Schoop decision tops Brewers' to-do list

David Stearns realizes how high he set the bar for future off-season acquisitions on Jan. 25, 2018.

“We’ll just circle the calendar and see what happens,” the Milwaukee Brewers general manager joked. “I’m sure as we approach that date, you guys will remind me plenty that it’s coming up.”

As Brewers fans are well aware, that was the day that Stearns delivered perhaps the best 1-2 acquisition punch in franchise history, trading for Christian Yelich and signing free agent Lorenzo Cain. The additions of those multi-talented outfielders set the stage for the Brewers to make a late-season charge that allowed them to capture the National League Central crown in a Game 163 showdown with the Chicago Cubs and later come within a victory of the World Series.

Stearns was quick to caution against similar blockbuster moves this off-sea-

son, however. For one thing, the Brewers are in good shape in terms of talent, with Cain and Yelich under control for four more years and most of the 2018 club returning. Another factor is the budget does not have the same flexibility as last off-season, when Stearns and principal owner Mark Attanasio took the payroll from a rebuilding low of $60 million to nearly $100 million.

“We touched on this right after the season but this is likely going to be a different-looking off-season for us,” Stearns said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to be any less impactful or that we’re not going to be involved in as many conversations. But it’s going to be a differentlooking off-season for us, and that’s OK.”

Currently, the Brewers have eight players signed for 2018 for more than $66 million, led by Ryan Braun’s $18 million salary and Cain’s $15 million. They also have a whopping 13 players eligible for salary arbitration after making a combined $24 million or so last season.

“We certainly have a high number of arbitration-eligible players,” Stearns said. “We anticipated that; that’s part of the progression of an organization. You start out with a lot of pre-arbitration players. They kind of make their way through the system and become arbitration-eligible.

“We have a number of players who are really good who are going into arbitration, so that’s a big part of our off-season strategy. We’re going to have some difficult decisions at the tender date. We’re working through all of those and as we’ve seen in years past, a lot of those decisions don’t really happen until you get right down to the moment.”

That tender date comes Friday, when clubs must offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players or allow them to become free agents. The Brewers’ most difficult decision will come with second baseman Jonathan Schoop, the late-season acquisition who flopped badly after coming from Baltimore (.577 OPS in 46 games, four home runs, 21 RBI) but was a slugging runproducer before the trade.

With an $8.5 million salary in 2018, Schoop could net a salary of about $10 million through arbitration, leaving the Brewers with a tough call. If they tender a contract to Schoop, who has one year remaining before free agency, and he continues to falter, it would be a $10 million mistake, no small consideration with their budget.

Should the Brewers allow Schoop to become a free agent and he goes to another club and prospers, as second baseman Scooter Gennett did in Cincinnati, it also would be considered a mistake. Stearn might try to skirt the issue by negotiating a lesser deal beforehand with Schoop, who at 27 is in the prime of his career, but there’s no guarantee of reaching an agreement.

Stearns and his staff are believed to be somewhat torn about what to do with Schoop, so the decision could go either way.

“I think we have to look at Jonathan in a variety of different contexts,” Stearns said. “We have to recognize that he was a really good player for a long time, a player who made an all-star team (with Baltimore in 2017), got MVP votes (that same year) was a player of the month before we acquired him.

“We also have to recognize that he really struggled while he was here. We need to sort through that. We have to look at alternatives and we have to look at what Jonathan could potentially mean to this team if we get the version we know is in there to play for the Milwaukee Brewers.”

The decision on Schoop would have an effect on how the Brewers move forward at third base. If Schoop is the second baseman, Travis Shaw – who moved to that position after the late-July acquisition of third baseman Mike Moustakas – likely would return to third. If Schoop is cut loose, Stearns could decide to keep Shaw at second, not the greatest defensive solution, and try to re-sign Moustakas, now a free agent.

“Obviously, the team we had at the end of the year was a very good team and those guys were all a part of it, so we have to explore that,” Stearns said of the players acquired who became free agents.

“There are options out there, no question. What we have to determine is what is the best fit for our team.”

Whatever the decision at second base, it is expected to be for the short term. The Brewers’ No. 1 prospect, second baseman Keston Hiura, a first-round draft pick in 2017, is coming on fast and recently was named most valuable player of the Arizona Fall League. Stearns smiled when relayed the question many fans have asked: Could Hiura be the opening day second baseman?

“The answer is ‘no’ on that,” he said.

After coming so close to the World Series, Stearns was asked if there was any one focus to improve a team expected to be competitive for years.

“We want to get better,” he said. “However we can do that, we’re going to be open-minded to it. We understand we have the ability to bring our entire team back, more or less. That’s a nice position to be in and we’re not going to force anything, but wherever we see opportunities to get better, we’re going to take action.

“We’re involved in every conversation out there and we’re going to continue to be. The ultimate goal for this organization is to win a World Series title. We have our work cut out to make that a realistic possibility again. We’re going to work really hard this off-season to put ourselves in a position to win the division again, and ultimately, make a run in the playoffs.”