The most Brewers trade deadline ever

A C ertain Point of V iew

The end of July brings with it the MLB trade deadline, which can mean a variety of things, depending on the team you support. For Brewers fans, it usually means one of two things. There were many years where we would have to say good-bye to the one or two good players that they had managed to produce and take whatever random prospect we might end up with. Sometimes, these would pan out, and then we would get to trade those players for some other future prospects at the trade deadline and the cycle of life would continue.

Lately, however, the Brewers have kind of, sort of been competitive, which has prompted the other Milwaukee reaction to the trade deadline: acquiring mid-tier players that are having a good year and hope that it continues. The success rate of these trades has been…well, middling at best, with some like Mike Moustakas offering decent value during their time with the Crew and others (see, Jonathan Schoop, Matt Bush, etc.) being very much not worth the time or effort.

This year, Milwaukee decided to do a little bit of both, which is highly indicative of their current position in the baseball landscape.

Which then brings us to the interesting haul of veterans that the Brewers have brought in. And by interesting I mean…well, they are about as exciting as that random action flick you put on in the background as you do something more productive. Just good enough not to be offensive, but also nothing to write home about (but I guess that didn’t stop me from trying).

Interestingly enough, new first baseman Carlos Santana and probable DH candidate Mark Canha have almost instantly become the third and fourth best hitters on the team, at least on paper. Unfortunately, that is more of a reflection of just how bad this lineup has been offensively than what the pair brings with the bat. They have both been having fairly average years, but clearly the Milwaukee brass is hoping that just being average will help the Crew eke out a few more wins and claim the division. Or at the very least it makes it look like they are trying to do something. The cost was relatively cheap, so it was a low risk, low-to-medium reward type trade. I’ll be surprised if it really moves the needle.

They also traded one struggling reliever with potential to do better for another. Trading Peter Strzelecki for Arizona lefty reliever Andrew Chafin is like trading candy corn for circus peanuts. Having the candy corn doesn’t exactly bring you much joy, but the circus peanuts aren’t exactly an upgrade either. The Crew did probably need a lefty reliever, so there is that to consider, but this very much feels like a horizontal move with hopes that either player will do better with a change of scenery. Honestly, Chafin has proved to be serviceable for the Diamondbacks, but is also capable of serving up a big inning and blowing leads here or there. Sounds pretty similar to another guy the Brewers used to have… well, at any rate, Chafin has a handlebar mustache, so there’s that.

Finally, the Brewers said good-bye to the Luis Urias experiment, which makes the Trent Grisham and Zach Davies for Eric Lauer and Urias trade with the Padres kind of look like a wash at this point. It feels like a case of ‘well, maybe if he wasn’t injured to start the season’ but apparently the Brewers had seen enough to believe he was not the future at any infield position. Which feels a bit suspect given that none of the infield positions seem particularly locked down at the moment, but we will have to see. At any rate, I can’t wait for him to beat up on us a-la Orlando Arcia next season.

And…that’s it. Another trade deadline, another ‘eh’ shrug of the shoulders from me. Honestly, given the state of the team, it was probably the right move, but still nothing to make me think they will suddenly jump to a team that would get out of the first round of the playoffs. But who knows, perhaps if the starting rotation can get back to full strength and two or three bats join Yelich and Contreras in being productive, there is potential. I’m just not holding my breath.