3 big questions for Brewers to ponder in camp

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MILWAUKEE -- It was a different kind of Brewers offseason, with one notable trade and no multiyear free-agent signings. But as American Family Fields of Phoenix opens for the business of Spring Training, general manager Matt Arnold said the two-time defending National League Central champions are reporting to camp with the same aim.

¡°I think our expectations are always high here, and that's something I think speaks to the culture that we've created here with the expectation to win,¡± Arnold said. ¡°We're proud of that, absolutely. So the fact that we're able to bring back a lot of our core, and we have some more established starting pitchers -- we have a boatload of good arms.

¡°I still think we have a really strong club here, and I'm excited to see what we can do this year again.¡±

Here are some of the most important questions Arnold & Co. will ponder in Spring Training:

1) Who's the shortstop?
The Brewers lost 32 home runs from 2024 along with a popular team leader when Willy Adames signed with the Giants, leaving a big hole at shortstop. Fortunately, Milwaukee has two capable, young options for that position in Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz, but club officials haven¡¯t offered any indications of who will get the job.

Turang not only won the NL Gold Glove at second base last season, he took home the Platinum Glove Award as the league¡¯s top overall defender. On one hand, that sounds like the kind of defender a team would want at shortstop. On the other hand, why mess with something that¡¯s working?

¡°I think it's still to be determined,¡± Arnold said. ¡°We have a number of good options there that we like. Obviously, Brice won the Platinum Glove last year, and he's plenty capable. So is Joey Ortiz, and we have other guys that can compete for that spot as well. It's something that Murph [manager Pat Murphy] and I have spent a lot of time on. We want to evaluate all these guys in camp.¡±

If Turang sticks at second base and Ortiz takes over at short, it creates a vacancy at third. Rookie Caleb Durbin, the infielder acquired with veteran left-hander Nestor Cortes from the Yankees in the Devin Williams deal, is one option. Another is Oliver Dunn, who made a splash for the Brewers early last season before being demoted to the Minors and seeing his season end in June due to a back injury. He¡¯s healthy again after picking up at-bats in the Dominican Winter League, Arnold said.

2) Which versions of Christian Yelich and Brandon Woodruff?
Woodruff is still completing his comeback from October 2023 shoulder surgery. Yelich underwent back surgery last August in order to have a chance to be ready for Opening Day. What are realistic timelines for those stars to contribute?

¡°It's hard to say at this point,¡± Arnold said. ¡°I think we want to be cautious with both these guys. I mean, we're not looking for them to be there, necessarily, in April. We want them to be there late in the season, in the stretch run and into October. The most important thing is that they're feeling good, and the reports that I'm getting on both of those guys are really, really positive.¡±

Of Yelich specifically, Arnold said, ¡°I think there's a chance that he can be involved early in the season for us, but we just want to be super cautious with this. Once we get him on the field getting live at-bats, we'll evaluate him and see how he does.¡±

3) Who is this year¡¯s Tobias Myers?
Every winning team needs a pleasant surprise or two, and none was more important to the 2024 Brewers than Myers, the right-hander who came out of nowhere to win Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher honors. Here¡¯s the tricky thing: Spring Training rarely offers reliable cues. Myers allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in his eight innings of Cactus League work last year.

¡°We saw so many guys take a step forward last year, and Murph and the [coaches] do a great job of making it a priority that development doesn't just stop in Triple-A,¡± Arnold said. ¡°We saw the progress with some of our young guys, with [Sal] Frelick and and [Jackson] Chourio, with Garrett Mitchell having some enormous at-bats for us at the end of last season and Brice Turang continuing to progress positively.

¡°And so, it's just sort of seeing who the next Tobias Myers is, you know? It's those kinds of guys that we just have to continue to work with and develop and allow those guys to shine.¡±