Trade Deadline: Buyers

[Brewer77]

9 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The Brewers have not shown any desire to add high strikeout players from outside the organization in years, and Suarez is one of the highest strikeout players in the league.

Couple that with his below-average defense (I think the last thing the Brewers want is their pitchers throwing extra pitches because of poor defense), and I would be very surprised if he is high on the Brewers wish list.

Hoskins, Bauers, Sanchez, and Haase are all guys they’ve signed in the past two years with below average to bad strikeout rates. They will do it in exchange for power

Also, Suarez’s strikeout rate is down this year. Not sure if there’s a specific reason for it, but it’s a respectable number (23%)

[Jopal78]

5 hours ago, JohnBriggs12 said:

 

Seriously?  Suarez is one of the premier power bats in all of baseball.  If there ever was the perfect rental for this Brewer team it's Suarez.  Cubs have both speed and power.  You need both to play with the big boys.  The fact that he plays 3B is icing on the cake.  Not to mention a move like that would send a clear message to the Cubs that it's not just a wild card the Brewers are looking for. 

You must have a very liberal definition of “premier power bats in all of baseball”. Sure, Saurez hits homeruns but literally doesn’t do much else. Since he turned 30 his OBP is .320. He’s 2nd among all active players in errors, 4th among active players in strikeouts yet is only 18th in games played amongst active players. 

Not only that, the Reds signed him to a big extension in 2018 and since then he’s been traded twice in salary dumps. 

Saurez couldn’t hold the jock of the real premier power bats like Ohtani, Judge, Soto, etc.

Who knows, maybe the Brewers will feel it crucial to add homeruns to their roster, but Saurez is kind of the antithesis of the type of player the Brewers value. 

[Playing Catch]

14 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

like Ohtani, Judge, Soto, etc.

etc.?

There are more on this list?

[endaround]

1 hour ago, Playing Catch said:

etc.?

There are more on this list?

See Suarez in only 10th in ISO.  The fact that numbers 1-9 are not going to be available for trade is immaterial.

[LouisEly]

8 hours ago, endaround said:

See Suarez in only 10th in ISO.  The fact that numbers 1-9 are not going to be available for trade is immaterial.

ISO is usually measured as SLG minus batting average.

When you strike out a lot, your BA tends to be low, which artificially inflates ISO.  Suarez's SLG is 21st in MLB.

[Brian]

What will the Brewers do with Blake Perkins and Garrette Mithell if they are ever ready to play? I think its time to trade Mitchell at the deadline. 

[Scooterfletcher]

7 hours ago, Brian said:

What will the Brewers do with Blake Perkins and Garrette Mithell if they are ever ready to play? I think its time to trade Mitchell at the deadline. 

Perkins I am guessing only comes up from AAA if injuries hit.  I think Collins keeps the 5th OF job and the two battle it out next year for a reserve role.   Mitchell rotates in the OF with Chourio/Yelich/Frelick.  

[wallus]

8 hours ago, Brian said:

What will the Brewers do with Blake Perkins and Garrette Mithell if they are ever ready to play? I think its time to trade Mitchell at the deadline. 

They will platoon in CF. With all of the injuries, I can't see Garrett having enough trade value to make it worth moving him at the deadline

[Brewer77]

It’s not worth selling low on Mitchell. He really flashed defensively over the first month and the bat has produced more than not as a big leaguer. The injuries are frustrating, but that’s why you build organizational depth to weather the storm

[jay87shot]

2 hours ago, wallus said:

They will platoon in CF. With all of the injuries, I can't see Garrett having enough trade value to make it worth moving him at the deadline

Agreed, Mitchell has so much upside that trading him doesn't make much sense. We probably just need to on planning on having 4 quality OF with a couple of utility guys like Bauers and Collins who can play OF. I doubt we would get anything of value for Mitchell who still has 20-20+ potential with gold glove defense. At this point it is unlikely he ever play 140+ games in a year but here is to hoping. Maybe by mid-late 2026 Lara will force him to the 4th OF role and it will be easier to trade him.

[tmwiese55]

I'd generally agree with the recent posts sentiment on Mitchell.   But, if a trade does come up you think can help the 3b/SS and the other team likes him and wants him I think you do it. And i think you prefer to trade him than younger guys.  But yea the question comes down to if a team does value him.    

Other thing to note is that he only has 3 years left after this one. So say he does finally stay healthy next year and pans out, you really only get him for two years before you have to trade him. Because no way you want to give a guy this injury prone much of any legit contract.   And really, if next year he played 140 games and did well, I'd be looking to cash him out right away next offseason. 

