The Brewers were very adept at developing a productive bullpen again in 2023.  How do they do this?  Perhaps the most important element to a Brewers bullpen is a recognition that only a few players will be good bullpen pitchers for more than a couple years in a row.  The Brewers plan accordingly:

1.      They purge and restock the bullpen annually with pretty good success rate in recognizing who won’t be able to repeat their previous success.  In 2022 they let Brad Boxberger go through free agency and his ERA ballooned from 2.95 with the Brewers to a 4.95 the following year.  In 2021 they let Hunter Strickland (2021 ERA: 2.61) move on (2022 ERA: 4.91). 

2.      They over stock with flexible pieces to be prepared for players to not be able to duplicate their previous season.  Players like Stryzelecki, Cousins, Yardley and Claudio may have been retained but the Brewers had other pitchers ready in case they faltered the next year.

3.      They hunt around the margins of other MLB rosters to provide this depth.  A lot of these don’t pan out (Junk, Sanchez, Gustave) but others do (Payamps, Peguero, and Wilson).  The Brewers do a good job of recognizing potential bullpen pieces and having enough of them that they can churn through options and find some success. 

So far this off season the Brewers have focused on acquiring bullpen arms including Taylor Clarke, Byron Hudson and Joe Ross (although he may fill a swingman role).  It may seem strange for a team that had a deep successful bullpen in 2023 to focus on adding more controllable arms.  But this is how the Brewers do it. 

What is unusual is that they haven’t off loaded any relievers yet.  Either through free agency, trades or declining to offer a contract the Brewers typically wave good bye to at least one relief pitcher each off season.  This year, there weren’t any significant pieces set to be released as their salary increased or entering free agency.  This year it is up to the Brewers to figure out who might have just had a career-year that they won’t be able to repeat.   

Although there are many higher profile decisions facing this team, how they decide which current reliever should be put on the trade block may be one of the more interesting choices.  Will they out smart another team and trade away that pitcher who won’t find the same success in 2024 that they did last year?  Or will they get it wrong and trade away a valuable arm or fail to trade someone at peak value?  What move should they make?  Either way, this team will turn over some bullpen pieces.  Some one that was great won’t be as good.  It is the way it goes in the Brewers bullpen.