At the beginning of free agency, the Milwaukee Brewers had three big names that they could bring back to their team. Mike Moustakas, Drew Pomeranz, and Yasmani Grandal. All three of those names are All-Stars in their own right. With the countless arbitration cases, Milwaukee knew it would be hard to sign all three of them, but it wasn’t unreasonable to sign at least one of them. They did not sign one player. On Tuesday, Moustakas signed a four-year 64-million-dollar deal to join the Cincinnati Reds. Brewers have 61 million dollars to play with and it seems like the time may be right to make a splash.

The disappointment of not signing all three of the Brewers’ free agents is warranted. Right now, the Brewers have the most important window in their franchise history. Christian Yelich has three years left before he becomes a free agent. If in fact, the Brewers were not able to do the fourth year for either Grandal or Moustakas, that is a penny-pinching, too forward-thinking mentality. If Brewers see Yelich depart for Los Angeles in three years, Grandal or Moustakas would become ‘expiring deals’ in their final year.

You have a fanbase that expects to win right now. And that’s not due to Yelich, rather, it is the success of the last two years. Fans do not want to take a step back, nor should they with the amount of talent they have still on the roster. But with only 31 of the 40 players on the 40-man roster plus 13 of 25 from the postseason roster, it makes you think maybe the Brewers brain trust did not like this roster as much as the Brewers faithful did all last season.

Look, I’m upset as the next guy that the Brewers have virtually let everyone walk out the door and they’re flushed with money at this point. But I’m starting to come to terms with the idea that Milwaukee felt like this version of the Brewers hit a ceiling. If they brought back Grandal, Moustakas or Pomeranz, Brewers brass believes they would be back at that ceiling. That could be the optimist in me talking but it is possible Brewers did not see a 95 to 100-win team with those guys.

the time is now for the Brewers. They have two months to build a team through free agents and trades. There are those, mostly in the media, who remind you that Brewers made moves for Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich in late January. Brewers cannot build a roster like they’re the Rays or the A’s because simply put, they make money with their stadium and TV deals. They are not that cheap.

This is not a ‘Sterns we trust’ situation, rather I’ll sit here with a dash of optimism.

Charlie.