'For an hour we thought we were getting Felix Hernandez'

[LouisEly]

ESPN has a really interesting read on some behind-the-scenes scrambling at the MLB trade deadline as told by GMs:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45661110/mlb-trade-deadline-2025-gms-best-stories-deals-fell-rumors

The second-to-last story is from Zack Minasian during his time with the Brewers, when the Brewers almost had a deal for Felix Hernandez:

"Jack (Zduriencik) and Doug (Melvin) were talking about a trade that would have sent Felix Hernandez to Milwaukee," Minasian recalled. "At one point, we thought Jack had agreed to it but he needed to make one other move before we could finalize it.

"It didn't happen, but for an hour we thought we were getting Felix Hernandez. We were nervous, anxious, excited and just waiting."

It doesn't say what year that was, but looking back you can probably isolate it to 2011.  It would have been very unlikely that SEA would have been willing to trade Felix before 2011, especially since that was his age 25 season and he won the Cy Young in 2010.  That, and the Brewers wouldn't have been sellers during that time to acquire Felix as a prospect.  Seattle wouldn't have been buyers during that time either.  While it may seem unlikely that the Brewers could acquire him in 2011, in that it might have literally cost the farm, it wouldn't be unprecedented since the Brewers went all-in for Sabathia in 2008. 

It would be unlikely that the Brewers would have traded for him between 2012 and 2015 as they finished 3rd in the division twice and 4th twice during that stretch, so no need to make a big acquisition.  Melvin then moved out of the GM role in August of 2015 and Zduriencik was fired two weeks later.

What could have been to have Felix Hernandez in the 2011 playoffs...

[wibadgers23]

Looking at MLB Pipeline's 2011 rankings, our top prospects included guys like Mark Rogers, Wily Peralta, Kyle Heckathorn, Scooter Gennett, Amaury Rivas, etc.  I'm assuming there had to be guys on the big league roster who would have headed to Seattle too.  Would love to know the proposed package.

[LouisEly]

59 minutes ago, wibadgers23 said:

Looking at MLB Pipeline's 2011 rankings, our top prospects included guys like Mark Rogers, Wily Peralta, Kyle Heckathorn, Scooter Gennett, Amaury Rivas, etc.  I'm assuming there had to be guys on the big league roster who would have headed to Seattle too.  Would love to know the proposed package.

Rogers was drafted in 2004, so I think that list is... not accurate.

The first thing I thought of was that the Brewers had two 1st round picks in 2011 and drafted starting pitchers with both of them - Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley.  But that was before they could trade players within a year of drafting them.  Otherwise, that would have made a ton of sense to start a package with those two.

In 2010 they drafted another pitcher in the 1st round... but that was the Dylan Covey fiasco, and he didn't sign.  Their 2nd round pick that year was Jimmy Nelson, and their 3rd round pick was Tyler Thornburg.  

In 2009 they drafted two more starting pitchers early in Eric Arnett and Kyle Heckathorn.  Arnett was a bust from the get-go, so not him, and Heckathorn wasn't showing anything special.  So no on those two.  But they had two later round picks who were tearing through the minors - Khris Davis and Mike Fiers.  Davis had a .948 OPS in the Florida State League before getting promoted to AA Huntsville, and Fiers, while already 26, was dominating AA and AAA and made it to the majors in 2011.

They had two other guys in AAA who were struggling to get an opportunity in the majors.  Taylor Green (24 at the time) had a .997 OPS in AAA and Mat Gamel (25 at the time) couldn't get an opportunity with Fielder manning 1B but had a .912 OPS in AAA that year.  They also had 23-year-old Zach Braddock who looked good in 2010 but was struggling in 2011.

So... my guess is:

Jimmy Nelson
Mike Fiers
Khris Davis
and two of Green/Gamel/Braddock

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

 

What could have been to have Felix Hernandez in the 2011 playoffs...

I wonder if that's Grinke and Felix or...an either or situation. 

1 hour ago, wibadgers23 said:

Looking at MLB Pipeline's 2011 rankings, our top prospects included guys like Mark Rogers, Wily Peralta, Kyle Heckathorn, Scooter Gennett, Amaury Rivas, etc.  I'm assuming there had to be guys on the big league roster who would have headed to Seattle too.  Would love to know the proposed package.

They made their trades before the season...though this is a deadline type deal. 

But...maybe Gallardo would have been included, Parra at the time still seemed like a really impressive talent who needed a reset. Didn't turn out that way, but...trying to go back and remember the era. 

Mat Gamel was another guy... by 2011, he was in the bust territory, but...still young enough and talented. 

You had Taylor Green and Caleb Gindl. I don't know, it's really hard to find much. Lucroy perhaps. Really hard to think about a package of players we had that'd get you a pitcher as good as King Felix was AND as important as he was to that team at that time. 

That list though...I don't remember Amaury Rivas. I'd have loved to see this pitching development staff work with Peralta. That upper 90s sinker and he had just parts of a slider and secondary pitchers that were never refined. 

 

Anyway, hard to see who they'd have given up to get King Felix at that point, but the benefit of hindsight, I would not have cared!

 

Quote

 

So... my guess is:

Jimmy Nelson
Mike Fiers
Khris Davis
and two of Green/Gamel/Braddock

 

Ok, Louis has a better memory than I. 

I'm still thinking they needed another BIG name in there for a trade of that magnitude. I'd include Gallardo and take out Fiers. 

[LouisEly]

17 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

I'm still thinking they needed another BIG name in there for a trade of that magnitude. I'd include Gallardo and take out Fiers. 

2011 was Gallardo's 5th year in the rotation.  He debuted in 2007.  He's the same age as Felix, was no longer a prospect, and they needed him in the rotation.

I think MLB execs in 2011 had a much higher opinion on Fiers and Davis than the prospect ranking sites.  And Green and Gamel were putting up big numbers in AAA and still relatively young.  

Thornburg was an option, too.  He had a great 2011 - 136.1 IP, 94 H, 58 BB, 160 K, 2.57 ERA between A/A+.

[BrewerFan]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

2011 was Gallardo's 5th year in the rotation.  He debuted in 2007.  He's the same age as Felix, was no longer a prospect, and they needed him in the rotation.

I think MLB execs in 2011 had a much higher opinion on Fiers and Davis than the prospect ranking sites.  And Green and Gamel were putting up big numbers in AAA and still relatively young.  

Thornburg was an option, too.  He had a great 2011 - 136.1 IP, 94 H, 58 BB, 160 K, 2.57 ERA between A/A+.

Man, that's... pretty far off. Somehow those years just blended together. 

It's a little hard for me seeing Fiers being real highly thought of, but he was really effective. Davis had huge power. Though, he was only going to hit .247. Not .246, not .248...247!

 

I guess, it's just hard to see how we pull of a deal for basically Tarik Skubal with that group of prospects, but... I guess we came close.

And maybe Yo or Lucroy was headed to another team to make that deal work. Thornburg was a fun kid to watch. We got a nice haul back for him...and it made me look up Pomeranz. That's the type of dude we need to add at the deadline IMO. 

Also a HOF pitcher in his prime...if possible(aside from the one we just called up).