Should The Brewers Trade Abner Uribe?

[Harold Hutchison]

Abner Uribe has a lot of talent, but between his 2024 struggles and that fracas against the Tampa Bay Rays, is it time to consider making a deal that moves him out of Milwaukee?

Image courtesy of © Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Abner Uribe has a lot of talent, but between his 2024 struggles and that fracas against the Tampa Bay Rays, is it time to consider making a deal that moves him out of Milwaukee?

Let’s get one thing clear: Abner Uribe is a very talented pitcher who has the stuff to be Milwaukee’s closer of the future. His fastball is pure heat, and his sinker-sweeper combo can dominate hitters when he is on. Right now, he is in Triple-A Nashville, trying to get back in shape after being clobbered at the MLB level in 2024 (6.81 ERA, 1.88 WHIP).

The Case To Keep Uribe
When he was on, he was dynamite. The Crew had hopes of Uribe, Devin Williams, Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, and Hoby Milner forming the core of a dominating bullpen. That is still possible later in the season, which could be crucial, given the injuries that have afflicted the Crew’s rotation.

Uribe doesn’t become arbitration-eligible until the 2027 season, and the Brewers control him through at least 2029. That could be a long time to have the closer’s spot locked up. Uribe is also cost-controlled for the short term, which is always an important consideration for the budget-conscious Crew.

Furthermore, patience has worked out for the Brewers before. They stuck by Williams after he injured his hand punching a wall just before the 2021 playoffs, and that decision has worked out well. So there is a case to keep Uribe around.

The Case To Deal Uribe
The Brewers have a lot of bullpen depth. Put it this way: Pat Murphy has twice been able to burn Jared Koenig as an opener in two consecutive games, because the Crew had Milner and Bryan Hudson available as lefties in the pen. As the third-best lefty, Koenig’s posting a 2.45 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

On the right side, the Crew currently has Megill, Payamps, and Elvis Peguero leading the relief corps, with Mitch White and Enoli Paredes rounding out the bullpen. Williams will, hopefully, be back by the end of July, essentially becoming a major acquisition for the Crew’s bullpen. So, for the short term, the Brewers can do fine without Uribe. It is a much better bullpen with Uribe at top form, but he's something short of indispensable.

Down the road, there are plenty of prospects putting up stellar numbers, including Craig Yoho, James Meeker, Shane Smith, Sam Gardner, Rob Zastryzny, Russell Smith, Darrell Thompson, Blake Holub, Harold Chirino, and Justin King.

Then, of course, there is the fact that Uribe isn’t just slumping. He also displayed some decidedly poor judgment in instigating that brawl with the Rays, getting hit with a six-game suspension. That has to be figured into the equation. They gave Williams a shot, but Williams had a sustained track record of success. Do you shoot that same shot with Uribe?

What The Crew Could Get
The return for relievers can be hard to predict, particularly with their volatility, but in this case, it could be more difficult because they don’t often get dealt with a lot of team control. They would want to minimize the chance of facing Uribe themselves, so an American League team is probably the best bet, but teams in the NL East or NL West shouldn’t be ruled out if they are willing to blow the Brewers away.

The best hope here might be to find a prospect a couple of years away at the Advanced-A or Single-A level, like Red Sox outfield prospect Allan Castro or Blue Jays pitcher Fernando Perez. Uribe could be packaged with another prospect (say, Brock Wilken) to land some serious assistance at the deadline (think a pickup like CC Sabathia, but for multiple years; perhaps Uribe is the right kind of risk for the Marlins right now).

It would be a high cost, but at the same time, relief pitching is one place where (despite injuries and slumps) the Brewers remain very deep.

Overview
Uribe has immense talent. The Brewers could unlock his potential, but right now, he is also a question mark. They should be willing to make a deal involving Uribe, but only if a team is willing to give up legitimate talent to take their chances on an electric arm with some erratic edges in need of smoothing.

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[Brian]

What exactly would the Brewers team need to do to keep him?  I think he is worth keeping but the Brewers team should not be penalized, he should be the one that has to pay the penalty, Y es, I would like to keep him if the team is not penalized. The whole ordeal sounds very odd to me. 

[brewmann04]

Keeping Wilkens not moving him. I rather see the Brewers trading a reliever than adding one at the deadline 

[Branyanisthegoat]

Great article, glad I dont have to make decisions like this.

1 small nitpick. Unless I missed a move today, Mitch White is no longer on the 26, he was dfa'd last week. So should read Herget & Paredes rounding out the pen.

[SomewhereInTime]

Absolutely yet.  Ship him out.

[Kripes - Brewers]

I'm sure there'd be a lot of interest, but this guy brings it to the plate at 103 and pairs it with a deadly slider (which is his better pitch)! What team is better suited to harness that and help the young man figure things out? Certainly looks the part of a closer when Williams departs (and there's no guarantee he comes back healthy this year). But, you gotta pay a high price to get a quality return, so that'd be a tough one for sure.

[gregmag]

There is zero reason to trade him. His value is low right now, so the opportunity cost of keeping him is minimal. The Brewers don’t desperately need him, but they could use him. This is a moment to work on getting his act together at AAA and seeing what we have. 

[dsid74]

This is not the time to trade him.  He is only 23 and already shown some success (and immaturity) at the major league level.  Hopefully he is willing to learn and grow from his experience.  As pointed out, he is at a low value point right now.  Get his head right, get his mechanics straightened out and add him and Williams to the pen for the 2nd half of the season.  We will need a dominant pen if we hope to successfully compete.  Our rotation can barely be counted on for 5IP per game.  Having a deep and dominant pen is going to be necessary.  Injuries happen, you can never have too many arms.  He has options and provides MA flexibility moving forward.  It would be a mistake to trade him unless they got a "stupid" offer for him.  No one is untouchable, but it should take an extraordinary offer from someone to pry him away.