Milwaukee Brewers have not done much this offseason. In fact, they are basically the definition of a church mouse with no real moves being made minus dealing Norichika Aoki getting traded to Kansas City and Ryan Braun heading into right field. Other than that, not many moves have been made and it feels like we as Wisconsin sports fans have two Ted Thompson's in Wisconsin. With their quiet winter nature, people started to get concern who would play first base. It really felt like they were going all in on Juan Francisco which gave some people nightmares and probably something Rickie Weeks pulled for as he would be second-most booed by casual fans and Francisco would take his crown. Francisco will finally get some competition as Brewers signed Mark Reynolds to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Baseball training camp. Reynolds could provide yet another power bat as well as relief for Aramis Ramirez and if fans do not expect too much, this will work out for Milwaukee better than last year.
Reynolds is a version of Russell Branyan where you get a home run, a strikeout or a walk and that's about it. He is not going to provide you with many singles or doubles, but Reynolds will add some pop from the first baseman position something Milwaukee lacked last year. The lowest home run total for Reynolds is 17 in his rookie year and only had 21 last season. Reynolds has not played in the National League since 2010 season. I know we can look into that too much sometimes, it is proven getting to face NL pitching tends to make a player better than their years in the American League. It is also worth noting Reynolds lowest strikeout total is 154 meaning he is going to piss my dad off a ton which entertains me more than it should, but this is something he can do...
Even though he really does not play a good third base, Reynolds at least provides relief for Ramirez if he needs it on a Sunday afternoon. They do not really have a backup third base option, and now Milwaukee have the corners cover. The fact Reynolds is not 'just a first baseman' makes him more valuable for the team more so than what Milwaukee has at first base. If you disagree with Reynolds' value, I would point you to Jack Moore's tweet about Reynolds fWAR compared to what Milwaukee had last season.
Mark Reynolds produced 0.4 fWAR in 2013, or exactly 5.0 WAR more than all 2013 Brewers 1B.
— Jack Moore (@jh_moore) January 17, 2014My plea to fans is please know Reynolds does not immediately bring a championship here. Rather know he makes sure if Weeks is in the lineup, the Brewers have eight guys who can hit home runs regularly. This will be another 'Boom/Bust Brewers team.' I have no idea if this will work out for the team, but I am pretty excited to see how the 2014 Milwaukee Brewers come together.
Charlie.
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