Alex Jackson to Rays, Evan McKendry to Brewers

[JDBrewCrew]

Marc Topkin

 

 

@TBTimes_Rays

·

1m

Hearing #Rays have traded AAA @DurhamBulls RHP Evan McKendry to Brewers for C Alex Jackson, who is with AAA Nashville. Teams are playing each other, so they trade clubhouses.

[TURBO]

awkward.

[Ro Mueller]

Maybe this will free up space for a Quero move to AAA. Let’s see

[Joseph Zarr]

On paper, I love this trade. McKendry is 3rd in K's in the International League. Who is 1st? LHP Robert Gasser. Do the math.

He dominanced the Sounds in mid-May. It was depressing to watch as a Sounds fan.😅 Lots to work with here. This speaks to the Rays dire catching situation (?), imho. Alex Jackson has had a fantastic season and I'll miss his mega-bombs but the Brewers got the value here. At least a four-pitch mix - might have 5 (?). He is another pitcher with the ability to fine-tune an already good change-up into a deadly pitch. Get him in the Lab. LOVE this. The Brewers have so many good catchers. Move up Quero. Promote Sibrian. Do some other shuffling...or something...something. Now, Navarreto and Henry can lead that Triple-A group. Sounds will be just fine. 

Best of luck to Jackson. An underrated player.

[AJOHNSON104]

Looks like he'd need to be protected on the 40 man in the off season. Good Strikeout numbers, but doesn't walk many. Good SP depth option moving forward.    

[wiguy94]

That's a nasty looking changeup from Mckendry.

 

[wildcat2237]

Looks like this might have been a steal. Did we just take pre-advantage of a Rays 40-man roster crunch? 

[Austin Tatious]

Can fill that Justin Jarvis spot.

 

[wildcat2237]

Here is a writeup on McKendry from mid-June.... https://dknetwork.draftkings.com/2023/6/19/23766426/fantasy-baseball-top-prospects-minor-league-stats-video-gavin-williams-emmet-sheehan-henry-davis

Evan McKendry, SP, Rays
The last of our trio of starting pitching prospects to watch, McKendry has been on a tear at Triple-A of late, with a 2.01 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over his last eight starts. The former ninth-round pick has never cracked any top prospect lists, and he won’t light up any radar guns, but he has excellent command of his full arsenal — including a Bugs Bunny changeup.

Given the injuries that have beset the Rays rotation this year, from Jeffrey Springs to Drew Rasmussen to Josh Fleming, it feels like only a matter of time before McKendry gets his chance in the Majors. There’s not a ton of strikeout upside here, but Tampa has been churning out viable starters from profiles like this for years now.

[Oxy]

Blalock and McKendry are interesting adds who both must be on the 40 man this winter or exposed to the  rule 5 draft.  Interesting, and a great strategy if the Brewers have spots on the 40 open enough to absorb them.  Likely picked them up on the cheap.

[BrewerFan]

16 minutes ago, Oxy said:

Blalock and McKendry are interesting adds who both must be on the 40 man this winter or exposed to the  rule 5 draft.  Interesting, and a great strategy if the Brewers have spots on the 40 open enough to absorb them.  Likely picked them up on the cheap.

Yeah...I like Blalock a bit more, but they're just two fliers. I would have preferred to keep Urias as he's put up 8 WAR the last 2 years I believe, but for two guys in AAA who clearly didn't have futures with the Brewers, it's nice to add some depth.

McKendry...there are certainly worse things than soft tossing pitchers with elite changeup's who don't have much upside, but can fill a role in your rotation. With Julio, Rea, Houser all in the rotation, that trade is a HR just because you didn't have to give up much for him.

 

I like both. I'm not jumping for joy, but the way the Brewers churn out pitchers who were overlooked elsewhere...there's reason for optimism. 

[edfunderburk]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

awkward.

Funny … I LOVE this trade

Navaretto, Henry & Quero remain … good trade 

[edfunderburk]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

On paper, I love this trade. McKendry is 3rd in K's in the International League. Who is 1st? LHP Robert Gasser. Do the math.

He dominanced the Sounds in mid-May. It was depressing to watch as a Sounds fan.😅 Lots to work with here. This speaks to the Rays dire catching situation (?), imho. Alex Jackson has had a fantastic season and I'll miss his mega-bombs but the Brewers got the value here. At least a four-pitch mix - might have 5 (?). He is another pitcher with the ability to fine-tune an already good change-up into a deadly pitch. Get him in the Lab. LOVE this. The Brewers have so many good catchers. Move up Quero. Promote Sibrian. Do some other shuffling...or something...something. Now, Navarreto and Henry can lead that Triple-A group. Sounds will be just fine. 

Best of luck to Jackson. An underrated player.

Yes to all you wrote … I too LOVE this trade! 

[sveumrules]

7 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Yeah...I like Blalock a bit more, but they're just two fliers. I would have preferred to keep Urias as he's put up 8 WAR the last 2 years I believe,

6.4 on BRef, 4.4 on FanGraphs for 2021-22.

Looks like the main difference is defense, BR has him at +13 fielding/position adjustment for those two years versus -5.9 at FG, mostly driven by OAA hating his innings at SS (-11).

[BrewerFan]

10 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

6.4 on BRef, 4.4 on FanGraphs for 2021-22.

Looks like the main difference is defense, BR has him at +13 fielding/position adjustment for those two years versus -5.9 at FG, mostly driven by OAA hating his innings at SS (-11).

Ah...my bad. I was thinking of Willy. He's at ~8 WAR the past two years with the Brewers. 

I still think it's a bit odd they wanted MIF help but traded Urias away. I hope they at least thinking really highly of Blaylock rather than just moving off Urias.

[rickh150]

7 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I still think it's a bit odd they wanted MIF help but traded Urias away. I hope they at least thinking really highly of Blaylock rather than just moving off Urias.

Miller should be playing more 2B and 3B now…so the trades frees him up a bit to play elsewhere other than 1B.

[Robocaller]

I think we got a bit more value from this trade, but the consequence--if they put him on the 40 man in the off season--is that some guy that several people love will NOT be on the 40 man and will potentially be lost.

 

[jerichoholicninja]

Whatever to losing Jackson but who exactly is the #3 catcher right now? Only 2 on the 40 man.

[duewizard]

9 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Whatever to losing Jackson but who exactly is the #3 catcher right now? Only 2 on the 40 man.

In case we need one then they'll just probably add Henry to the roster. 

[Playing Catch]

17 hours ago, damuelle said:

Maybe this will free up space for a Quero move to AAA. Let’s see

I'm guessing that was part of the motivation. Probably explained the Caratini rumors as well. Brewers just happened to have a logjam of catchers at the top of the organization.

I'm thrilled with the McKendry and Blalock pickups.

[CheezWizHed]

McKendry sounds like he is setup to be part of our SP pitching depth next year.  Three years of options so he can be bounced btw MLB/AAA as our 6th, 7th, or 8th SP. 

[markedman5]

https://www.milb.com/news/evan-mckendry-named-international-league-pitcher-of-the-week-x3964