A Retrospective, Part 2 of 3 - Matt Arnold's First 40 Trades as Brewers GM

[Jim Goulart]

If you missed our first installment on Matt Arnold's trade history since jumping into the big-boy General Manager chair after David Stearns' step-down, you'll find it here. In Part Two, you'll see that Arnold became more inclined to part with minor league capital, as we count a minimum of ten "prospects" dealt away. We know that fans' definition of what makes a true prospect will vary, but we'll take a shot at determining if the Brewers will end up regretting any of the young talent moved. In fact, our first entry below may end up being the most compelling in the long run.

Image courtesy of Stacy Revere - Getty Images: Joey Ortiz

Reminder: our list is chronological. When you click on the date of the trade, you'll be brought to the MLB Trade Rumors post for the deal, which will provide the "immediate reaction" national perspective, while the links associated with the players' names brings you to their Baseball Reference page showing both MLB and MiLB stats where applicable.

07/27/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded SS/3B Jhonny Severino to Pittsburgh Pirates for 1B Carlos Santana.

OK, so right off the top, this one is worth keeping an eye on. The MLBTR write-up provides significant information on Jhonny Severino as of the time of the trade that I won't need to re-type here. You may wish to review that first.

Severino, who only turned 20 years old this past November, is currently ranked at #17 on MLB Pipeline's Pirates Top 30 list. It's worth noting that at least six prospects ranked higher on that list also play primarily on the left side of the infield.

The youngster began 2024 in the Florida Complex League and was only promoted to full-season ball on July 30th. Yet, remarkably, Severino made his way into a wealth of eight video highlights after that promotion as he clubbed 15 extra-base hits, including six home runs, in just 28 games with Bradenton in the Low-A Florida State League. You'll want to watch the RH bat (no longer switch-hitting) hit for a cycle, as well as have two multi-homer games.

Still listed at 6'2", 185 (likely a bit bigger now), Severino looks the part of a future MLB contributor, if not potential star. He fanned in only 21% of his plate appearances in 2024 with a solid 10% walk rate, though those rate stats were much stronger while in the complex league. The Dominican Republic native stole 16 bases in 20 attempts. In 75 games split between shortstop and third base, he committed 16 errors, and while error counts are somewhat meaningless at these low levels, Pipeline concurs that Severino is likely to focus on third base moving forward.

For his efforts, the fan site PiratesProspects.com named Severino their 2024 Hitting Prospect of the Year.

For his part, Carlos Santana was a regular contributor post-deadline for the Crew, .249/.314/.459 (.779 OPS), and in the two playoff defeats to Arizona, he reached base four times on two singles and two walks.

Would it be nice to have Jhonny Severino in the Brewers' system today? Sure, but deadline talent isn't given away. Kudos to the Pirates on their initial evaluation. It'll be very interesting to follow Severino's exploits over the next half-decade at least, to see where this particular trade leads.

 

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07/31/23     Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Justin Jarvis to New York Mets for LF/1B Mark Canha and cash.

The Brewers doubled up on the veteran lineup-bolstering maneuver for the 2023 deadline when they dealt a then-23-year-old Justin Jarvis to allow Mark Canha to join Carlos Santana as an acquisition. Canha's successful stint with Milwaukee in 50 games (.287/.373/.427, five home runs, some clutch moments) is well-remembered by the fanbase at this point. The Mets (pre-David Stearns) didn't go the lottery ticket route, as Jarvis, drafted in the 5th round in 2018 as a North Carolina high schooler, was in the midst of his 5th pro season already.

Jarvis was one of the double-duty-at-different-level Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, as the pre-pandemic 2019 pitcher toiled at Low-A in Appleton, while the 2021 season there was at the High-A level. As his linked B-Ref page attests, the results were prettier during his first tour of duty there at age 19. Milwaukee had already begun to send younger players to the Arizona Fall League, a pattern for nearly all MLB franchises up to today, and Jarvis did appear in seven games in the desert after that middling 2021 campaign.

