Milwaukee Brewers have another interesting offseason on their hands. Just like last year, this team will try and be a playoff contender. Now, I don’t exactly think David Stearns had a great offseason. In my opinion, he would receive a C for his efforts. Not having veteran back-ups for their young pitchers was completely foolish. The arbitration numbers are out for the Brewers players along with those who are expected to be free agents. The first step in the process is to see who will be tendered a contract in mid-December. Let’s try to sort this out a little bit.

MLB Trade Rumors does a great job of providing us the numbers we need for the players. The big headline from this has been that Josh Hader is set to make 4.6 million dollars which is exorbitantly more than he made last season. If I were the Brewers, my goal would be to lock Hader up in a long-term deal. Let’s look at the other names.

Chase Anderson – 10.3 million dollars: Club can pick up his option for 8.3 million. I’m not the biggest Chase fan but considering the pitcher’s market. 8.3 option sounds right to me.

Jimmy Nelson – 3.7 million: That’s a lot of money for a guy who was trash this season. I guess they’re judging it on potential? I would tender him but ask for less money. I could see this one being a bit messy.

Hernan Perez – 3 million: Nope, they can find better utility guys out there for that price or less.

Corey Knebel – 5.125 million: Like Nelson, that is pretty high for a player who didn’t do much in 2019. My guess is the Brewers ask for less next year and see what happens.

Alex Claudio – 2.2 million: That’s a no-brainer for me.

Travis Shaw – 4.7 million: That’s a no-brainer in the sense of not tendering him a contract. I can see a concern about Mike Moustakas no longer being a Brewers player, but Shaw’s year likely means you can get him for cheaper.

Manny Pina – 2.2 million: There is a club option at 1.8 million and that again, seems like a no-brainer for the Brewers.

Corey Spangenberg – 1.5 million: You can have a guy that is similar to Perez but strikes out less for half the money. Do this one.

Zach Davies – 5.0 million: This is a pretty easy answer for me. You’re not going to find three or four starters on the market at that price.

Orlando Arcia – 3.7 million: Easily, this will get the most attention. Arica is not worth that money. He is a below-average bat with defense that gets more hype than it is. Craig Counsell and Sterns also don’t seem pleased with his progression. It’s time to look in another direction.

Junior Guerra – 3.5 million: One of the better pitchers all season and think it’s worth bringing him back into the fold for next year which could be more middle relief.

Tyler Saladino & Tyler Austin – 1.0/1.2 million: Pairing these guys together as I would believe the Brewers move on from both.

Ben Gamel – 1.6 million: This is an interesting one. I liked what Gamel did this year but with Trent Grisham up plus Tyrone Taylor ready,
I’m not sure there’s a need for Gamel.

Brent Suter – 900k: Absolute no-brainer.

Brewers will still have to figure out what they do with free agents like Jordan Lyles, Drew Pomeranz, Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal and Gio Gonzalez. That adds to the decisions by David Stearns.