2018 Brewers Transactions: Acquire Cedeno, Gio, Granderson

[crkone]

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[Aaron It Out]

Traded Choi for a more versatile player? Does he become our new utility guy?

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[BigDee]

Like the move.

[MickeyDavis]

Fine with it.

[ReasonablySober]

Choi made the most of his time in MKE. Hell of a pickup.

But yea, if this gets Nerd off the team, that'd be just dandy.

[Kerb Hohl]

Good trade.

[Jollay]

We love the versatility....can play everywhere. Hope he can rediscover his pop.

Kind of sad about Choi...if this season does go anywhere hope he gets recognized for the couple games he essentially won for us.

[WeekapaugGroove]

We love the versatility....can play everywhere. Hope he can rediscover his pop.

Kind of sad about Choi...if this season does go anywhere hope he gets recognized for the couple games he essentially won for us.

Hope choi gets a shot in TB. I think agular raking is what doomed him because I think he was brought in this spring to be the agular replacement if they needed to dfa jesus in a roster crunch. Since agular is out of options they would have lost him in that scenario and choi would have provided depth with an option to bounce back and forth. Obviously agular hit his way to a solid hold on a roster spot so plans changed.

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[jakecronus8]

Like the move if it guarantees I never have to see Sogard in a Brewers uniform again, but I want them to just give Villar the 2b job for a good stretch here. Yes he made a bone headed play last night, but his bat is starting to heat up and he's looking closer to '16 Villar. Putting him back in a platoon could really stifle that.

[Ryan5UW]

Like the move if it guarantees I never have to see Sogard in a Brewers uniform again, but I want them to just give Villar the 2b job for a good stretch here. Yes he made a bone headed play last night, but his bat is starting to heat up and he's looking closer to '16 Villar. Putting him back in a platoon could really stifle that.

Agreed - they need to just commit consistent playing time to him for awhile and see what happens.

[humanrefutation]

Matt Albers to the DL with right shoulder soreness. Lopez recalled from Colorado Springs.

[Wisky4life]

So when are we going to trade for Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett??? They are lighting it up this first half.

Fixes SS and 2nd base.

[MAC1987]

So when are we going to trade for Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett??? They are lighting it up this first half.

Fixes SS and 2nd base.

I could see Gennett (28yr) as he doesn't have much left on his contract (1 more ARB year). And the fact he doesn't have many years left on his contract is perfect for when Hiura comes up.

Jean (28yr) has like 6 years left on his contract at about 15-17 million.
Not knowing who is all in the minors at SS (I thought there was 1 stud). But Jean might actually make sense if they don't believe in Arcia and want to give guys in the minors time to develop. (This doesn't mean i'm saying trade Arcia...)

Either way if our SS/2B/C (besides Kratz's miracle start with the brewers) continue to hit poorly we will have to go after some bats.

[Kerb Hohl]

So when are we going to trade for Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett??? They are lighting it up this first half.

Fixes SS and 2nd base.

I could see Gennett (28yr) as he doesn't have much left on his contract (1 more ARB year). And the fact he doesn't have many years left on his contract is perfect for when Hiura comes up.

Jean (28yr) has like 6 years left on his contract at about 15-17 million.
Not knowing who is all in the minors at SS (I thought there was 1 stud). But Jean might actually make sense if they don't believe in Arcia and want to give guys in the minors time to develop. (This doesn't mean i'm saying trade Arcia...)

Either way if our SS/2B/C (besides Kratz's miracle start with the brewers) continue to hit poorly we will have to go after some bats.

Oh yeah, I'm sure the Mariners and their 44-24 record battling with the Astros and a Wild Card as a fallback are itching to trade their franchise SS.

[Iheartfootball]

I'm thinking the chances of either of those trade are close to zero point zero.

[Wisky4life]

So when are we going to trade for Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett??? They are lighting it up this first half.

Fixes SS and 2nd base.

I could see Gennett (28yr) as he doesn't have much left on his contract (1 more ARB year). And the fact he doesn't have many years left on his contract is perfect for when Hiura comes up.

Jean (28yr) has like 6 years left on his contract at about 15-17 million.
Not knowing who is all in the minors at SS (I thought there was 1 stud). But Jean might actually make sense if they don't believe in Arcia and want to give guys in the minors time to develop. (This doesn't mean i'm saying trade Arcia...)