It was back to Appleton in '22, where Jarvis certainly knew every street sign by now, and then a bump to AA Biloxi late in that season and to begin 2023, where in 14 starts (3.33 ERA, 1.256 WHIP, 91 K in 75.2 IP) there were signs of progression that could entice other general managers, although as the MLB Trade Rumors link notes, the youngster's first dip of the toes in AAA waters was not pretty in three Nashville starts in the weeks prior to the trade.

For the most part, there was not an outcry amongst faithful Brew Crew farmhand followers upon learning of this trade. We can appreciate our own Matthew Trueblood's commentary at the time, and kudos for the use of the word  "disgorged":

In Justin Jarvis, the Brewers disgorged some of their pitching depth at the upper levels, but they're in good position to deal from that area of strength. Jarvis was 19th in our latest ranking of Brewers prospects, which is about the caliber of prospect one should expect to surrender for a valuable role player on an expiring deal.

Jarvis' time with the Mets was not impressive, and he ended 2024 as a swingman with time at both the AAA and AA levels. Of course, entering his age 25 season, he remains intriguing enough that the Dodgers have signed him to a minor league contract, because LA must sign every professional ballplayer at some point in their career. Jarvis has yet to appear on any team's 40-man roster.

 

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08/01/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded 3B Luis Urías to Boston Red Sox for RHP Bradley Blalock.

Few recent Brewers may have been more discussion-worthy, sometimes contentiously, during their organizational stay than Luis Urias. From his inclusion with Eric Lauer in the Trent Grisham/Zach Davies 2019 deal with San Diego engineered by David Stearns to the two rather productive seasons to follow (.789 OPS, .739 OPS), to the flummoxing disaster that 2023 became.

Matt Arnold did well to shed half of Urias' arbitration salary of $4.7 million in this deal, and thus it isn't surprising that Bradley Blalock was more of a solid-floor acquisition rather than a high-ceiling one. The Brewers made the call to protect Blalock from Rule 5 after only seeing him in four appearances at High-A Wisconsin. We'll discuss Blalock's time with Milwaukee and beyond in a future entry within this series.

As for Urias, he was super-fortunate that Seattle went the arbitration route with him after acquiring him from Boston at the fall 2023 non-tender deadline, allowing him to "earn" $5 million in 2024. He is currently lingering on the free agent infielder market after an uneventful season split between AAA and MLB with Seattle.  

 

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08/01/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Peter Strzelecki to Arizona Diamondbacks for LHP Andrew Chafin.

The MLBTR historical link above once again sheds light on the reasoning for this trade (primarily LH reliever Justin Wilson's season-long unavailability due to injury). That being said, this deal at least temporarily reinforced the notion that Milwaukee general managers should not attempt to acquire bullpen help at the deadline.

Sure, Andrew Chafin had the whole classic hair-and mustache, beer-barrel Brewer thing going, but his 20 appearances were more than forgettable.

As for Peter Strzelecki and the four-consonant start to his last name, kudos to the Brewers for the non-drafted find, and of course, to the young man for making the most of his opportunity. Strzelecki touched every single level of the affiliate chain beginning with his 2018 stints in Maryvale and now-defunct Helena. He contributed mightily to 30 games for the 2022 team (2.83 ERA, 1.229 WHIP). His 36 2023 appearances prior to this trade were much more uneven, and as it turned out, there would be only one MLB appearance as a Diamondback on Strzelecki's resume-to-date. 

Strzelecki was DFA'd in the spring of 2024 and traded for cash to Cleveland. where he posted fine numbers in ten Guardian appearances that were sprinkled among several option transactions, as the bulk of his time was at AAA. 

We may very well see the likable young man (actually, entering his age 30 season), in NL Central matchups with Pittsburgh this coming season. Riding the DFA train a second time, the Pirates ponied up a bit of a cash and Strzelecki sits on the Bucs' 40-man roster at this moment.

 

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08/01/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded C Alex Jackson to Tampa Bay Rays for RHP Evan McKendry.

Gee, Matt Arnold was a bit busier at the 2023 deadline than most folks may remember.

Through 45 games of that season at AAA Nashville, Alex Jackson's OPS was a mighty .913 (.286/.360/.554). The Brewers were set at catcher at the big-league level (William Contreras / Victor Caratini), so they made a play for Evan McKendry here.