[endaround]

There is no "cash out" on Mitchell.  He right now is on a path to be non-tendered in 2027 when he would likely cost $3-5 million in arbitration for a reserve/always injured player.  He's also not that young, turning 27 this year so it's not like he has huge growth potential.  Right now he would be a guy who if healthy would be interesting as a secondary piece to a team that can give him playing time in the hope maybe there is something there but he isn't young enough to be a building block nor is he reliable enough for a team to count on him for an immediate push.  Say if Baltimore gives up on the season and the Brewers trade for Mullins, then Mitchell could be a second piece in that deal.

[tmwiese55]

12 minutes ago, endaround said:

There is no "cash out" on Mitchell.  He right now is on a path to be non-tendered in 2027 when he would likely cost $3-5 million in arbitration for a reserve/always injured player.  He's also not that young, turning 27 this year so it's not like he has huge growth potential.  Right now he would be a guy who if healthy would be interesting as a secondary piece to a team that can give him playing time in the hope maybe there is something there but he isn't young enough to be a building block nor is he reliable enough for a team to count on him for an immediate push.  Say if Baltimore gives up on the season and the Brewers trade for Mullins, then Mitchell could be a second piece in that deal.

The cash out was a hypothetical future, not now.  It was if he played next year and did well.  Say he played 140-50 games, hit .280 with 25 HRs while still playing good D.   I'd be looking to sell him right away the following offseason rather than bank on him staying healthy.  After a year like that you'd be able to get something from someone hoping he could repeat it.   Basically rather than a sell low now, that would be trying to sell at his peak 

[Brian]

23 hours ago, endaround said:

There is no "cash out" on Mitchell.  He right now is on a path to be non-tendered in 2027 when he would likely cost $3-5 million in arbitration for a reserve/always injured player.  He's also not that young, turning 27 this year so it's not like he has huge growth potential.  Right now he would be a guy who if healthy would be interesting as a secondary piece to a team that can give him playing time in the hope maybe there is something there but he isn't young enough to be a building block nor is he reliable enough for a team to count on him for an immediate push.  Say if Baltimore gives up on the season and the Brewers trade for Mullins, then Mitchell could be a second piece in that deal.

Mullins will be 31 before the end of the year, he's no spring chicken either. 

[endaround]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

Mullins will be 31 before the end of the year, he's no spring chicken either. 

The point is Mullins would be a guy who is a free agent at the end of the year where the receiving team might be interested in Mitchell to see if there is anything there.  If you like change Mullins to Moncada and Mitchell might be part of the return the Angels receive. Mitchell having only gotten 2/3rds of a season of plate appears in 3 and 1/3 years just makes it really difficult to trade him even if he comes back for a few months this year.

[wallus]

Toronto could use another starter and they have been getting good production from multiple 3B.

Blue Jays: Civale 

Brewers: Clement 

I normally like to do BTV but they didn't have a recent one on Civale (and I thought it was high regardless)

[liveforoctober]

16 minutes ago, wallus said:

Toronto could use another starter and they have been getting good production from multiple 3B.

Blue Jays: Civale 

Brewers: Clement 

I normally like to do BTV but they didn't have a recent one on Civale (and I thought it was high regardless)

Civale is a replacement level pitcher+ who was already on the IL once this year. Clement was a 3.5 WAR player last year and is on pace to beat that this year. The Brewers would have to add Boeve to the deal to get Clement and probably also send along some money to cover the difference in salaries :(

[wallus]

10 minutes ago, liveforoctober said:

Civale is a replacement level pitcher+ who was already on the IL once this year. Clement was a 3.5 WAR player last year and is on pace to beat that this year. The Brewers would have to add Boeve to the deal to get Clement and probably also send along some money to cover the difference in salaries :(

Fine, deal done. BTV had Clement at 4.2 and Civale at over 6 last time I saw it.

Right now their rotation has Eric Lauer in it....

[wallus]

Alright, might as well fire this thing back up as I am a believer in our pitching. These moves would constitute as "going for it". These trades assume the teams involved are out of it by the deadline. Prospect huggers look away.

Brewers: Suarez (BTV: 5.6)

Dbacks: Boeve (BTV: 7.3)

There will be competition for Suarez and our lineup could seriously use power. Boeve is a good prospect but we have a lot of guys that are similar to him.

Brewers: Smith (BTV: 19.7)

Rangers: Pratt (BTV: 22.4)

I can hear the complaints already. Smith is cheap and cost controlled for a while. I like Pena and Made better as our future shortstops than Pratt. Smith fits our timeline well.

