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Brewers have had previous interest in Luke Voit
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Sherman of the New York Post took a look at the Yankees’ offseason and speculated about various paths they could take once the lockout is completed. One scenario that he contemplates would involve the club acquiring Lorenzo Cain from the Brewers to act as insurance for oft-injured center fielder Aaron Hicks. Sherman then parenthetically remarks that “Milwaukee has had interest in Voit previously,” referring, of course, to first baseman Luke Voit.

It isn’t specified exactly when this interest occurred, but Voit would make for an interesting fit on the Brewers roster currently. After acquiring Rowdy Tellez from the Blue Jays in July, the hulking lefty got most of the playing time at first base for the remainder of the season. With Voit being right-handed, they could make for an interesting platoon pair, but neither player has pronounced splits over their respective careers. Voit has hit .264/.344/.516 against lefties, for a wRC+ of 130. Against righties, he’s hit .268/.362/.508, wRC+ of 134. In 2021, he also had an even wRC+ of 111 against both lefties and righties. Tellez has hit lefties at a rate of .264/.314/.441, wRC+ of 98 for his career. Versus righties, his line is .241/.305/.470, wRC+ of 101.

It’s possible that the Brewers were interested in Voit before acquiring Tellez and that the presence of Rowdy lessens their desire to bring in Voit. However, Voit would be an upgrade over Tellez, as long as he’s healthy. Also, with the designated hitter expected to come to the National League next year, it would be easy enough for the Brewers to have both players in the lineup on a regular basis, especially with the ongoing strikeout issues of  Keston Hiura and recent non-tender of Daniel Vogelbach.

The Brewers have been looking to add some offensive pop this offseason to complement their excellent pitching staff. They’ve already added Hunter Renfroe, but also lost Avisail Garcia and Eduardo Escobar. Voit is certainly capable of adding some slug to any lineup, as he led the majors in homers during the shortened 2020 season. However, injuries limited him to just 68 games in 2021. The Yankees acquired Anthony Rizzo for the stretch run and have since been connected in rumors to other first basemen, such as Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson, perhaps indicating that they would be open to moving on from Voit. He comes with three years of club control and is projected to earn a salary around $5.4M next year. It will be his second of four arbitration seasons, as a Super Two player.

This article first appeared on MLB Trade Rumors and was syndicated with permission.

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