The Best 5 Late-Offseason Brewers Acquisitions Of The Past Decade

Happy New Year, Brewers fans! While most go through with or lose interest in our New Year’s resolutions, deep down, those Brewers fans anxiously wait for their favorite team to do something during the offseason.

In the past, the start of the year was when the Brewers started making signings and trades that would impact the organization for at least the following year. Whether those moves work out won’t be known until the end of their deal. However, since 2014, most of these moves have ended quite positively. We aren’t talking about the Neftali Feliz signing of 2017 or the edition of Jedd Gyorko in 2021; we are talking about the ones that paid off wonderfully for the Brewers.

Here are Milwaukee’s best late off-season transactions entering the new year.

Honorable Mention: January 15, 2021 – Jackson Chourio Joins the Brewers
It’s a little early to assume this move will be among the best for the Brewers in January. However, it is off to a fantastic start.

After signing him as a shortstop for $1.8 million, Chourio immediately went to work as part of the Dominican Summer League. Within that time, he was hitting a .296/.386/.447 slash line at 17. Seeking better competition in 2022, Chourio skipped the domestic complex league and went straight to Single A to play for the Carolina Mudcats.

Now, as a regular center fielder, he ended up in Double-A Biloxi to end the season. He finished with an .880 OPS with 20 home runs and 75 RBI. He continued his success in 2023, hitting .280/.336/.467 with 22 home runs and 89 RBIs before being called to Triple A at the end of the year.

Now the second-rated prospect in all of baseball, the Brewers see Chourio as a bright spot in the team’s future. Earlier in the offseason, he signed an eight-year, $82 million extension with two club options to make it a 10-year, $140 million deal. This adds Chourio to the 40-man roster, giving him the chance to be on the Opening Day roster.

His MLB career is just starting, so we won’t know how big of a deal it was to add this international talent. But we can look forward to seeing the 20-year-old in a Brewers uniform in the 2024 season.

5: January 19, 2015 - Brewers Trade Yovani Gallardo for Corey Knebel and Prospects
Heading into 2015, we knew as a fan base the window for a World Series championship may have come to a close. After a third place, 82-80 record, we knew this wasn’t the same team as the 2011 team that advanced to the NLCS.

During the 2015 season, the Brewers traded Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to the Astros, Aramis Ramirez was traded to the Pirates, and Ron Roenicke was fired. But the beginning of the end started when the Brewers traded Yovani Gallardo to the Texas Rangers.

In this trade, the Brewers received RHP Marcos Diplan, INF Luis Sardinas, and RHP Corey Knebel. While Diplan never saw playing time in Milwaukee and Sardinas played 36 games with the Brewers in 2015, Knebel became a key acquisition in the bullpen.

In five seasons with the Brewers, Knebel has a 3.20 ERA with a 1.23 WHIP and 57 saves. Thirty-seven saves were in his All-Star 2017 season when he replaced Neftali Feliz, who was struggling to finish games. He suffered an injury in early 2018, leaving the door open for Jeremy Jeffress and his eventual successor, Josh Hader, to take over as closer. When Knebel returned, he struggled against hitters being sent to Triple A. He returned in September to help the Brewers make it to the NLCS.

As for Gallardo, he had a successful 2016 season with a 13-11 record and a 3.42 ERA in 33 starts. After that, he bounced around from team to team, losing his footing from Baltimore to Seattle to Cincinnati, and even signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in 2018.

Knebel wasn’t the same after his Tommy John surgery, which led to him being non-tendered after the shortened 2020 season. Even so, it’s fair to say the Brewers won the trade in January 2015, leading to multiple years of success in their bullpen.

4: February 5, 2021 – Brewers sign Kolten Wong
After coming off a shortened year where the Brewers were one of two teams to make it to the postseason with a below .500 record, there needed to be change.

Eric Sogard and Keston Hiura struggled to get on base and weren’t great defensively. With a few weeks left of spring training, the fans expected Luis Urias to spend most of the time at second. That all changed when the Brewers grabbed Kolten Wong from free agency on a two-year $18 million deal with a $10 million club option for 2023.

Wong, a two-time gold glove winner and long-time Cardinal, opted out of his $12.5 option, making him a free agent. He joined the Brewers in early February, making him their starting second baseman. Better late than never.

Wong was hitting his stride with the Brewers as he recorded career highs in his first year with them. In 2021, he hit 14 home runs, a .447 slugging percentage, and a 110 OPS+. His batting average was second-best amongst regular starters (.272), only below the recently acquired Willy Adames (.288).

Wong did take a step down in 2022, hitting .251/.339/.430 with a 116 OPS+ and belting 15 homers. Despite missing out on the playoffs, Wong was still one of the most consistent hitters within the organization.

After trading Renfroe to the Angels and Andrew McCutchen signing with the Pirates, the Brewers grew concerned about finding a regular DH or outfielder. With confidence in Luis Urias and prospect Brice Turang, the Brewers accepted Wong's club option and traded him to the Mariners for Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro. I wonder how those players are doing.