Push ahead in Jackson's case to 2024, where he set his place in MLB history for his lack of offensive output, continuing a career trend - seriously, look atop that linked Baseball Reference page, But as often noted, the salary gap between AAA and MLB is massive percentage-wise, life-changing even in small portions, and Jackson, with his several MLB forays, along with his 2018 first-round draft bonus bonanza of $4.2 million, will never be hurting for cash if he's invested properly at all. The Yankees just acquired Jackson (from Cincinnati) on December 20, where he now sits with a minor league deal.

McKendry turns 27 in February, and 2025 will be Milwaukee's last season of control unless the Florida native is added to the 40-man by next fall. There was mild speculation that McKendry would be protected from the 2023 Rule 5 draft, but that proved unnecessary. At the time of this acquisition, McKendry was 3rd in the International League in K's despite a lack of high-end velocity (by the way, the Brewers' southpaw Robert Gasser was atop the strikeout leaderboard). McKendry, with his multi-pitch mix and a "Bugs-Bunny changeup" had impressed vs. Nashville earlier in the 2023 campaign.

McKendry was sidelined for five weeks in the early portion of 2024, and never found his footing, later relegated to a swingman role. He has work to do in spring camp if he is to have an organizational role in 2025.

 

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11/04/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded LF/1B Mark Canha to Detroit Tigers for RHP Blake Holub.

Yeah, a 2024 $11.5 million Mark Canha on the Brewers was not to be, never was going to be. The fact that Matt Arnold scouted around and determined that the Tigers would indeed be interested in picking up that option while also tossing a somewhat-intriguing bullpen arm in Milwaukee's direction can be considered a mild victory.

There are two things we know for sure about Holub after his first season with the Crew split evenly during bounce-between's at AA Biloxi and AAA Nashville.

• Biloxi: very, very good - 0.34 ERA, 1.025 WHIP
• Nashville: very, very not good - 8.49 ERA, 2.057 WHIP

The Brewers still have years of control to determine if Holub can get past the initial AAA roadblock. He can reach back for 96-97 MPH on occasion, and 2025 will be his age 26 season, so there is a chance at one of those late-in-pro-career MLB bullpen entrances we see throughout the sport.

 

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11/14/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded OF Hendry Mendez and INF Robert Moore to Philadelphia Phillies for INF Oliver Dunn.

This was a juicy trade at the time, and in a fun way, remains so. Please do review the MLBTR write-up at the date linked above, and then we can dive into what was the 2024 season.

Oliver Dunn remains fascinating, doesn't he, though we would have learned so much more if a back injury had not sidelined him from June 19th on. There's the high-intensity bat speed and prime exit velocity. Then, of course, there's the swing-and-miss aspect of his game, most troubling in the "in-zone" sense. Dunn is hopefully recovered from that apparently major back strain, as he took part briefly in the Dominican Winter League, but the locals don't roster you for long when you go 2-for-22 (both singles) with four walks and nine K's in 12 games. If there is not a significant infield acquisition before spring training, Dunn may have as many eyes on him as any player in camp. It would be tremendous if he maxes out his potential in his age 27 season, as somewhat daunting as those odds may be.

Considering he was the 72nd pick overall in 2022, from the get-go on draft day Robert Moore didn't garner much hype. There would be a solid but brief base established at low-A Carolina, but Moore's 2023 Appleton stint was about as vanilla as his name. Moore avoided a formal injured list placement for all of 2024 with the Phillies' AA club yet only appeared in 107 games. His rate stats were incredibly similar to his High-A figures with the Timber Rattlers. Perhaps most troubling in his pro career thus far is a poor stolen base percentage, having been successful 52 times vs. being caught 26.

