First off, I love this signing. Michael Brantley has played more than 11 games in four of the last five seasons. In those season’s, he’s averaged 3.7 WAR. We paid essentially for a 2 WAR/year player. Sure, he had a monster year in 2014, but there’s no way that player signs for less than 100 million. Last year he put up 3.5 WAR and had a wRC+ of 124. That was better than Springer’s 2018 season at the plate.
Although Brantley’s OF defense is below average on almost every metric, he remains a good baserunner. More importantly, he’s a left-handed bat that provides protection.