Brewers: Buxton (BTV: 25.4)

Twins: Ortiz (BTV: 13.6), Payne (BTV: 11.3), Wichrowski (BTV: 5.4)

This assumes Buxton waives his NTC which obviously isn't a given. Buxton is an injury risk but the risk may be worth the reward. His contract fits in our budget.

Frelick (RF)

Chourio (LF)

Suarez (3B)

Yelich (DH)

Buxton (CF)

Contreras (C)

Smith (SS)

Hoskins (1B)

Turang (2B)

Bench: Durbin, Collins, Perkins, Haase

The defense would suffer with this group a bit but I would switch out defenders at the end of the game when you hopefully have a lead. This would require Mark to push the budget a bit for half a season. 

We still have an incredible minor league system after these trades.

Bites of the apple still in play....

 

[wiguy94]

2 hours ago, wallus said:

Alright, might as well fire this thing back up as I am a believer in our pitching. These moves would constitute as "going for it". These trades assume the teams involved are out of it by the deadline. Prospect huggers look away.

Brewers: Suarez (BTV: 5.6)

Dbacks: Boeve (BTV: 7.3)

There will be competition for Suarez and our lineup could seriously use power. Boeve is a good prospect but we have a lot of guys that are similar to him.

Brewers: Smith (BTV: 19.7)

Rangers: Pratt (BTV: 22.4)

I can hear the complaints already. Smith is cheap and cost controlled for a while. I like Pena and Made better as our future shortstops than Pratt. Smith fits our timeline well.

Brewers: Buxton (BTV: 25.4)

Twins: Ortiz (BTV: 13.6), Payne (BTV: 11.3), Wichrowski (BTV: 5.4)

This assumes Buxton waives his NTC which obviously isn't a given. Buxton is an injury risk but the risk may be worth the reward. His contract fits in our budget.

Frelick (RF)

Chourio (LF)

Suarez (3B)

Yelich (DH)

Buxton (CF)

Contreras (C)

Smith (SS)

Hoskins (1B)

Turang (2B)

Bench: Durbin, Collins, Perkins, Haase

The defense would suffer with this group a bit but I would switch out defenders at the end of the game when you hopefully have a lead. This would require Mark to push the budget a bit for half a season. 

We still have an incredible minor league system after these trades.

Bites of the apple still in play....

 

At this point I don't think any of those 3 teams are going to sell. Arizona's GM (I believe) already came out and said they are planning to buy at the deadline. Minnesota and Texas are only 2.5 games back of the playoffs right now. That would need to change for them to sell the players you have them selling.

For your actual hypotheticals.

Buxton will be way more expensive than that.

Boeve won't net Suarez with the way he's played following shoulder surgery. Especially considering Suarez might be the most in demand position player on the block if Arizona does end up selling.

Brewers likely think way too much of Pratt to trade him for a guy like Josh Smith. Brenton Del Chiaro the Assistant Director of Player Development with the Brewers is publicly on the record saying he thinks Pratt is an All-Star in the future.

[Scooterfletcher]

Tobias Myers for Suarez might be of interest to the dbacks.   Straight up.

[nate82]

3 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Tobias Myers for Suarez might be of interest to the dbacks.   Straight up.

For a laugh maybe.  

[Scooterfletcher]

48 minutes ago, nate82 said:

For a laugh maybe.  

Yep getting a 40 hr hitter at a position of a need for a year isn’t worth a AAAA pitcher like Myers Big Nate.

[brewmann04]

Guess cross off Mitchell for a while 

[Playing Catch]

On 6/21/2025 at 4:51 PM, wiguy94 said:

Brenton Del Chiaro the Assistant Director of Player Development with the Brewers is publicly on the record saying he thinks Pratt is an All-Star in the future.

I was taken aback with that public comment, too.

I really like Pratt as a high-floor prospect. He's a sure-fire average to plus infielder, depending on the position. His bat isn't special, but he seems to have a well-rounded hitting profile so that he'll be able to put together competitive at bats when he reaches the Show.

Guys that can walk into 6 years of team control with 3 options and not have disqualifying holes in their game derive value from their ability to show up everyday and help you win, rather than by anchoring a playoff lineup, or hitting like an All-Star.

On 6/21/2025 at 2:41 PM, wallus said:

Alright, might as well fire this thing back up

The Brewers are on fire, and going into what could be a haymaking part of their schedule, seeing Pittsburgh, Colorado, Miami, and the Nationals before the All-Star Break (along with the Dodgers and Mets).

This could be a really fun month and a half. What happens if Ortiz and Durbin continue to be worthy of playing everyday??