MLB News: The Milwaukee Brewers are currently playing out their first season under new GM Matt Arnold. He took over last fall after David Stearns voluntarily decided to take a step back. Since Arnold has taken over the Brew Crew have made a ton of transactions and are continuing to find ways to win ball games with lesser known names.
With players constantly coming and going Milwaukee has received contributions from several players this year. Athletic writer Ken Rosenthal titled them as unheralded players in his recent article (subscription required). Rosenthal also gave a ton of credit to Matt Arnold for finding these players.
“The coolest thing about the Brewers is that they continue to get significant contributions from unheralded players.”
MLB News: Ken Rosenthal credits Milwaukee Brewers GM for finding and getting significant contributions from numerous unheralded players.
A few players included in the piece that Matt Arnold has brought in are Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps, William Contreras, Colin Rea, Wade Miley, Julio Teheran, and Jahai Jones.
Matt Arnold, in his first season as general manager, didn’t stop there (after performing two trades that brought in Elvis Peguero and Joel Payamps + William Contreras).
On Jan. 27, Arnold signed right-hander Colin Rea to a minor-league contract. Rea, 33, has a 4.32 ERA in 14 starts, helping fill the void created by the injuries to Brandon Woodruff, Aaron Ashby and, earlier this season, Wade Miley. On May 25, Arnold signed righty Julio Teheran to a major-league contract after the pitcher opted out of a minor-league deal with the Padres. Teheran, 32, also has proven a valuable stopgap in the rotation, producing a 3.64 ERA in eight starts.
On Monday, Arnold again hit on a seemingly minor move, the addition of infielder Jahmai Jones after he opted out of his minor-league deal with the Dodgers. Jones, in his first major-league at-bat since 2021, hit a pinch-hit, two-out, three-run double against the Cubs to tie the score, 6-6, in a game the Brewers trailed 6-0 and ended up winning, 8-6.
The Brewers’ farm system is not as strong as the Reds’. Their payroll is not as high as the Cubs’ and Cardinals’. But somehow, they keep coming up with players, keep finding ways to win.
Of course not every transaction has been a ‘win’ for Matt Arnold. The Brewers have utilized 50 players this year and they have seen guys like Luke Voit, Jon Singleton, Javy Guerra, Gus Varland, and Thomas Pannone leave the organization and sign elsewhere.
Overall there are two big positives from Ken Rosenthal writing this article. The first being that he is giving some much needed credit to Matt Arnold and his scouting department for finding these unheralded players. Secondly, it is nice that national media is recognizing this quirky way that Milwaukee operates and pointing it out in a positive manner.
1 Comment
They’re still a team that’s not entertaining to watch. Brewer fans have seen the same type of players come and go under Stearns.They do well for a while and then fall back down to earth or become too expensive. Hitting 29th in the league is not entertaining baseball. They went into season with too many untested young players on offense and it blew up in their faces. Losing Mitchell isn’t a big enough excuse. This coming off season should be interesting, do they dump more payroll? I cant wait for more cast-offs to fill the starting line up next year 😩