Photo: Megan Ellis / Unsplash
By Charles Collier
The Milwaukee Brewers play the Florida Marlins in a weekend series starting Friday night leading the NL Central by six games. Most sports experts had them finishing in the bottom half of the division after losing their manager and ace Corbin Burns. Craig Counsel took over as manager for the Chicago Cubs and Burns was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the off-season. Corbin Burns is pitching well and has a 2.45 ERA this season. He was the starting pitcher for the American League All-Star team. Counsel has been a huge disappointment, and his Cubs are in last place in the NL Central. Most Brewers’ fans agree that their team has been the biggest surprise in MLB this season.
The Brewers’ two best position players are Christian Yelich and William Contreras, both players started in the 2024 All-Star game. Yelich is batting .315 and Contreras is currently batting 12th in the NL with a .284 average. On July 24, 2024, it was announced that Christian Yelich was placed on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his lower back.
Speaking to reporters before Wednesday’s game a somber Yelich has this to say. “I don’t want to get into the specifics of it, but yeah it is not great,” he said. “Go from there as far as what will be the best for the near future and into the future. A couple of different discussions I think need to be had.” The team announced Thursday, July 25, 2024, that Yelich will rehab the injury and not opt for season-ending surgery.
I opine, that the Brewers should trade for a star outfielder, just in case Yelich’s rehab is unsuccessful. One option is Randy Arozarena. According to Stephen Mottram of Sports Illustrated, “The Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly shopping their star outfielder Arozarena, and Milwaukee should jump on that opportunity.” The Brewers have a slew of players they could package in a deal for him, which included Joey Wiemer. Garnett Mitchell and Sal Frelick.
The Brewers’ starting rotation has been surprisingly good their team ERA of 3.72 is seventh in MLB baseball. Freddie Peralta is the new Brewers’ ace he is 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA and is seventh in MLB with 138. The bullpen has been good considering they have been without the services of Devon Williams all season. He has been out while recovering from a pair of stress fractures in his back, he looked good in his first rehab appearance last Sunday. If he continues to improve, he will be back to anchor the Brewers’ bullpen soon.