Milwaukee Brewers Urged to Sign 3x Cy Young Award Winner to Anchor Starting Rotation
The Milwaukee Brewers, somehow, managed to win 93 games in 2024. Prior to the season, they traded away their ace, 2021 NL Cy Young Award Winner Corbin Burnes, to the Baltimore Orioles for Joey Ortiz and DL Hall. With Brandon Woodruff, a two-time All-Star, out for the year following a shoulder injury in 2023, many believed that starting pitching, or the lack thereof, would keep Milwaukee from being competitive in 2024.
Don’t get it wrong. Starting pitching depth was indeed a concern. While Freddy Peralta set a career-high with 32 starts in 2024, and Colin Rea was a surprisingly dependable starter who made 27 starts, the backend of the Brewers starting rotation was beleaguered with injuries.
The Milwaukee Brewers Used 17 Different Starting Pitchers in 2024
Unfortunately for Milwaukee, their starting pitchers suffered a series of injuries throughout the season. Some of these caused pitchers to miss a handful of starts. Others ended seasons early.
In total, the Brewers used the following 17 pitchers as starters/openers in 2024:
While a few of these pitchers will be back in 2025, most of them will not. As such, Milwaukee needs to spend this offseason restocking their rotation depth because, as everyone learned in 2024, they cannot have too many starting pitchers.
Milwaukee Brewers Urged to Sign Justin Verlander for 2025
The Brewers are well-known for taking chances on aging pitchers that are trying to extend their Major League careers. Since they need to add starting pitching, one potential option could be three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, who is expected to get a one-year $13 million deal in free agency this winter.
Patrick McAvoy of Sports Illustrated suggests that the Brewers take advantage of this reasonable salary expectation to sign the star who once threw a no-hitter against them back in 2007:
“The Brewers should be able to contend once again in 2025 but adding another starting pitcher wouldn’t hurt. Because of this, the Brewers should go out and sign nine-time All-Star Justin Verlander.”
As intriguing as it would be to add such a noteworthy pitcher, the fact remains that Verlander was just 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 17 starts for the Houston Astros last season.
However, in 2023, he was 13-8 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 27 starts for the Astros and New York Mets. In 2022, he went 18-4 and had a 1.75 ERA and 0.83 WHIP on his way to his third career Cy Young Award.
Verlander will be 42 next season and there is no reason to think he has much of a career left. However, if any team can squeeze another year of solid production out him, it would be the Brewers and their famous pitching lab.
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