Saturday, February 22

MILWAUKEE -- It was a different kind of Brewers offseason, with one notable trade and no multiyear free-agent signings. But as American Family Fields of Phoenix opens for the business of Spring Training, general manager Matt Arnold said the two-time defending National League Central champions are reporting to camp with the same aim. 

“I think our expectations are always high here, and that's something I think speaks to the culture that we've created here with the expectation to win,” Arnold said. “We're proud of that, absolutely. So the fact that we're able to bring back a lot of our core, and we have some more established starting pitchers -- we have a boatload of good arms. 

“I still think we have a really strong club here, and I'm excited to see what we can do this year again.” 

• Plan a party at the ballpark with 2025 group tickets

Here are some of the most important questions Arnold & Co. will ponder in Spring Training:

1) Who's the shortstop?  
The Brewers lost 32 home runs from 2024 along with a popular team leader when Willy Adames signed with the Giants, leaving a big hole at shortstop. Fortunately, Milwaukee has two capable, young options for that position in Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz, but club officials haven’t offered any indications of who will get the job.

Turang not only won the NL Gold Glove at second base last season, he took home the Platinum Glove Award as the league’s top overall defender. On one hand, that sounds like the kind of defender a team would want at shortstop. On the other hand, why mess with something that’s working? 

“I think it's still to be determined,” Arnold said. “We have a number of good options there that we like. Obviously, Brice won the Platinum Glove last year, and he's plenty capable. So is Joey Ortiz, and we have other guys that can compete for that spot as well. It's something that Murph [manager Pat Murphy] and I have spent a lot of time on. We want to evaluate all these guys in camp.”

If Turang sticks at second base and Ortiz takes over at short, it creates a vacancy at third. Rookie Caleb Durbin, the infielder acquired with veteran left-hander Nestor Cortes from the Yankees in the Devin Williams deal, is one option. Another is Oliver Dunn, who made a splash for the Brewers early last season before being demoted to the Minors and seeing his season end in June due to a back injury. He’s healthy again after picking up at-bats in the Dominican Winter League, Arnold said. 

2) Which versions of Christian Yelich and Brandon Woodruff?  
Woodruff is still completing his comeback from October 2023 shoulder surgery. Yelich underwent back surgery last August in order to have a chance to be ready for Opening Day. What are realistic timelines for those stars to contribute?

“It's hard to say at this point,” Arnold said. “I think we want to be cautious with both these guys. I mean, we're not looking for them to be there, necessarily, in April. We want them to be there late in the season, in the stretch run and into October. The most important thing is that they're feeling good, and the reports that I'm getting on both of those guys are really, really positive.”

Of Yelich specifically, Arnold said, “I think there's a chance that he can be involved early in the season for us, but we just want to be super cautious with this. Once we get him on the field getting live at-bats, we'll evaluate him and see how he does.” 

3) Who is this year’s Tobias Myers?  
Every winning team needs a pleasant surprise or two, and none was more important to the 2024 Brewers than Myers, the right-hander who came out of nowhere to win Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher honors. Here’s the tricky thing: Spring Training rarely offers reliable cues. Myers allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in his eight innings of Cactus League work last year. 

“We saw so many guys take a step forward last year, and Murph and the [coaches] do a great job of making it a priority that development doesn't just stop in Triple-A,” Arnold said. “We saw the progress with some of our young guys, with [Sal] Frelick and and [Jackson] Chourio, with Garrett Mitchell having some enormous at-bats for us at the end of last season and Brice Turang continuing to progress positively. 

“And so, it's just sort of seeing who the next Tobias Myers is, you know? It's those kinds of guys that we just have to continue to work with and develop and allow those guys to shine.” 

• The Brewers included a touch of Bob Uecker’s signature style in the uniform patch they’ll wear throughout the 2025 season to honor their late, legendary broadcaster.

The patch, unveiled Monday morning, has Uecker’s signature over a baseball that’s circled by a ring of plaid, meant to conjure the colorful sport coats that Uecker wore for many of his 100 or so appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and in Miller Lite television ads.

Those gigs helped to make Uecker a household name far beyond Milwaukee, where he was beloved as the Brewers’ radio broadcaster for 54 years until his passing last month.

• Catcher Jeferson Quero, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 Brewers prospect and No. 47 overall, is one of my colleague Ben Weinrib’s 15 prospects primed to bounce back in 2025. 

• Our first way-too-early roster projection hit the site on Monday. Take a look and let me know where you think I got it wrong. 

• One other note: Arnold confirmed that reliever Abner Uribe’s six-game suspension levied following a dustup with the Rays last April had been reduced to four games upon appeal. That didn’t come into play down the stretch last season because Uribe had been sent to the Minors and then had knee surgery. So, Uribe will have to serve four games whenever he’s called back to the Majors.

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