If Brewers Stop After Danny Jansen Addition, Have They Done Enough?

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

 

Proactivity in April saved the Brewers' season. They were so starved for starting pitching depth that they made a trade many regarded as desperate, or even ill-advised, but that deal has yielded 102 innings of mid-rotation work from new acquisition Quinn Priester, who now looks like a medium-term fixture in their rotation. Then, in May and June, it was their patience that paid off. The team didn't give up on Joey Ortiz when he carried a .441 OPS through the first eight weeks of the season. However crazy he might drive his skipper with poor swing decisions, he's now had a .685 OPS over the last nine weeks—all while batting ninth and playing fine defense at shortstop.

In July, a team can't be all one thing. Getting the MLB trade deadline right requires striking a delicate balance, being both opportunistic and cautious. Milwaukee pulled the trigger on a deal Monday, to obtain Danny Jansen from the Rays and slot him in to replace Eric Haase as the backup to William Contreras. Now, though, the question on many fans' minds will be: Is that it?

To be sure, there are still rumors out there that the team will pursue help at an infield corner, or that they'll seek to further deepen their solid relief corps. They're not done having conversations. With a deep, young, versatile roster that is also getting healthier as the year moves along, though, it's not fully clear that they need or want to expend more prospect capital to gild the metaphorical lily.

Ryan O'Hearn of the Orioles is a solid left-handed bat who could very well be better than Andrew Vaughn down the stretch—but, then again, Vaughn is only meant to be a stopgap while Rhys Hoskins is on the injured list. The Brewers' success with Vaughn, whom they acquired for the disgruntled Aaron Civale last month, is yet another proof of their superb skills in development and instruction, and they might be happy to keep capitalizing on it until Hoskins reclaims his place, rather than send out any of their great farm depth for a different short-term first baseman.

Given the injuries they've suffered in the outfield (most notably, the long absence to start the season for Blake Perkins and the season-ending shoulder surgery for Garrett Mitchell), one might ordinarily expect them to be in the market for help there. But Perkins is back now, and in the meantime, Isaac Collins emerged as a legitimate first-division starter: he's played sparkling defense in left field and is batting .278/.379/.409. He's up to 271 plate appearances and is still walking 13% of the time. There might not be an outfielder traded anywhere this week who outstrips what Collins is already doing.

Collins, Vaughn, Priester, and Ortiz are exemplars of what the Brewers do best: find underperforming or underrated players, develop them patiently yet quickly, and trust them to keep their winning machine running. While Jansen will be a welcome addition, and while there are still arms out there (Anthony Bender of the Marlins continues to stand out in the crowd) who could ensure that the team is fresh and ready to overpower opponents come October, it doesn't feel like this team needs to do any more roster-building to secure the NL Central title or to feel good going into the postseason. This is a very, very good team, well-run. Their biggest need, now, is to focus on ways to sustain this brilliance.

 

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[MattK]

Wouldn't hurt to get some middle infield depth that can hit better than either Monasterio or Seigler has.  :-) 

I think Pat does not use his bench much in general, but if he has 4 guys on it all with a role, but also all who could hit enough that he trusts them more, that recipe may change a bit.  Bench OF is likely there, and now with Jansen, starting catcher against lefties, with Contreras DHing, is likely a filled role.  IF who can defend and hit some, and 1B who hits is likely last.

Castro & O'Hearn?  Will cost them out of the prospect depth, but more in the Areinamo mid-prospect mode, likely.  Crow for one and Cornielle with Quintana for the other?
 

[Rick Daltons Flamethrower]

Nice article Mr T.  I am hoping for a 8th inning set up pitcher . Also thinking getting a third baseman or shortstop who can hit would be way better than another first baseman/DH. The real need is someone to free up Caleb  Durbin to be a utility player (infield /outfield). He had that role for the Yankees.  

[Brock Beauchamp]

No, they haven't done enough. It won't cost them a fortune to go get someone like O'Hearn, and that gives them a better shot of getting out of the first round by skipping it entirely.

I understand not pushing all the chips into the middle, but they should push some into the middle.

[Brian]

1 hour ago, MattK said:

Wouldn't hurt to get some middle infield depth that can hit better than either Monasterio or Seigler has.  :-) 

Absolutely correct, if Turang went down we'd be in a big world of hurt.  If Ortiz went down we'd need a starting SS.  Not much backup at all for those two with the playoffs looming.