Earlier this week, I wrote a post that looked at each position on the Brewers and identified shortstop and the outfield as the most likely places that the team could improve the team in 2026 (with a TBD
in the starting rotation). As a follow-up to that post, I’m going to look at the upcoming free agent class with those positions in mind. Later on, we’ll look at potential trade targets.
The 2025-26 free agent class is not exactly stacked. There are a couple of big names at the top, but nothing near what we’ve seen the past two seasons, when we had the free agent sagas of Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto. We’ll briefly discuss the top free agent targets, but it’s safe to say that they’re unlikely to play in that market. This is also going to be position-player centric, given that the Brewers have fewer questions on the pitching staff than they do in the lineup.
We should also note that it’s not even the offseason yet, so names could be added to this list after the non-tender deadline on November 21.
The Big Fish
So who are these guys who the Brewers aren’t going to sign? There’s one name that stands above the rest when it comes to contract projections this winter, and while he does play at one of the positions of need for the Brewers, I think it’s safe to say that Kyle Tucker will not be playing for the Milwaukee Nine next year. Even though he wasn’t quite as good in 2025 as he was in 2024 or as healthy as he was in the three years before that, early projections still have a contract for the soon-to-be 29-year-old coming in somewhere around $400-500 million.
Tucker is a tier above all the other big-name hitters, but the next class that is still going to be too rich for the Brewers includes Cody Bellinger, Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, and Kyle Schwarber. Each of these players has a defect of some kind:
- Since winning the MVP in 2019, Bellinger has posted OPS+ numbers of 112, 44, 81, 139, 111, and 125. He’s still been good enough to have gotten 4.8 and 5.0 WAR in the 2023 and 2025 seasons, respectively, but he’s by no means a consistent star. He’s also on the wrong side of 30.
- Alonso very publicly is looking for a very large contract after not getting what he wanted last year. Playing on a 1+1 option last season, he hit well (.272, 38 homers, and NL leading 41 doubles) and is looking to cash in, but advanced metrics are not kind to Alonso, who is a good hitter but is a minus both in the field (at first base) and on the basepaths. Somebody will probably pay him, but it won’t be (and shouldn’t be) the Brewers.
- Another guy who didn’t get what he was looking for, played well, and opted out after the season, Bregman seems likely to return to the Red Sox. He got off to an excellent start but made it into only 114 games by the end of the season. Still, it was his best offensive showing since 2022 (and second-best since his back-to-back MVP caliber campaigns of 2018 and 2019), and he’s viewed as a clubhouse leader. He’ll be 32 in 2026, and that’s not the type of deal that the Brewers will make.
- Even late into the summer, it looked like Schwarber was going to give Ohtani a legitimate challenge for the NL MVP, but he faded a bit down the stretch. Still, he led the NL in homers (56) and RBI (132), and he’s played in at least 150 games in each of the last four seasons. But he’s a DH only, which Milwaukee doesn’t need, and he’s only a year younger than Christian Yelich.
One higher-priced guy the Brewers could potentially show interest in:
Bo Bichette is a great hitter. After an unhealthy and unproductive 2024, Bichette was back to form in 2025 and hit .311/.357/.483 with 44 doubles in just 139 games. His position is a bit of a question mark; he’s never played anywhere in the field as a major leaguer other than shortstop, but every available measure suggests he is, at this point, a bad defensive shortstop. He’s still only 27, so he has time to shift to a different position and theoretically could offer some value at a lesser defensive position (the Brewers could, for example, move Brice Turang to short and try Bichette at second base). There’s no question he can hit, but the Brewers don’t usually sign defensive question marks, especially very expensive ones.
