The Milwaukee Brewers endured a change one year ago as David Stearns stepped down as the man in charge and passed the reins over to Matt Arnold. He was busy during his first offseason and regular season as GM and made 56 moves impacting the major league roster.
During his first offseason he swung several trades that included parting ways with infielder Kolten Wong, outfielder Hunter Renfroe, and bringing in catcher William Contreras. According to Bill Felber at Call To The Pen there is one statistic that shows Matt Arnold being the most impactful GM over the last calendar year.
One statistic shows that Milwaukee Brewers Matt Arnold was the most impactful GM over the last year.
The statistic used by Bill Felber was Wins Above Average (WAA). Overall Matt Arnold’s deals brought in a +5.9 game impact. No other GM finished above a +2.8 WAA.
Acquired by trade, waiver claim or purchase:
- Since October 2022, 17 players, +1.4 net impact
Signed as a free agent or extended for multiple seasons:
- Since October 2022, 15 players, -1.1 net impact
System products:
Traded away, waived, sold, released or lost to free agency
- Since October 2022, 9 players, +0.1 net impact
- Since October 2022, 16 players, +5.5 net impact
One major move that Matt Arnold made was acquiring William Contreras and Joel Payamps in the same trade. He jumped in as the third team in a big deal that sent Sean Murphy to Atlanta. The cost for Milwaukee was Esteury Ruiz. Here is how that trade resulted in a net +4.6 WAA for the Brewers.
In December, Arnold hooked up with the Oakland A’s and Atlanta Braves in a three-team swap that landed catcher William Contreras (+1.8) in Milwaukee. The Brewers also got reliever Joel Payamps (+0.9). The cost: merely outfielder Esteury Ruiz (-1.9), who went to Oakland. Net impact on the Brewers: +4.6 WAA.
Other trades with positive impacts were Mark Canha (+0.3) and Carlos Santana (+0.4). He also knew who to trade away, as the Kolten Wong trade ended up disastrous for the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels ended up putting Hunter Renfroe on waivers.
It will be interesting to see what Matt Arnold does during his second season with the Brewers. This offseason he is faced with key players' cost in arbitration rising, team control on Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Willy Adames nearing an end, and potentially having to find a new manager.
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