Brewers Acquire Carlos Santana from Pirates

[Joseph Zarr]

6 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2023/07/27/pirates-trade-carlos-santana-brewers-jhonny-severino-dominican-shortstop/stories/202307270123

Great article @markedman5. Thanks for sharing.

[KeithStone53151]

Carlos Santana carries a 1.038 career OPS in 44 PA at Miller Park/American Family Field...

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, clancyphile said:

But the presence of Bitonti, Pratt, and Adamczewski makes dealing Severino an easy pill to swallow.

Not to mention Guilarte/EBJ/Murray/Zamora/Moore/Areinamo/Nadal/Di Turi/Barrios & Barrios/Ereu/Alastre/Holguin/Ibarguen/Lameda/Baez. They just have an absurdly deep pool of present very young talent in the middle infield. And, this doesn't even get into who they may be targeting for next year's Int'l FA class. They have clearly demonstrated they have an edge in this department in identifying and signing these young players. 

In every regard, it's a brilliant use of the whole package here.

 

[markedman5]

 

[homer]

Oye como va

[SRB]

As with many moves: solid upgrade in a vacuum, but will be disappointing if this is all they do.

[bensheeps]

I like the move - not a huge move but in line with Arnold's comments of not wanting to effect the defense.

Assuming Santana at 1st nearly everyday?

[wiguy94]

Just now, bensheeps said:

I like the move - not a huge move but in line with Arnold's comments of not wanting to effect the defense.

Assuming Santana at 1st nearly everyday?

Feel like that would be safe to assume. He's one of the best defensive 1B in baseball.

[KeithStone53151]

Just now, wiguy94 said:

Feel like that would be safe to assume. He's one of the best defensive 1B in baseball.

It's interesting looking at fangraphs defensive numbers. he's a negative in UZR, error rate, and range this season, but 6 DRS. Most prior years he's positive in all that. My guess would be small sample and that he's not THAT good to be a 6 DRS player, but should be positive in most of the categories he's negative. He's carried a reputation as a plus defender there for a long time.

[ELCABALLO45]

Really like this move. Santana is a plus defender at first and I think he will hit well in Milwaukee. 

[BruisedCrew]

I like the deal, but the Brewers should have thrown in Matt Bush, in hopes that the Pirates would use him against Santana.

[Pugger]

It appears you gentlemen are happy with this trade.  I trust your judgement and knowledge - so I'm all for it too.  🙂

[Joseph Zarr]

Just now, BruisedCrew said:

I like the deal, but the Brewers should have thrown in Matt Bush, in hopes that the Pirates would use him against Santana.

If we had a time machine, we might be able to arrange this. Today, however, it's a tricky proposition - Bush in the Rangers Minor Leagues. Really, we just need the Rangers to give us LHP Antoine Kelly back. He's been fantastic this year in their Double-A. Salty about how that ordeal all turned out.

 

[Matt Breen]

One nice thing about Santana is that he doesn't have big splits.

A supremely average player. Let's hope he catches fire and helps. 

[owbc]

I don't think of Carlos as a plus defender, but he is certainly an upgrade over Tellez. Slightly above average would be my impression. 

Also of note is that historically he has hit better from the right side, but this year his splits have been event perhaps slightly better hitting from the left side. And most of his power has been from the left side this year. 

 

[folly412]

Not really a solution for our AAA lineups in itself, but an upgrade at a cost that's hard to complain about.  Plus maybe he'll give a couple of postgame concerts.

[Guest]

I like that's it's better than what we have. I don't like that if we started with Santana I'd still have been hoping for a trade to improve the offense at 1b/dh. 

[igor67]

Granted it wasn't that long ago the Pirates were still in it, but the only disappointment is that they didn't make this type of move a few weeks back. A number of close losses in that span that slightly better offense could have made a difference in there somewhere.

[Jopal78]

Santana to 1B, Owen Miller probably takes over at 2B and Turang goes to AAA to make room for Santana. There is an open 40 man spot, we shall see who goes when they activate Justin Wilson, could be Jahmai Jones, Winker, or maybe even Mejia

[CheeseheadInQC]

I know he played some short, but wasn’t Severino basically a corner infield prospect at this point? Regardless, this was ideal in my opinion, dealing from an area of strength. 

[BruisedCrew]

23 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

If we had a time machine, we might be able to arrange this. Today, however, it's a tricky proposition - Bush in the Rangers Minor Leagues. Really, we just need the Rangers to give us LHP Antoine Kelly back. He's been fantastic this year in their Double-A. Salty about how that ordeal all turned out.

 

Guess I haven’t followed Bush’s exploits since he went on the IL after that fateful night in Pittsburgh. 

[rickh150]

Fits right in with .235 and .732 OPS. Improvement for #3 spot.
Not impressive trade, but it is something. 

[sveumrules]

34 minutes ago, homer said:

Oye como va

Best Wisconsin sports guitarist since (Steve) Vai Sikahema. 

[Ro Mueller]

Just now, CheeseheadInQC said:

I know he played some short, but wasn’t Severino basically a corner infield prospect at this point? Regardless, this was ideal in my opinion, dealing from an area of strength. 

Yeah, Severino was playing more 3B than SS, with Juan Baez given priority at SS. He also has a career 15 BB / 65 K ratio.

Of course, the .872 OPS in 12 games played this year, with 4 HR and 5 SB (15 of 16 swipes in his career), will have Pittsburgh hoping he becomes a 30 HR, 30 SB third baseman someday. Time will tell.

[igor67]

Miller seems more likely to go the super sub route, but I don't see why he's stick in place of Turang. over the last 28 days Turang has a .642 OPS compared to Miller's .542. Miller's OPS for the season is only .683, so with the defensive advantage I think Turang sticks as the regular second basemen as you continue to see if these adjustments he's made are for real and that offense continues to rise.