Ex-Brewers Star Among 'Biggest Busts' In MLB Due To 'Woeful' First Month

Former Brew Crew players aren't having a happy 2025 so far...

Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Did the Milwaukee Brewers move on from a star player at the perfect time?

There are actually two ex-Brewers who might come to mind in response to the above question.

Devin Williams (New York Yankees) and Willy Adames (San Francisco Giants) — two stars who wore Milwaukee uniforms in 2024 — are both struggling with their new clubs in 2025. Williams has already lost the closer job in New York (for now), and Adames isn’t hitting at all.

On Monday, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller included Adames in an article about the “biggest busts” of the first month of the Major League Baseball season.

“(The Giants aren’t) getting anything out of the shortstop they made the highest-paid player in franchise history this winter,” Miller wrote.

“After a 2024 campaign with 32 home runs, 112 RBI and 21 stolen bases landed him a 10th-place finish in the NL MVP vote, Willy Adames is on pace for roughly six, 81 and six, respectively, in the first year of his $182 million contract.”

“The glass half-full perspective is that slow starts are nothing new for the 29-year-old. In both 2021 and 2022, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for the first few weeks, yet he still ended up with at least 120 hits and 24 home runs in each of the past four seasons.”

“But he is whiffing at non-fastballs at an alarming rate, while his barrel percentage on batted balls is barely even half of what it had been with the Brewers. Add to that his woeful defensive metrics, and let's just say this isn't the start San Francisco had in mind when it made Adames the face of the franchise.”

Adames is under contract with the Giants through 2031, so he has plenty of time to win over fans at Oracle Park. At the moment, Adames should just focus on making his .205/.272/.268 slash line look a little less ugly.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Brice Turang has immediately replaced Adames as a superstar-type infielder for the Brewers.

For the Brew Crew, transitioning into a post-Adames universe has been seamless.

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