At the time of this post, the Milwaukee Brewers currently sit at 46-32, in first place in the National League Central. In addition, they also hold the National League’s best record. Despite all of this, they do have some holes they need to shore up before their September playoff push.
Second Base– Milwaukee has tried Jonathan Villar, Brad Miller, Eric Sogard, and Tyler Saladino at second base this season. In defense of Villar, he is sort of playing out of position at second base, as his natural position is shortstop. The rest of them can be discarded if needed. This is a slippery slope though, as the Brewers are trying to just buy enough time for Keston Hiura, their top draft choice from a year ago, to make his way through the minors. Hiura just reached AA, so the temptation will be there to bring him up, but they need to ignore it for this season. Another option would be calling up Mauricio Dubon from AAA when he comes off the DL. I don’t see them making any big splash trades here. They are in all likelihood going to just buy time for Hiura.
Shortstop– Two years ago, if you thought shortstop would be a problem for the Brewers in 2018 you were a genius. You literally had to be able to predict the future to come up with that one. Orlando Arcia was the Brewers best prospect, and one of the prized young shortstop prospects in the game. Some thought that he was going to eventually be the Brewers best player. That all looks very much in doubt now. Arcia has looked lost in his first couple of trips to the big leagues and was sent down earlier this year for a short span. If he doesn’t turn it around quickly, they may need to send him back down for the rest of the year and find another solution. One option could be if they find a second baseman to flip Villar back over to his natural position. The Manny Machado dreamers can let that one go as well. The Brewers aren’t emptying their farm for a half season of having Machado at that position.
Catcher– This is the Brewers biggest hole without a doubt. Jacob Nottingham looked overmatched in his first trip to the big leagues earlier this year and was quickly sent back down. Stephen Vogt is done for the year. They currently have two journeyman catchers behind the plate and either can be discarded if they go another route. They could go out on the open market, but the catcher market is weak this year, plus other teams are looking for a backstop as well. Their best option might be to let Nottingham have another go at some point this summer.
Starting Pitcher– The Brewers are one of well, never mind, let’s just say every contender right now could use a starting pitcher. Milwaukee could use two. Freddy Peralta could be one, as he has looked great so far in Milwaukee. Marcos Diplan could be another. Kodi Medeiros could be part of the answer as well. Here is the problem, unless that pitcher is beyond incredible, you don’t just call up a starting pitcher and say you’re the answer, go for it. The Brewers will be looking for a starting pitcher this summer, and Jacob DeGrom has been linked to them. If they could get DeGrom, they could take the Nationals and Dodgers on straight up in October.
