The Milwaukee Brewers should be in search of some offensive upgrades this off-season. A season ago they did not get much power or run production from a few different third basemen, second baseman Brice Turang never fully got going at the plate and their young outfielders all had moments but struggled with offensive consistently.
The team also still has a question mark at first base and backup catcher. The Brewers replaced Rowdy Tellez with Jake Bauers by trading for the left-handed hitting first baseman, but the only right-handed first baseman on the 40-man roster currently is Owen Miller. Additionally, catcher Victor Caratini became a free agent. The Brewers could look to temporarily add a veteran to back up William Contreras before calling up prospect Jeferson Quero.
There are a lot of different ways that Milwaukee could look to upgrade offensively this off-season, but here we will take a look at three recently non-tendered players. The non-tender deadline was on Friday, November 17, seeing 63 total players across the league became free agents.
Three recently non-tendered hitters that the Brewers could target
- OF/DH Austin Meadows
One player Milwaukee could look to target is Meadows. He was non-tendered by the Detroit Tigers after two disappointing seasons. Prior to arriving in Detroit via trade he had two incredible seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. In 2019 he posted a .922 OPS, 33 home runs and finished 14th in MVP voting. Two years later he crushed 27 home runs, and collected 106 RBI. Given his history of excellent seasons he may be one player worth taking a gamble on. From the Brewers perspective, the only down side is that he would be another left-handed hitting outfielder. Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, and Sal Frelick all hit from that side of the plate.
- 1B/DH Mike Ford
Ford, 31, has had quite the journey since making his MLB debut in 2019. He has played for five different organizations over that time. In 2023 he appeared in a career-high 83 games for the Seattle Mariners, hitting 16 home runs while slugging .475, good for a 122 OPS+. His power makes him an intriguing option for the Brewers to consider, but unfortunately he does hit from the left side of the plate. It may be difficult for the Brewers to justify adding another left-handed hitting first baseman, but he could still be an option.
- OF Kyle Lewis
The 2020 Rookie of the Year, Lewis has been in a downward spiral since his first MLB season. His initial team, the Seattle Mariners, ended up trading him to the Arizona Diamondbacks last fall as a result. He made just 16 appearances with Arizona, but he did excel in Triple-A as he slashed .371/.457/.641 with 17 home runs and 80 RBI over just 63 games. As a right-handed hitting outfielder with high upside, he may be worth a look on a Brewers roster that is very left-handed at that position.
Lots of other options exist in the free agent market including Andrew Knizner, Jacob Stallings, Austin Nola, Daniel Vogelbach, Nick Senzel and Dominic Smith.
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