Either way if our SS/2B/C (besides Kratz's miracle start with the brewers) continue to hit poorly we will have to go after some bats.

Oh yeah, I'm sure the Mariners and their 44-24 record battling with the Astros and a Wild Card as a fallback are itching to trade their franchise SS.

I was doing it more for the laughs. I highly doubt we go for either. My guess, baring an injury; would be another pitcher.

[Kerb Hohl]

I could see Gennett (28yr) as he doesn't have much left on his contract (1 more ARB year). And the fact he doesn't have many years left on his contract is perfect for when Hiura comes up.

Jean (28yr) has like 6 years left on his contract at about 15-17 million.
Not knowing who is all in the minors at SS (I thought there was 1 stud). But Jean might actually make sense if they don't believe in Arcia and want to give guys in the minors time to develop. (This doesn't mean i'm saying trade Arcia...)

Either way if our SS/2B/C (besides Kratz's miracle start with the brewers) continue to hit poorly we will have to go after some bats.

Oh yeah, I'm sure the Mariners and their 44-24 record battling with the Astros and a Wild Card as a fallback are itching to trade their franchise SS.

I was doing it more for the laughs. I highly doubt we go for either. My guess, baring an injury; would be another pitcher.

Right, I was replying to the response to you that took it seriously.

I don't really know what we'll trade for. People are going to burn Miller Park down if Stearns doesn't do anything but I'm not sure about the opportunity cost of almost any move unless there is a clear, good rental available.

C - Realmuto is one of the few serious upgrades I'd deal for and I think he'll cost too much.
SS - Miller coming in helps this a bit even if it means he's playing 2B and Villar or somebody else gets some time at SS.
SP - If there is a clear upgrade out there, fine. deGrom, Thor, maybe Archer type of guys. Tyson Ross is a minor upgrade and I'd take him for a rental salary dump basically, but he'll cost more. Point being, I don't want to pay an absurd price for a pitcher and anyone below that bar probably isn't an upgrade to what we already have.
RP - Really not sure if we need it. Maybe a salary dump, especially if Albers is out a while.

Long story short, I think maybe a rental salary dump guy is fine. I don't really think that I want to break the bank for Realmuto but if we had to make one "go for it" trade, I guess I'd take Realmuto and Castro from Miami even knowing that we'll overpay for Realmuto and Castro is just a mediocre salary dump guy.

[MickeyDavis]

The Milwaukee Brewers are in a tough spot with Orlando Arcia.

A former top prospect in the organization, a sensational defender and a player who showed encouraging progress offensively last season, Arcia is considered one of the building blocks in the organization’s rebuild that arrived ahead of schedule in 2017 and prompted a “go for it” strategy in 2018.

But Arcia has buried himself at the plate this season with a regression so steep that general manager David Stearns made the difficult decision in May to send him to Class AAA Colorado Springs to clear the deck and hopefully regain some confidence. That plan was scrapped a few days later when his replacement, Tyler Saladino, suffered an ankle sprain so severe that he is not close to returning to action.

Basically, the Brewers have had no choice but to keep playing Arcia, despite the fact his at-bats have become increasingly difficult to watch. Going into the weekend series against the Phillies, Arcia was batting .201 with two home runs and 15 RBI, and a paltry .236 OBP and .501 OPS. His primary backup, Eric Sogard, is having an even worse season at the plate (.125 batting average, .394 OPS), removing him from consideration for more playing time.

Some fans have clamored for the Brewers to do something about this situation but, in essence, their hands are tied. They are a contending team that needs major league quality defense at the important position of shortstop, and Arcia definitely provides that commodity. To his credit, he has not taken his offensive woes into the field.

The Brewers’ best shortstop prospect, Mauricio Dubon, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee the first week of May trying to escape a rundown at Colorado Springs and was lost for the remainder of the season. Dubon, 23, had just extended his hitting streak to 23 games and was off to a tremendous start at the time of that unfortunate injury.

Had Dubon not been injured, there’s a good chance he’d be the Brewers’ starting shortstop right now, with Arcia regrouping at Colorado Springs. Instead, with Dubon out for the season, Saladino sidelined for several weeks and Sogard unable to provide anything offensively, the Brewers have no viable option at short beyond Arcia.

The Brewers did pick up infielder Brad Miller last week from Tampa Bay in a trade for first baseman Ji-Man Choi. Miller, 28, was considered primarily a shortstop as recently as 2016, when he belted 30 home runs with 81 RBI for the Rays, and played that position in his first game Thursday with Colorado Springs.

