Despite making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019, David Stearns saw fit to make significant changes to his club last offseason following the Wild Card loss to the Nationals. Self-imposed budgetary reasons may have been in play as the team cut payroll by roughly a quarter as more than half the roster was turned over. Stearns and his brain trust eschewed good players who had established themselves as valuable Brewers, instead making a couple of bets on potential breakout players like Statcast darling Avisail Garcia and KBO star Josh Lindblom, rolling the dice on bounce back candidates like Justin Smoak and Jedd Gyorko, and gambling on guys such as Eric Sogard and Omar Narvaez to continue to outperform their underlying batted ball metrics.
Pitchers and Catchers report: Milwaukee Brewers betting on bounce backs in 2021
