In the Post-Willy Adames Era, Will Pat Murphy Be More Proactive About Rest for Position Players?

[Matthew Trueblood]

It's not how you start; it's how you finish. If the Brewers want to finish a season stronger than by exiting the playoffs in the first round, they have to get to the postseason fresher. Right?

Image courtesy of © Brett Davis - Imagn Images

On Tuesday afternoon, Willy Adames will officially turn down the qualifying offer the Brewers extended to him a few days after the end of the World Series. While that won't quite mark a final separation between the team and its erstwhile All-Star shortstop, in practice, that's what it is. Milwaukee is likely to reduce payroll (albeit slightly) in 2025, and Adames is set to achieve a massive payday in free agency. The loss will be deeply felt, because Adames was a tone-setter and a leader, as well as a brilliant performer.

Most famously, perhaps, Adames and William Contreras wanted to be in the lineup every day for the bulk of 2024. Every. Single. Day. It was a somewhat old-school approach, and one the team first met with ambivalence—but then embraced. Pat Murphy tried to give both players a day off once in the early going, only to have them show up in his office pleading to play. That's the kind of energy, passion, and tenacity every team wants from its stars. Murphy acceded to their request, though each later rested at least a little.

When October came, Adames still looked pretty strong, too. Brice Turang and Sal Frelick, who each played almost every day all season, played very well in the NL Wild Card Series, despite this being their first full and uninterrupted seasons in the majors and despite their smallish statures. Contreras, though, was a wreck. His knee was in pain, and required a heavy brace just to permit him to play. As much as the team depended on Contreras all season (and especially after Christian Yelich went down with back surgery in the summer), his incapacitation was a painful blow.

Contreras is a perfect illustration of why few teams let their top stars play extremely often, relative to their positional peers. Doing so tends to erode plate discipline and other types of on-field decision-making, and it also increases injury risk. Days off to ensure rest and get players as far as the postseason without tiring out are part of the standard industry operating procedure, these days. The Brewers didn't do it as much as most of their rivals, and it did bite them, although not as early or as badly as it could have.

Of course, Murphy had another, even better reason for letting Adames and Contreras set the standard and play almost every day: the Brewers' positional depth was immediately depleted and wasn't as good as hoped for much of the season. Giving Adames days off to permit some position switching and an appearance for Oliver Dunn made sense early on, but quickly, Dunn proved himself to have some major holes in his swing, and he then got hurt. Tyler Black's early returns in the big leagues weren't impressive. Andruw Monasterio became a fairly ineffectual extra infielder. Garrett Mitchell getting hurt early and Yelich getting hurt late alleviated much of the expected pressure on outfield playing time.

Going forward, the Brewers want and expect to have better depth. If they accomplish that goal (despite modest means) this winter, Murphy will readily adapt. Early in the season, we should see more platooning of Turang and Frelick, or even of Joey Ortiz. We should see days off for every regular, almost in rotation, throughout the first four months. That should give them a bit of extra pep late in the season. Last year's Brewers did almost everything well, but they fell short in terms of load management. To do it better next year, they need better alternative options than Dunn, Monasterio, or Jake Bauers. That project begins this week, as the Brewers will be on the lookout for players to scoop up amid league-wide roster crunches.

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[sveumrules]

My divvying up of starts for the current Brewers position players would be something like...

Ca: Contreras (100) Haase (31) Quero (31 as late season call up)
1B: Hoskins (100) Black (62)
2B: Turang (108) Monasterio (54)
SS: Ortiz (135) Turang (27)
3B: NEW GUY (135) Frelick (27)
LF: Chourio (120) Yelich (42)
CF: Mitchell (120) Perkins (42)
RF: Frelick (90) Perkins (37) Chourio (35)
DH: Yelich (80) Contreras (45) Hoskins (20) Black (17)

Just need to figure out who that NEW GUY is gonna be and hopefully improve the backup IF as well to upgrade on the Monasterio spot and help ensure Murphy keeps Frelick on the OF grass.