Bichette’s contract projections are high, but they’re lower than the four guys mentioned above (Spotrac has his market value at $23m per year). The Brewers probably could stretch the budget for Bichette if they felt it was the right move, but this is a team that does not like restricting its future flexibility, particularly with a prospect like Jesus Made in the wings. I could possibly see Milwaukee getting involved if Bichette couldn’t find a long-term offer (something like the 2-year, $54m deal with an opt-out that Alonso took before last season), but I do not think they would want to commit money here beyond the 2027 season, and given Bichette’s relative youth compared to the rest of this free agent class, I expect he will be able to find a longer-term deal.
Luis Robert Jr. is a player I would probably group together with Bichette, but it sounds like the White Sox are likely to pick up his $20m club option. Trevor Story is another player who might command money in this general area, but he’s not the type of player that the Brewers would gamble on at this point (he’s soon-to-be 33 and just played over 100 games for the first time since 2021) and most expect him to opt into the two years and $50m that remain on his current contract. Ozzie Albies and Jarren Duran are good players in this range who have club options that will certainly be picked up.
Maybe this could actually happen?
We’re all probably sick of hearing his name, but Eugenio Suárez is an unrestricted free agent, he plays in the infield (this move would push Caleb Durbin to second), and he hits lots and lots of dingers. He is, at best, a below-average fielder at third base; there’s maybe a way to finagle him into a platoon at DH against left-handed pitching while putting him at third with right-handers on the mound, but it’s a bit complicated. Suárez is coming off one of his best seasons, but he’ll be 35 before next season is over. That could make him affordable; Spotrac projects his market value at $15m, and the age will keep the years down.
A guy who showed played well enough in September and in the postseason that he’ll probably decline his $8m player option is Jorge Polanco, the second of three players who finished the season on the Mariners who I’ll mention in this category. Polanco, a switch-hitter, was kind of forgotten after he was unhealthy in 2023 and then had a disappointing first season in Seattle in 2024, and his defense is a problem at this point in his career (he played 89 games at DH, 38 at second base, and five at third base this season), but he can hit. Quietly, Polanco has a 116 OPS+ since 2019, and that includes that subpar 2024 season and a bad pandemic season in 2020. It’s not clear if he could be the Brewers’ everyday second baseman at this point and he’s already 32, but would the Brewers consider it if he were available for something like two years and $35m?
I’m not convinced he’s an upgrade, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr. could add some pop to the Brewers’ lineup. I’d stay away, though: Gurriel just turned 32, his left field play is a struggle at this point, and he wasn’t very good offensively in 2025: he had 19 homers and 80 RBI, but his OBP was below .300 and he had a 95 OPS+. Even before that, Gurriel hasn’t had an OPS+ above 114 since 2020. I certainly would not be interested at the $14.5m market value that Spotract lists for him.
What about Luis Arráez? He’s a polarizing figure and while his skillset sort of fits with what the Brewers already do (he never strikes out, though he also never walks, which isn’t very Brewers-y), he doesn’t help them in the areas that they need help (i.e. power). And while he’s still listed as a second baseman in some places, Arráez played mostly first base in 2025 and played more first than second in 2024, and a team that values defense like Milwaukee does would not put Arráez at second base on anything close to a regular basis. It’s also possible that some general manager (or owner) is blinded by his .317 career batting average (he’s the active leader) and ignores the fact that his last two seasons have been worth 1.0 and 1.3 WAR, even though he won a batting title in one of them. (My money is on the Angels.)
One name to monitor: Gleyber Torres. He’s another guy who took a one-year deal last year when he couldn’t find what he wanted and is looking to cash in this year on a longer deal. Torres had a solid season for Detroit in 2025: he was an All-Star and had an OPS above .800 in early August before, like the rest of his teammates, he faded down the stretch (he finished at .745, a 108 OPS+). Torres isn’t a very good defensive player but he could play second, he’s not especially old, and while he’s reportedly looking for a contract over $50m, he wouldn’t necessarily break the bank. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden predicted four years and $52m for Torres; the Brewers probably would not want to sign him until he’s 33, but they could easily afford $13m a year. It’s probably not a fit due to the length Torres wants, but I could see Milwaukee being interested in a two-year deal if one were available.
