PHOENIX -- If there was a theme to the Brewers’ offseason, it was keeping the options open.

Beyond the positional versatility of Brock Holt, who signed with the Brewers on Wednesday, his contract fit a recent pattern for the Brewers. It was for one year plus a club option for 2021, making Holt Milwaukee’s fifth straight free-agent acquisition to sign for those terms.

“The vast majority of deals we’ve done over the course of this offseason give us multiple years of control on players,” Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “It gives us great security going forward that if players perform up to our expectations, they’re going to be Brewers for multiple years.”

Excluding Deolis Guerra, who signed a one-year contract but was later claimed off waivers by the Phillies, the Brewers have acquired 15 players on Major League deals via free agency, trades or waivers since the end of last season. Of those 15 players, only one -- left-hander Brett Anderson -- is guaranteed to be a free agent at year’s end.

The others are either signed beyond this season (Josh Lindblom, Avisaíl García), have a club option (Justin Smoak, Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, David Phelps and Holt), are arbitration-eligible (Eric Lauer, Alex Claudio, Ryon Healy) or will remain under club control as minimum-salary players (Luis Urías, Omar Narváez, Ronny Rodríguez, Eric Yardley).

“Both sides hope the player performs well and it’s an easy decision to bring him back,” Stearns said.

Let’s do it live
Here’s what Brewers manager Craig Counsell remembers from his playing days about seeing live pitching for the first time in Spring Training.

“It always feels like, ‘How did I get any hits?’” Counsell said. “Maybe that’s just me.”

No, Counsell was not alone in feeling that way about taking live batting practice for the first time. That was the challenge for Brewers hitters on Wednesday, including newcomer Holt, who signed with the team in the morning and unfortunately found himself in the group that drew live BP before coaches’ BP. So, Holt’s very first swing of Spring Training was against a live pitch from Josh Lindblom.

That’s hitting the ground running.

“It’s good to finally see some live pitching, but it’s not necessarily a day hitters look forward to,” said fellow veteran Jedd Gyorko. “Make sure your helmet’s on tight.”

Besides Lindblom, Adrian Houser, Eric Lauer, Shelby Miller and hard-throwing reliever Ray Black were on the list to throw to hitters Wednesday.

“It will be my first time throwing against hitters,” Black said. “They’re targets today. It’s one of those things that kind of gives you an idea of where you’re at. We can replicate as much as we want in bullpens, but today is truly the first step where I feel like, ‘OK, baseball is back.’”

There are more live BP sessions scheduled for Thursday and Friday before the Brewers’ Cactus League opener on Saturday. The Brewers will be on the field at 10 a.m. MST on Thursday and Friday.

Last call
• Lindblom will get the ball first for the Brewers in the Cactus League, starting Saturday’s spring opener against the Rangers in Surprise, Ariz.

• The Brewers are planning to formally present Cain with his Rawlings Gold Glove Award in a pregame ceremony during the regular season, but he got a brief introduction during a photo shoot this week. Cain said the award was heavier than he expected.

“It’s actually a glove, dipped in gold or something,” Cain said. “I didn’t know that.”