From the get-go, the potential high-end loss here for the Brewers was Hendry Mendez, and as you'll read here, he finished his age 20 season (repeating High-A) with a bang:

Mendez Wins Phillies Minor League Player of the Month

Given his listed 6'3", 175-pound frame (though we should never trust vital listings), one would think Mendez would be a lot more adventurous on the basepaths. In actuality, he has only attempted to steal four times in 152 games at the High-A level, perhaps spooked by a 7-for-15 trial run at Carolina in this regard. Neither is Mendez a candidate to see action in center field, splitting all his time in the corners and at DH the last two seasons. For visual evidence of his 2024 late-season success, view a near-cycle here and a home run blast here.

Neither Moore nor Mendez currently appear on the Phillies' MLB Pipeline Top 30.

It appears this trade perspective down the road hinges much more on Oliver Dunn's future than it does with Mendez, and certainly, Moore.

 

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11/15/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded 3B Abraham Toro to Oakland Athletics for RHP Chad Patrick.

As we hinted at in Part One of this series, the mostly ill-fated Kolten Wong and Jesse Winker trade's full story is yet to be written. Toro's inclusion, as much as his 2023 efforts were appreciated in Nashville, was inconsequential other than 21 plate appearances with Milwaukee. However, there was this trade.

As MLBTR noted: "Chad Patrick won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until next offseason (2024), so Milwaukee can keep him in Nashville as non-roster rotation depth."

Boy, did they ever. Cherishing their beloved 40-man roster spots and flexibility, Milwaukee allowed Patrick to thrive to this extent without a call-up:

Chad Patrick Named International League Pitcher of the Year - Sounds ace won league’s first pitching Triple Crown since 1976

Clearly, if the Brewers were not playoff contenders, it's almost guaranteed Patrick would have landed on an MLB mound in 2024. As it is, he certainly didn't pout in September: 

Patrick’s last 3 starts: 17 IP 6H 2BB 27K

For Chad's sake, hope we see this in the Am-Fam clubhouse in 2025:

 

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11/17/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded OF's Jace Avina and Brian Sanchez to New York Yankees for DH/1B/OF Jake Bauers.

In case you choose not to click on the linked date above, here's the MLBTR portion on the kids in this deal:

"In exchange for a player that likely wasn’t in their plans anyway, the Yanks will add a couple of pieces to their farm system, both long-term plays. Avina, who turns 21 in June, spent 2023 in Single-A. He hit .233/.373/.442 at that level for a wRC+ of 134. Sanchez is just 19 and was in the Dominican Summer League this year, hitting .297/.414/.446 for a wRC+ of 129."

Jace Avina's home state Nevada press provided insight into an injury that ended his season as of August 19th:

"Avina spent all season in High-A, hitting .245/.317/.399 in 92 games, trading some power for contact. Avina's slugging percentage dipped from .442 to .399 year over year, but his strikeout rate went from 29.6 percent to 27.2 percent. The 21-year-old Avina also played strong defense in the outfield before a season-ending shoulder injury late in the year."

Here's video evidence of that defense on a stolen home-run grab, and you'll find quite a collection of 2024 Avina highlights at the base of his MiLB Player Page.

Brian Sanchez, a Venezuelan native born on the 4th of July, made his stateside debut in 2024, though now 20 years old, and has yet to see full-season ball. At the Florida Complex League level, Sanchez impressed in 49 games split between the three outfield spots, with the LH bat posting a .306/.394/.515 line (.908 OPS).

This trade has all the makings of a "we'll have to wait quite a while" deal before we can place any definitive grade value on it. The fact that Jake Bauers is now returning on a minor league deal with a big-league camp invite primarily cements that he will remain a divisive name in Brewers fandom for a while longer.

 

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12/14/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded INF Cam Devanney and RHP Ryan Brady to Kansas City Royals for RHP Taylor Clarke.

MLB Trade Rumors reminds us at the linked article above that Taylor Clarke, in terms of dollars, only cost the Brewers $1.25 million in his injury-riddled and otherwise ineffective season. It is truly appreciated that Clarke's head shot on many of his MLB and B-Ref pages, as linked above, has him in his best McKayla Maroney face. My goodness, was that 2012 already? Time flies in so many ways!

As for the two prospects, Cam Devanney took his devoted BrewerFanatic fan favorite base's hopes with him to AAA Omaha, while Ryan Brady similarly repeated a level at AA Northwest Arkansas. Each managed injury-free seasons.