More quickly: a couple of outfielders who could maybe be had on small deals are Trent Grisham and Mike Yastrzemski. Grisham, of course, is a former Brewer, and he somewhat shockingly hit 34 homers for the Yankees this year after never topping 17 in a season before that. I’m personally skeptical of that number and think it could be due to the Yankee Stadium dimensions (his homer per plate appearance pace in 2024 would’ve put him around 25-ish in 2024 if he’d played as much as he did in 2025), but he’ll only be 29 in 2026 and could probably still offer decent defense, especially if Milwaukee moved him to a corner. Yastrzemski is 35, but he’s been a solid hitter for basically his whole seven-year career and really hit well in Kansas City after arriving there after the trade deadline this season (.237/.339/.500, nine homers in 50 games, a 131 OPS+). He might still be able to play a corner outfield position.
One hitter in this category that probably isn’t a positional fit is Josh Naylor. His bat would be a nice pickup for Milwaukee’s offense, but Naylor will command too much to be a simple platoon option across from Andrew Vaughn (and there is no way the Brewers would pay something like $23m for a Vaughn/Naylor platoon), and Yelich is already here as a high-priced left-handed DH.
Brandon Lowe would fit in this category, but it sounds like the Rays are going to pick up his $11.5m option. (I’m going to be telling people the Brewers should try to get Brandon Lowe when I’m in a nursing home, and people will do the “sure, grandma” meme to me.) Ramón Laureano is another one who will almost definitely have his $6.5m club option picked up by San Diego.
Utility types that probably aren’t much of an upgrade
The players here likely don’t offer enough that Milwaukee would sign them as starters, and given that they’ve got Andruw Monasterio as a solid utility player, I don’t see the Brewers shopping in this market. (And the point of the exercise is to find upgrades; with these guys, I see it much more likely that Milwaukee would just roll Joey Ortiz back out, as there’s a good chance he’d outperform most of these guys from a value perspective.). But just so that they’re not ignored, here are some players who are probably going to be cheap enough that the Brewers could sniff around:
- Willi Castro is the type of super-utility player that good teams love, but he struggled badly after joining the Cubs at the 2025 trade deadline and this seems sort of like a “jack of all trades, master of none” situation that doesn’t make a ton of sense for this team.
- Luis Rengifo is mildly intriguing as a bounceback (or a get-him-away-from-the-Angels) candidate: he had a 109 OPS+ and averaged 2.1 WAR per season from 2022-24 but he was pretty awful last season (though his defense held up okay). He has played both second and third, but would likely make more sense as a second baseman for the Brewers.
- A player who may not reach free agency is Harrison Bader, who has a $10m mutual option with the Phillies. Bader had quite a good 2025, and may want to cash in, but teams will be scared off by the three seasons in which he was a bad offensive player between his two best seasons in 2021 and 2025. At 32, will it be reasonable to expect a repeat of last season? He’s a difficult player to project.
- Miguel Andujar was fantastic for the Reds after the trade deadline, but it looks like a small sample size alert. He’s also a bad fielder at this point, though he could probably play third base or the outfield in a pinch.
- If the Brewers wanted to run a strict platoon, Austin Hays mashes lefties. He might be more of a DH type than a reliable corner outfielder, and if the Brewers are going to run a platoon-mate with Yelich, I still think that’ll come from within (I mentioned recently the possibility of William Contreras and Jeferson Quero both playing against lefties if Quero is in the big leagues).
- I know it’s almost a joke in the comments at this point… but Yoán Moncada did have a 116 OPS+ last season in 84 games.
Other names who will be free agents who play the right positions but who I do not think are fits: Starling Marte, Max Kepler, Cedric Mullins, Tommy Pham, Michael Conforto, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Randal Grichuk. (There are more, obviously, but I don’t think they’re worth mentioning.)