Wong was one of the better lead-off hitters in recent history and provided great defense when we needed it most. We are thankful for Wong’s time in Milwaukee as the Brewers struck again with another great late signing.

3: January 14, 2019 – Brewers sign Yasmani Grandal
Grandal may have only been here for one season. However, it gave a much-needed jolt to the Brewers' offense and left a stamp on the franchise. I mean, look, he got his bobblehead giveaway in late August of that season, and it was announced before he stepped foot in American Family Field wearing a Brewers uniform.

The Brewers needed to fill a hole that Erik Kratz left behind after their magical 2018 postseason run. Manny Pina could fill that role, but in 98 games, nine home runs and an 87 OPS+ don’t scream starting catcher.

The Brewers signed the former Dodgers catcher to a one-year, 18.25 million contract with a mutual option for the 2020 season. What he did for the Brewers would be hard to replicate.

In his one year with the Brewers, Grandal hit 28 home runs, 77 RBI, and walked 109 times. All of these numbers were the best in his career. His 240 total bases, 119 OPS+ and .246/.380/.468 slash line is nothing to sneeze at either.

MLB agreed as Grandal was selected for the 2019 All-Star game, the first time he’s been an All-Star since his 2015 season, and even received MVP votes. Unsurprisingly, Grandal elected free agency and signed a four-year, $73 million deal with the White Sox in 2020.

Grandal is the perfect example of a player who took advantage of a prove-it deal. He signed with the Crew for what the qualifying offer was for, then earned a lengthy deal. Wherever he signs this offseason, the Brewers will remember him as one of the best catchers to wear a Brewers Jersey.

2: February 7, 2014 – Brewers sign Francisco Rodriguez
In an offseason where the Brewers traded outfielder Nori Aoki for pitcher Will Smith signed Matt Garza to a four-year deal and brought in Lyle Overbay and Mark Reynolds on minor league contracts, the Crew ended their offseason by bringing back former Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez.

As most people called him, K-Rod was already familiar with the organization after the Brewers traded for the reliever from the Mets following the 2011 All-Star game. He was utilized as the setup man for then-closer John Axford. Though displeased with his role, he had a 4-0 record with a 1.86 ERA for the Brewers that season.

The pitcher stuck around for a few years before being traded to the Orioles for prospect Nicky Delmonico in 2013. Just when you thought he was gone, the Brewers brought K-Rod back on a one-year deal, but this time to be the closer.

K-Rod led the league in games finished (66) with 44 saves, a 3.04 ERA, and a 0.98 WHIP. He returned for another season, where he recorded his career-best WHIP (0.86) while collecting 38 saves. Rodriguez also had a 2.21 ERA and a 2.91 FIP. These are the lowest they’ve been since his tenure with the Mets.

Both of those seasons, K-Rod represented the Brewers in the All-Star Game; they ended up being the last two appearances in his baseball career. Just like before, the Brewers traded K-Rod. This time, it was to the Detroit Tigers for Javier Betancourt and Manny Pina.

It's hard to judge how impactful a move can be in a year when the Brewers were unsure what they were doing. However, K-Rod's efforts made the final decision to rebuild a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

1: January 25, 2018 – Brewers trade for Christian Yelich and sign Lorenzo Cain
Were you expecting anything else to be number one on this list?

After finishing an 86-76 record and missing the 2017 playoffs by one game, the Brewers looked poised to compete for the playoffs and maybe even a World Series in 2018.

They already looked set in the outfield with Ryan Braun, Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, Brett Phillips, and baseball’s 13th prospect Lewis Brinson on the roster. But that didn’t stop the Crew from solidifying their outfield for the future.

What was a quiet offseason got loud when the Brewers traded for Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich in exchange for Brinson, Jordan Yamamoto, Isan Diaz, and Monte Harrison.

Suppose you're curious to know where those four prospects went. Brinson last played for the Giants in 2022. The Dodgers released Yamamoto before the 2023 season. Diaz stuck with the Marlins until he got traded to the Tigers and was claimed by the Giants before he was released. As for Harrison, he signed back with the Brewers on a minor league deal before being released back in September. It’s fair to say the Brewers won that blockbuster trade.

When the trade went down, I got excited but was disappointed the Brewers would probably be out of the Lorenzo Cain sweepstakes. To my surprise, the Brewers signed Cain to a five-year, $80 million deal just a few hours later.

For the Brewers, Yelich won an MVP, back-to-back batting titles, and received a seven-year, $188 million extension. Cain became the leadoff hitter, winning his first gold glove at centerfield in 2019. The rest, as everyone says, is history.

It will be tough to replicate any of these transactions for the Crew. But January is genuinely the Brewers' month to watch.

Do you know of any other signings the Brewers made to start the new year? Do you think the Brewers will pull off another move this year? Let us know in the comments.