Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Preview 2014
Biggest Offseason Additions:
Matt Garza: The Milwaukee Brewers have locked up righty Garza to a four-year, $50 million contract with a vesting option for $13 million in 2018. The Brewers had a team ERA of 4.20 last season which put them in the bottom half of all major league teams.
The addition of Garza will help add to their rotation which features Yovani Gallardo and Kyle Lohse. They took a bit of a risk signing him to a four-year deal as health has been a big concern of his over the past two seasons.
He’s a career 3.84 pitcher with over 1,000 strikeouts in his career but has pitched in only 259 innings over the past two seasons. He seems to be healthy and ready to go and should help the Brewers who could surprise some people in 2014 if their young talents can perform at a high level.
Will Smith: This team not only had a lackluster rotation but they also had a poor bullpen which had the sixth most blown saves in baseball with 23. The Brewers knew that they had to do something to get more depth in their bullpen so they traded outfielder Norichika Aoki to the Royals for bullpen pitcher Smith.
Smith is only 24 years-old and will be entering his third season in the Majors. He had a rough start to his career in 2012 where he posted an ERA of 5.32 allowing 12 homers and walking 33 men but he figure things out last season. In 2013 he recorded an ERA of 3.24 in limited work. Smith is not going to be a game changer but he can sure help this bullpen out.
Biggest Offseason Losses:
Norichika Aoki: As I stated above Aoki was traded to the Kansas City Royals which was a mistake. Aoki has been in the Majors for two years and has yet to bat under .286 and has never missed more than 11 games. He doesn’t hit for power but he scores runs in bunches. Last season he scored 80 runs for the Crew and scored 81 the year before that. He’s good for 20 stolen bases a season and rarely strikes out. After looking at all of those numbers it’s hard to see a positive that came out of it.
Name to Watch in Spring Training: Khris Davis
Here we get a better understanding as to why this squad decided to roll the dice and gamble away Aoki. The Brewers are super-high on this guy coming out of spring training and being an absolute beast. In fact Ryan Braun has agreed to move to right field so Davis can man left. Davis is a 26 year-old rookie who played in 56 games last season. In those games he managed to bat .279 with an OBP of .353. He hit 11 home runs while scoring 27 runs. They believe this guy can reach upward of 20-25 home runs in a full season and potentially far beyond that. As of right now he is going to be their starting right fielder and everyone will be able to see him showcase his skills come March.
Biggest Spring Training Battle: Rickie Weeks versus Scooter Gennett for second base.
This could go down as the biggest spring training battle of the year! Weeks was the starting second basemen in 2013 and had another horrible first-half.
He did the same thing in 2012 but no one was around to take his spot. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Gennett was around last year and ended up taking over the second basemen position for the final 50 games. In 69 games Gennett batted an impressive .324 to go with 29 runs scored.
If Gennett gets the spot and continues to hit for average you could see those run totals skyrocket due to guys like Braun who could be hitting behind him in the order. Weeks on the other hand has a whole lot to prove in spring training but could very well win his job back if he has a good spring training. Keep an eye on this matchup as it may just be the tightest one of the spring.
What Went Right In 2013:
Not a lot of things went right for the Brewers in 2013 but there was a few players that stuck out and gave Brewers fans hope that the future can be very bright. Carlos Gomez played out of his mind tallying up a WAR of 8.36. Yes, you read that right. Eight point THREE SIX.
The only other player to have a higher WAR was some guy in LA named Mike Trout. Gomez batted .284 with 24 long balls, 73 rib eyes, 40 stolen bases and 80 runs scored. The offensive numbers are amazing by themself but what he did in the outfield was truly spectacular. It seemed like every single day he was robbing a home run at the wall. Other guys like Jonathan Lucroy and Jean Segura proved that they could be fan favorites in Milwaukee for awhile as well.
Overall Spring Training Preview:
Overall this team is still going to be finding itself with all the young players but things are not as bad as they may seem. With Ryan Braun back in the lineup and a healthy Aramis Ramirez; you could see the Brewers make a run at a wild card spot. The main thing this team needs to worry about is its bullpen and pitching rotation. If their starters can stay healthy they have a decent starting five. Nothing that scares you but nothing that is laughable either. Look for the Brewers to compete but come up short in 2014.