Devanney turns 28 in April (there's that time moving fast thing again), while Brady turns 26 in March.

It may not be a perfect parallel, but we're thinking that Devanney has a chance to somewhat mirror one of the rarely mentioned examples of a "player that got away from the Brewers" within the past decade. Super-utility man Dylan Moore has thus far carved out a six-year MLB career in Seattle after the Brewers failed to retain him after his lone season in the system, 2018 split between Biloxi and Nashville. Similar to how the Brewers gave Blake Perkins an MLB deal to sign as a minor league free agent, the Mariners did so with Moore and have been highly rewarded since.

Now, Devanney (.781 OPS in 2024) has only a tiny bit of outfield experience but has a ton's worth more shortstop value than Moore had, although to his credit, Moore has stepped in at short in 122 games for Seattle. But Devanney certainly has value anywhere on the infield, video examples here. By the way, Kansas City seems to be pretty set at shortstop these days. In December, the Royals extended a formal big-league camp invite to Cam for this coming spring. Sweet!

Brady's season was passable at best, 42 appearances (two starts), 4.68 ERA, 1.485 WHIP, 60 K's in 67.1 innings. Hoping the former Timber Rattler and Shucker can build on that in 2025.

This was not a good trade, though odds are low it will be especially painful. We do get to root for two players who were quality Milwaukee farmhands to do well.

 

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12/20/23    Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Adrian Houser and OF Tyrone Taylor to New York Mets for RHP Coleman Crow.

In the first Matt Arnold-David Stearns collaboration, this was a move of salary as Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor would avoid arbitration with the Mets for a combined $7.075 million. We'd be remiss not to acknowledge the contributions of both players within the very successful recent run of Brewers baseball. Taylor's dozen years in the system included the maximum seven years of minor league service prior to being added to the Crew's 40-man roster.

As for Coleman Crow, BrewerFanatic's Spencer Michaelis penned this excellent detailed analysis the week of this trade: Why Did the Brewers Target Coleman Crow in The Adrian Houser & Tyrone Taylor Trade?

Post-Tommy John surgery Crow would not pitch during the 2024 regular season, but did debut on the Peoria Arizona Fall League roster and made four appearances (two starts), 8.00 ERA, 9 IP, 14 H, 2 BB, 6 K. It did appear that Crow's AFL season ended a couple of weeks early, and we can hope it was not due to additional health concerns. Crow will likely begin his age 24 season with AA Biloxi this spring. He'll be eligible to be added to the 40-man to protect from Rule 5 again next fall. No other organization offered at him during the most recent Rule 5.

 

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01/03/24     Milwaukee Brewers traded LHP Justin Chambers to Los Angeles Dodgers for LHP Bryan Hudson.

You will note in the linked MLB Trade Rumors article that a PTBNL in addition to Justin Chambers was the initial price to be paid, though none was ever named. It's possible some cash quietly changed hands at a later date.

Evident even by the end of spring training and the first regular season series vs. the Mets, as Brewer Fanatic's Matthew Trueblood penned - The Brewers Have Turned Bryan Hudson into a Southpaw Super-Freak. Over three months-plus of dominant multi-inning shutdown performances, Hudson indeed became an out-of-nowhere vital weapon for Pat Murphy. It truly was a sight to behold, even as talk of Hudson's increasing difficulty of bouncing back physically between appearances grew as the weeks marched on.

Eventually, concerns over significant velocity loss and less-than-previously-electric command materialized. Hudson's outings would become more pedestrian in nature and would lead to a two-week oblique injury IL stint in late July-early August. Following that was a September 3rd optional assignment to AAA Nashville, and awkwardly to most, Hudson would not appear at the big-league level again, including the ill-fated first round of the playoffs. Both our Jack Stern (in September) and Trueblood again (this time in December) penned detailed Hudson analysis worth revisiting.

It wouldn't seem any Brewers fan believes that we won't see an effective Hudson in 2025, but to what extent remains to be seen. If there can be a return to 2024's glory months, under whatever new care regime is established, that would be huge.

