3 Brice Turang Trade Packages to Make the 2024 Brewers Better

[Ryan Pollak]

Would the Brewers be better off dealing Brice Turang? Here are a few trade packages that could boost the lineup for 2024 and beyond.

Image courtesy of © Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

There’s an argument out there that the Brewers are likely to trade Willy Adames at some point this year. However, does it make more sense to trade away Brice Turang? Yesterday, I argued it does, because it's Turang who might fetch more and Adames who will help the 2024 team more. Today we will be looking at potential fits and trades for the Brewers that could involve Turang.

While Adames may be the better player now, Turang’s youth and six years of club control makes him valuable on the market for teams that may want to sell players of their own. There is no need or rush to make a trade, but here are a few trade partners who could be interested.

Miami Marlins: Edward Cabrera, RHP
Let’s start with the inspiration for this miniseries of articles. On Friday, our partner site Fish On First posted an article on the potential for the Marlins to trade for Adames. When we shared it on our forum page, it became an unpopular opinion to sell him there. However, one user suggested trading away Turang and maybe a prospect for one of the starting pitchers they are willing to sell.

The Marlins have reportedly been open to trading virtually anyone on their roster. At first the Brewers may seem like a fit for Luis Arráez or Jake Burger. But after the Corbin Burnes trade, their starting rotation has a lot of questions. While Freddy Peralta and Wade Miley have clear roles, the other three spots are up for grabs. Aaron Ashby, Joe Ross, Colin Rea, DL Hall, Robert Gasser and recently-signed Jakob Junis are all vying for regular spots, though Rea and Junis certainly have the inside track on two of the three vacancies.

To make things a little more certain, the Brewers could try to add a young pitcher from the Marlins organization. While Jesús Luzardo has the most experience, the Brewers don’t need another left-handed pitcher in the mix, especially if they are confident in Hall or Ashby. With injury-ruined Sixto Sánchez and neonate Eury Pérez only having one season of experience, there is only one other option for the Brewers to look at: Edward Cabrera.

In three seasons with the Marlins, Cabrera has a 4.01 ERA, with a 1.34 WHIP and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. His best season was in 2022, when he had a 6-4 record with a 3.01 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, and a 137 ERA+ in 14 starts. He hasn’t been on the 26-man roster for a whole season, but will have five seasons of club control.

The Marlins already have a young shortstop in Xavier Edwards, but he's had his own struggles in matriculating to the big leagues, and fellow middle infielder Jon Berti isn’t getting younger. Adding Turang would give them another option. With Turang having experience at second base all last season, it makes it easier to part ways with the All-Star Arráez in some later trade.

While Turang alone could be good enough, adding an arm who can eventually be a part of the rotation for the Fish in the future should get the deal done. Logan Henderson could be an ascending prospect, capable of helping in Miami as early as 2025.

At 21 years old, Henderson came off a full season of Single-A baseball with a 2.75 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP, and 106 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings. He should be able to leap into Double A at some point this season. He had elbow surgery on his throwing arm a few years ago, but he still has a fastball touching the mid-90s and a plus changeup.

This deal makes the Brewers' rotation stronger. Cabrera would be third in the rotation, and Rea earned his start in the rotation based on last year, leaving the final spot up for grabs. Junis and Hall both have a legitimate shot at starting, but while the Crew seemed high on the pitcher they got for Burnes as a starter, the price for which they signed Junis tells us he would get the next shot.

Oakland Athletics: Brent Rooker, OF/DH
Well, wasn’t this a surprise for the A’s. After having stints in Minnesota, San Diego, and Kansas City, the A’s claimed the outfielder over the 2022-23 offseason.

What happened next was an All-Star-type season. He launched 30 home runs with a .246 batting average, a .817 OPS and a 130 OPS+. He knows how to hit the ball having a 49.5% hard-hit rate, a 15.6% barrel rate and a 37.3% sweet spot percentage. His average velocity off the bat sits at 91.6 MPH.

His best comes against left-handed pitchers. In 175 plate appearances, he had a .279/.354/.520 line, hitting 10 of his homers against southpaws. The only big concern with him is his high strikeout rate (32.7%), which was the highest among qualifying AL hitters.

While the Brewers have a ton of outfield depth, they can still add a regular DH. Rooker can fulfill that role and try to work on making contact with the ball. He would be in a more hitter-friendly park, though, so we could see better numbers than what he recorded in Oakland.

 

The biggest thing to note is that the Athletics aren’t going to be competitive for the 2024 season. Rooker is also 29 years old and has four years of club control. The team could inject some youth by acquiring Turang.

