The Milwaukee Brewers have continued their offseason overhaul. Tuesday evening the Brewers announced they have signed corner infielder Ryon Healy to a one-year contract. Financial terms are unknown. The Mariners non-tendered Healy earlier this month rather than pay him close to $3 million through arbitration. He had season-ending hip surgery in August.
Earlier this winter the Brewers declined their $7.5 million club option on first baseman Eric Thames and non-tendered corner infielder Travis Shaw rather than pay him close to $5 million through arbitration. Also, the club traded away Jesus Aguilar at the deadline. That's a lot of corner infield depth out the door.
Milwaukee's projected 2020 lineup currently looks something like this:
- CF Lorenzo Cain
- RF Christian Yelich
- 1B Ryan Braun
- 2B Keston Hiura
- LF Avisail Garcia
- C Omar Narvaez
- 3B Ryon Healy
- SS Luis Urias
- Pitcher's spot
Garcia, Healy, Narvaez, and Urias are all offseason additions. Garcia and Healy were free-agent signings and Narvaez and Urias came over in trades with the Mariners and Padres, respectively. In addition to cutting ties with Thames and Shaw, the Brewers also lost Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas to free agency this winter.
Healy, 27, slugged 49 home runs with the Athletics and Mariners from 2017-18 before battling hip trouble and slipping to seven homers in 187 plate appearances in 2019. He's always been a low on-base player -- Healy owns a career .298 on-base percentage in 1,599 plate appearances -- and his defense isn't good, so Healy has to hit for power to have value.
Even after signing Healy, the Brewers will continue to look for help at first and third bases, president of baseball operations David Stearns told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Narvaez and Yelich are the only left-handed hitters in the projected everyday lineup, so a lefty platoon partner for Healy would make the most sense.
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Brewers have approximately $91 million on the books for next season, not including Healy. They opened this past season with a $123 million payroll, the largest in franchise history, and it's unclear whether they will spend to that level again. If they do, pitching help is an obvious priority.