But Miller was moved to second base in 2017 and was playing mostly at first base this season before the trade. The Rays decided they were better with Adeiny Hechavarria at shortstop and eventually decided to cut ties with Miller completely.

Stearns said the plan was to play Miller “across the infield” at Colorado Springs in preparation for joining the team at some point, so we shall see how much shortstop he plays. The Brewers do not plan to move second baseman Jonathan Villar back to his original position at short because they don’t want to change course after he has shown so much improvement at second base this season.

Which brings us back to Arcia. After he made tremendous strides offensively last season, batting .277 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI, with a much-improved .324 OBP (it was .273 in 55 games in ’16), Arcia was expected, at the very least, to maintain that level of production if not improve it.

Instead, Arcia got off to a terrible start (.190 batting average in April with .513 OPS), started to press and lost the plate discipline he had improved in 2017. He basically swings at everything now – he has eight walks in 182 plate appearances and only four since April – and pitchers regularly work him off the plate, where he awkwardly waves at pitches and either strikes out or taps weak grounders.

Arcia had some game-winning hits early in the season but his mechanics have eroded significantly at the plate. He often kicks his right leg backwards – something he did last year but to a lesser extent – instead of driving off his back foot. He gets so off-balance at the plate that he not only can’t get to outside pitches, he does no damage with pitches on the inner half.

After showing some pop last year with a .407 slugging percentage and 34 extra-base hits, Arcia rarely drives the ball these days. His slugging is down to .264 with seven extra-base hits – five doubles and two home runs. Whenever a player, especially a young one, struggles to this extreme, be assured his confidence level is near zero.

The good news is that Arcia doesn’t turn 24 until Aug. 4 and there is time to fix him. It is not unusual for young hitters, especially those with plate discipline problems at the outset, to backtrack early in their careers after showing improvement over a season. If the game was that easy, especially early in a player’s career, there would be 50 rookie of the year candidates every season.

Finding the best solution to getting Arcia headed in the right direction is the tricky part. Do you send him back to the minors to take the pressure off and get him to relax, and just make do the best you can at shortstop, realizing how important that position is? Or do you stick with Arcia, hoping he’ll figure it out with hitting coach Darnell Coles assistance?

There can be no debate about the impact Arcia has in the field. His defensive WAR (wins above replacement) is 1.2, tied with Brewers centerfielder Lorenzo Cain for third in the National League. Saving runs in the field is nearly as important as producing them but you can’t be a total non-factor at the plate for a contending team.

There already has been some clamoring for the Brewers to trade for Baltimore shortstop Manny Machado, expected to be placed on the market by his woeful club before hitting free agency. The cost would be very high in terms of prospects, however, so don’t look for the Stearns to gulp that hard for what would be a short-term fix.


The situation wouldn’t be as troublesome if other hitters in the bottom half of the Brewers’ lineup were not struggling so badly as well. For whatever reason, rightfielder Domingo Santana has lost his power, one year after producing 30 home runs. He has only three homers and 17 RBI with a paltry .351 slugging percentage.

Catcher Manny Piña also has regressed badly at the plate after a solid 2017 season (.279, nine HRs, 43 RBI, .751 OPS in 107 games). Piña is barely batting over .200, has only 12 RBI and has seen his OPS plummet to .609.

So, on nights when Santana bats sixth, Piña seventh and Arcia eighth, followed by the pitcher, the Brewers often get little or no production from the bottom of their lineup. This is a big reason the offense has been so inconsistent and unable to sustain rallies for long stretches. The top of the lineup has been great but Cain conceded recently that the offense has put far too much pressure on the pitching staff by struggling to score runs.

Let’s be clear about this. Few, if any, team get production out of every position. If you have a perfect offense, you win 100 games and vie for a World Series title. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to add nothing to your club offensively.

Arcia could make things a lot easier for his bosses by figuring out his mechanical issues, regaining some confidence and showing improved production, if only incrementally. Otherwise, it’s probably a situation of waiting for Saladino to get healthy or perhaps trying Miller at his former position.

[tski1972]

curious to hear your thoughts on the price tag for deGrom.

[Kerb Hohl]

curious to hear your thoughts on the price tag for deGrom.

Very likely too high and not worth it. I'm guessing Burnes + Hiura + 1-2 other good prospects.