As for Justin Chambers, he would make his pro debut with four Arizona Complex League Dodgers appearances between June 6th and July 4th, all before he turned 19 years old. Keeping in mind he is coming off Tommy John surgery, his small-sample 17.18 ERA can be overlooked. Regardless of Chambers' future career path, and we are certainly rooting for his future health and success, Matt Arnold and his scouting staff scored a major win here. At this point, it should be abundantly clear that Arnold will get as creative and aggressive as necessary to jump into the available "designated for assignment" opportunity pool.

 

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02/01/24    Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Corbin Burnes to Baltimore Orioles for SS Joey Ortiz, LHP DL Hall and Future Considerations (2024 Competitive Balance Round A draft pick, #34 overall - 1B Blake Burke).

Let's see, you may remember this trade.

By the way, the "Banished Words List", an annual literary exercise and tradition, was just released. We were hoping "on my bingo card" would be included, as in "we didn't have the Orioles jumping in for a February 1st deal for Corbin Burnes on our bingo card".

Surely, your Google machine can pull up all kinds of reactions and view them in hindsight. As for the 2024 season that nearly all reading here knows how shook down, let's just bullet-point a bit:

• Corbin Burnes was and remains really, really good, and the Orioles 1-0 loss in his lone playoff game will sting the Birds immensely for years to come.
• The Orioles will net the #31 pick in the next MLB draft for losing Burnes. Matt Arnold was wise to target his own draft pick value at the time of the trade.
• Baseball America's 70-grade (20-to-80 scale) for Joey Ortiz' shortstop defense, as noted in the linked MLBTR feature, translated in glowing fashion to third base, and Brewers fans will be beyond dazzled by Ortiz' SS play, if as anticipated, he lands there for 2025.
• DL Hall and the most ridiculously eventful relatively minor rehab assignment ever gets a frustrating pass for 2024. The spotlight on him will be bright and laser-focused this coming season, however.
• We didn't get to see enough of Blake Burke, but hopefully big things await the big man,

 

 

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Look forward to the final of our three segments next week. Perhaps Matt Arnold will have added to his total of 40 deals by the time we publish. 

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[biedergb]

This is an interesting block of trades.  First having the 2023 trade deadline and 2023/2024 offseason trades makes it more interesting by definition.  In the first piece, it was a lot of tinkering around the edges deals with three clear wins for the Brewers (not necessarily “winning the trade” but helping to build a winning team!), in trading Renfroe (addition by subtraction), Wong (had younger defensive minded prospects coming up) and Ruiz (surplus of fast and defensively oriented OFs), to get Pegeuro, Payamps and Megill (key pieces of very good bullpens in ‘23 and ‘24) and some guy named Contreras. And I will grant the Erceg deal as purely a good faith move for the player which does help a lot in recruiting the minor league or lower tier FAs.

 

This second block has some good or meh trades, but the end result was acquiring a bunch of pieces who did not necessarily help a lot because of injury/ineffectiveness (ie T. Clarke) or just were OK (ie Canha, Bauers, Dunn). Obviously the jury is out on them but none really add the team “better”.  Santana helped solidify the offense and 1B and Hudson was a stud last year.  The biggest win so far was Ortiz.  However, other side of the ledger has a lot of young prospects who may or may not or pan out.  Way too early to tell if they are the next Will Inman/Luis Ortiz/Demi Orimoloye/Brett Phillips (overvalued by me and probably other fans), or the next Lorenzo Cain/Reese Olson (traded prospects who performed well in the bigs and would have been nice in the Brewers during their prime). I still highly of Avila, and didn’t realize Severino had such a nice season, while Moore /Mendez had bounce back seasons, and Chambers never threw a pitch for the Brewers.  So for the most part this looks like a lot of so-so for the Brewers, and some future prospects that could be future missing parts.  And this then doesn’t even touch on Burnes - it’s always hard to lose a star, and the gains are decent since he was going to leave anyway (the aforementioned Ortiz, along with wild cards in Hall [almost literally] and the draft pick of Burke).

