Brewers reportedly plan to keep Adames, Burnes and Woodruff for the 2023 season

The Brewers have told interested teams that they are not willing to trade teammates Corbin Burns And the Brandon Woodruff or shortstop Willie AdamsAnd the Tweets Bob Nightingale from USA Today. Milwaukee General Manager Matt Arnold declined to comment on any specific individuals but confirmed generally that the team plans to “build” a group of key players to “do our best here in 2023” (via Adam McAlvey from MLB.com).

Burns, Woodruff, and Adams would certainly qualify as regular starters on Milwaukee’s roster. All three are entering the penultimate season of arbitration eligibility, which has fueled loose speculation that the Brewers with a mid-level payroll could be looking to move them at the peak of their commercial value. However, ESPN’s Jeff Bassan first reported at the start of the offseason Milwaukee’s plans to build around their starting lineup. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal suggested last night that the brew crew is unlikely to tackle any of those trio preseason.

The early stages of the Milwaukee offseason didn’t exactly follow this script. The brewers parted ways with the painkillers Brent Sutter And the Brad Boxberger in the first few weeks. They exercised a $10 million option Colton Wong He offered an arbitration contract with an expected salary of $11.2 million to Renfrew hunter, but both players immediately found themselves in trade rumors. They are now division rivals in the Western District. Milwaukee sent Renfrew to the Angels for a trio of pre-arbitration pitchers two weeks ago. This afternoon, Wong dealt the Mariners to a nearly neutral cash swap that brought in the corner player/designated hitter. Jesse Winker (who will earn $8.25 million next season) and an arbitration-eligible player Abraham Thor.

Renfroe and Wong subtracted while Winker, Toro, and pitchers were added Elvis Peguero And the Johnson Junk (acquired from Anaheim) Possibly an early cut to Milwaukee’s roster. However, breaking away from regular but not elite regulars like Renfrew Wong is certainly not as impactful as dealing with any of Burns, Woodruff, or Adams. This is especially true in the case of the Wong swap, which wasn’t meant to cut payroll so much as deal from a roster strength area to add a potential offensive upgrade. Milwaukee is highly regarded Brice Turang as an option to interfere at second base, while Toro joins in Luis Urreas And the Mike Broseau as internal candidates for the second or third play.

The Brewers took a similar approach at last summer’s trade deadline. The Josh Hader The trade was so bad—both then and later—that Milwaukee put up one of the best relievers in sports in the midst of a playoff race. Hader’s umpiring salary and diminished control window for a season and a half certainly played a role in front office calculations, but the deal wasn’t designed to fly the white flag in the 2022 season. The Brewers brought back a highly regarded late-pitch pitcher of their own Taylor Rogers Added horizons Esteore Ruiz And the Robert Jasser to the organization. Rogers performed poorly during his few months with the Brew Crew, and former president of baseball operations David Stearns later admitted that he didn’t quite anticipate how badly the loss of Grower was received at the club. However, even if this trade did not work as intended, it was clearly not designed to initiate any kind of rebuilding.

Adames was signed by MLBTR contributor Matt Schwartz, for an arbitration salary of $9.2 million. Burnes and Woodruff are expected to be at or just above $11 million. These are outstanding numbers but they are still great deals compared to the output of these players. It would make them an object of great interest in the commercial market but also a major contributor to a Brewers team looking to improve on last year’s 86-win season. None of these outrageous salaries is such that Milwaukee will feel any immediate financial pressure to scrap them from the books.

The Brewers opened the 2022 season with a payroll of just under $132 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. The slate supplier currently expects their 2023 commitments — including arbitration estimates — to be approximately $116 million. Even if owner Mark Attanasio isn’t keen on a massive salary hike, Arnold and his staff should have plenty of room to retain Adames, Woodruff and Burnes while making some targeted promotions elsewhere on the roster. This is before considering the possibility of putting trades to a few additional players. Naughty TellezAnd the Adrian Houser And the Keystone Heora They’re all candidates for speculation in the offseason trade, and it’s not entirely out of the question that the Brewers field offers Winker.

Adding another outside corner bat/DH mix could be in order. Winker would probably be best suited to the work at bat only if he was on the roster, which would leave the right field for him Tyrone Taylor As it is now. Milwaukee has a few prospects you can work in center field, with Garrett Mitchell He leads the group after debuting in late 2022, but could look for a veteran complement to add some depth. Brewers have also seen mask Omar Narvez Hit free agency, which means they can explore ways to get promoted Victor Karatini. First base, currently managed by Tellez, is another area where the club may try to breathe life into an offense that was slightly above the league average this past season.