The Athletics lost Tony Kemp in free agency. Their starting shortstop, Aledmys Díaz, is 33 years old and has one year left on his contract. (He's also not really a shortstop, except in the loosest sense of the word.) With a lot of young players already on their 40-man roster, Turang could be a decent platoon option at second or shortstop.

The Athletics already have a former Brewers outfielder in Esteury Ruiz. Why not add another one, in switch-hitting Blake Perkins? Perkins is going to have a hard time finding at-bats with the Brewers this season. Yelich, Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, and Joey Wiemer are all ahead of him on the depth chart.

With the loss of Rooker, the A’s could move Miguel Andújar or Seth Brown into the DH spot. This would give Perkins more opportunities to play the outfield. He’d play more of a platoon role, but at least he’d be given more opportunities in green and yellow.

Both Perkins and Turang have six years of club control left and are cheap options who can help the anemic A's for years to come. It won’t put them back on track, but maybe it helps them develop a young core for their MLB roster. 

Los Angeles Angels: Luis Rengifo, INF
Now this one seems like a head scratcher. Trading a prospect Infielder who has club control for six years for a veteran player that will be gone by 2026? Adames will be gone by next season and doesn’t fix the logjam in the infield. Why are we getting older? What's the point? Hear me out on this one.

I understand that Turang is only 24, and can play second base at a high level. I know the likes of J.J. Hardy and Rickie Weeks had rough first years, then exploded on the scene a year or two later. But lucky for the Brewers, they have lots of infield depth in the farm system.

I’ve mentioned Oliver Dunn, Tyler Black, Brock Wilken, and Vinny Capra in the past. But I haven’t mentioned future players like Eric Brown Jr., Cooper Pratt, Eric Bitonti and Luke Adams.

All these guys could be ready for the big leagues by the 2025 or 2026 seasons. The Brewers are one of the top farm systems in the game for a reason.

The Angels are in the exact opposite situation. When it seemed like they were already out of the running for the playoffs, the team still tried to compete, buying a ton of veteran players with their prospects at the deadline. A month later, they placed almost every player for whom they had traded on waivers, ending their season with a thud. With Shohei Ohtani gone, the team has to start from scratch.

Dark days may be ahead in Anaheim, but the turnaround can start by selling middle infielder Luis Rengifo. The soon-to-be 27-year-old switch-hitter hit .264/.339/.444 with 16 home runs last season. His best hitting comes against left-handed pitchers, but he consistently gets on base no matter what side of the plate he’s on.

The Angels front office doesn’t want to admit it, but the team is in for a rebuild. Why not get it started with a nice, solid package of young players? The Brewers traded Hunter Renfroe to Anaheim in late 2022. Why not rekindle that relationship and make another trade?

 

The Angels will start by adding to their young core with Turang. He could move to his natural shortstop position. As for Zach Neto, he could slide over to second to fill the hole left behind by Rengifo.

Justin Yeager and Nick Bennett are decent arms who can, eventually, round out a bullpen. Bennett has made a couple of outings in Triple-A and is one call away from the majors. Even though Yeager spent most of the 2023 campaign on the injured list, his numbers in 2022 suggest he could be a great closer within the next few years.

As for the Crew, the infield will look more like Ortiz, Adames, Rengifo and Hoskins from left to right. In 2025, Ortiz can slide to shortstop and Black could see more reps at third. Then, in 2026, Black could move to second or to the outfield, and maybe Wilken could be ready by then. If not, maybe the team has something else in mind at third.

Turang can be the centerpiece of a prospect package to land a key player for this roster. He does have two minor-league options and six years of control left, so there is time to consider if he really is the everyday second baseman this season. This front office has proved themselves to be opportunistic with players who have substantial trade value, though, and Turang might quietly fit that mold.

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Will the Brewers deal Brice Turang? Is Turang the future for the Brewers infield? Are there other players you can see the Brewers can trade or add prior to the start of the season? Let us know.

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[rock80911]

the only one I'm only slightly interested in is the 1st one. All the other players are at best slight improvements. But Turang is more than capable of matching all their numbers from last year himself. At least with Cabrera you have years of control (before we trade him away for the future) and has potential to improve at the pitching lab.

[Trax]

No.

Turang comes with team control and still is under development,   The only way you move him is for an obvious over value offer which we won't get.

We absolutely need to move Adames if we get a fair comp offer and now.  If we don't get that offer keep him on and revisit it May-July.  It will be a more must move him by then and for less than we should get now.

[jay87shot]

By baseball trade values Adames is worth 11.1 and Turang is worth 16.8, I would just rather trade Willy. Trading Turang doesn't make sense unless we get a contollable MI back.

I am waiting for Adames to SF