 

The end result of these 26 trades was helping to keep the momentum of division leaders (and two years of division champions), so I will take it, as you have to give to get - and overall the gets (mainly key contributors in Contreras, Megill, Peguero, Payamps, Ortiz, Hudson) seem to have more value than the gives (only 1 season of Burnes, and several young prospects who may or may not make the big show in Mendez, Severino, Avina, Chambers). Look forward to the last installment but so far I’d say I’ll take it, but still hoping for more solid to great moves from the front office moving forward.

[Jim Goulart]

Coincidentally, this came out this AM, includes Cam Devanney praise and conjecture:

 

[Michael Trzinski]

@Jim Goulart, love your spot-on analysis and deadpan humor. Keep up the good work!!

[biedergb]

I overlooked Devanney in my assessment, I guess I didn’t follow him as much. Good for him. And bad for,the brew crew as Clarke never panned out.

[sveumrules]

45 minutes ago, biedergb said:

I overlooked Devanney in my assessment, I guess I didn’t follow him as much. Good for him. And bad for,the brew crew as Clarke never panned out.

Devanney has spent the last two seasons in AAA now. His plate discipline cratered from 11.8 BB% | 18.2 K% in 2023 to 9.0 BB% | 26.0 K% in 2024.

He’ll be playing his age 28 season next year.

Sure, Clarke never panned out, neither has Devanney.

Maybe Cam will yet at some point, but if he were still in MKE he’d have all of Durbin, Dunn, Monasterio & even Vinny Capra ahead of him on the depth chart. 

[Joseph Zarr]

As I followed Severino through this past season, I couldn't help but imagine the embarrassment of riches we'd have in that prized internationally acquired age group had he stayed in the system.

Kudos to the Bucs for making that play when they did. If we look back earnestly at that timeframe and trade, tho extremely talented, the consensus in the greater prospect universe at the time was Severino was very talented and could hit for meaningful power but there were legitimate swing-and-miss type projection concerns. SO, to that end, this is very much a testament to the player and the Bucs org in that FCL/Low-A coaching pool for working together to address and improve upon those perceived weaknesses - at least in the near term. He'll be a fun player to continue monitoring from afar.

[biedergb]

16 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

very much a testament to the player and the Bucs org in that FCL/Low-A coaching pool for working together to address and improve upon those perceived weaknesses - at least in the near term. He'll be a fun player to continue monitoring from afar.

I will say he was one of two IFA signings from that class that appear on this lis - Reminton Batista is the other one.

Also, Severino may be turning it around, but he lags behind a couple other top hitters from that same '22 IFA class, namely Lara and Baez who both were in A ball for the whole season (Lara in high A, Baez in low A with AFL stint).  And he is ahead of Johan Barrios at this time point, who spent the whole season in the Complex and looked better but not as good as Severino.  I will definitely be watching him (more closely than Cam Devanney lol)

[Joseph Zarr]

4 minutes ago, biedergb said:

I will say he was one of two IFA signings from that class that appear on this lis - Reminton Batista is the other one.

Also, Severino may be turning it around, but he lags behind a couple other top hitters from that same '22 IFA class, namely Lara and Baez who both were in A ball for the whole season (Lara in high A, Baez in low A with AFL stint).  And he is ahead of Johan Barrios at this time point, who spent the whole season in the Complex and looked better but not as good as Severino.  I will definitely be watching him (more closely than Cam Devanney lol)

I wouldn't read that placement as being '...behind a couple hitters'. Remember: when he was originally traded to the Pirates he dealt with a broken hamate after a very small sample of games and was shelved to close his season. So, in many respects, there was a prolonged 'get to know you' phase with his new org. I think it's fair to say he offers a completely different potency of offensive prowess than either Lara or Baez. Obviously, they're different players all around but Severino has the build and the power in his bat to be a true hot corner prospect. Neither Baez nor Lara has shown much of any power in their bats. Both, at this point in their young careers, are mostly bat-to-ball contact hitters. I don't consider Baez's anomalous power spurt to start the AFL anything other than that: an anomalous brief power spurt. He fell back to his norms quite quickly after that. If the Brewers were still working with this version of Severino, I'd be hard-pressed to contain my excitement.