matt Chapman’s market has been relatively quiet. He is a Scott Boras client who is entering free agency for the first time in his career. Spotrac has his estimated average annual value at $17.2 million, but he is coming off a year 2023 campaign where he collected just 54 RBI and as mentioned struggled with runners in scoring position.
Between a down offensive season by his standards and the free agent market moving very slow this winter it’s possible that the Milwaukee Brewers odds of acquiring him are rising. The longer that he remains available the higher possibility there is of his price tag going down and the length of his contract decreasing. Should this continue it is not impossible to think that the Milwaukee Brewers interest in him would increase.
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1 Comment
NONE of those guys can hit and we don’t need a gold glove caliber player (coming off a down offensive season).
Time to be bold and trade a top prospect along with Wiemer for Isaac Paredes (the move I was suggesting last winter).
He’s the guy to fix that position for the next decade and Matty should open up the purse strings to sign he and William to long term deals.
Move Yeli to 1B and we’re set.