Collins, Mears to KC for Angel Zerpa

[duewizard]

11 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

It is entirely possible both players provide zero wins above replacement level next season. 🤷‍♂️

And its entirely possible both players provide over 3 wins combined. Many things are possible

[iKezims]

I don't see any harm in this. It just puts the pressure on Garrett Mitchell to stay healthy (lol). Baddoo was an MLB signing, so kinda figured this was coming. Mears being left off the NLCS roster too kinda showed Murph's hand in maybe his trust level. That Zerpa GB% is nice too and plays well with our defense.

[sveumrules]

Out of 103 relievers with at least 100 IP the last two years Zerpa’s 60.5 GB% is 5th.

His 87 xFIP- is exactly the same as guys like Ryan Helsley, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias on that same leaderboard.

Matching 124 Stuff+ grades on his sinker (3rd best) and slider (24th).

[narwhalattack]

Well, if there’s any team that can polish a diamond in the rough when it comes to pitchers, it’s us. Send him to the pitching lab and see if we can get a solid bullpen staple out of him.

[liveforoctober]

Zerpa slides in as the 5th to last name in Brewers' history alphabetically only ahead of the Zimmerman's, Pete Zoccolillo and your A level trivia answer... Eddie Zosky.

Will be the 8th player with a last name starting with Z in team history.

If Zastryzny can hold his roster spot we would have quite the lefty combo. "The Sleep Brothers" "Double Nyquil" "ZZ Top"... something something snore?... I dunno I need a drink.

[AJOHNSON104]

We're collecting lefties. Ashby, Koenig, Zerpa, Gasser, Hall, S. Peralta, Zastryzny. I'd suspect that one or more of these guys needs to be in the rotation.  

[Joseph Zarr]

11 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Out of 103 relievers with at least 100 IP the last two years Zerpa’s 60.5 GB% is 5th.

His 87 xFIP- is exactly the same as guys like Ryan Helsley, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias on that same leaderboard.

Matching 124 Stuff+ grades on his sinker (3rd best) and slider (24th).

This. Zerpa has real goods. Was touching 98 last year after a velo tick in 2024 as well. He is a guy that has underperformed his goods. I personally really like this trade. Plus we add team control and the ability to Option. This is a sneaky good trade.

Also, I should add, as the OG Collins Hype Man on this board (dating back to his days as a Shucker) I don't think it is in any way reasonable to expect the player we saw in the first half of last year. Could it happen? Of course. He is a major regression candidate and we started seeing that quite clearly by season's end.

[folly412]

I prefer Zerpa over Mears, for sure.

If mid-August through October Collins is more the norm, this is a nice upgrade to the roster. 

If ROY favorite in early August Collins emerges again and we're running Akil Baddoo out there it  will feel really bad.

[TURBO]

I am praying that this means we are in on an outfielder in a different trade.

If this means Baddoo just carved out regular playing time in 2026, then this really blows.

 

[Austin Tatious]

I think it’s obvious that the Brewers view Zerpa as a core piece for the next three years based on the trade. They aren’t just going to toss Mears and Collins overboard for nothing, although I suspect they might be thinking they are selling high.

I’m sure other teams had interest but  the Brewers liked Zerpa as the return they want both in terms of positional value to them and underappreciated skill set they think they can tap into.  

To me this trade represents two key aspects of the Brewers’ secret sauce: (a) always planning ahead on keeping their bullpen a core strength, and (b) targeting and identifying talent and skill set they think they can optimize better than the market.  

[mudbutt]

12 minutes ago, TURBO said:

I am praying that this means we are in on an outfielder in a different trade.

If this means Baddoo just carved out regular playing time in 2026, then this really blows.

 

There’s still Lockridge, Perkins, and even Bauers before you even get to a guy like Baddoo who is going to be in Nashville.  But despite all that I still hope the Brewers are hunting for a legit corner outfield bat and roll with Chourio or Frelick in center as I think that’s the easiest path to improving the playoff lineup.

[wibadgers23]

13 minutes ago, TURBO said:

I am praying that this means we are in on an outfielder in a different trade.

If this means Baddoo just carved out regular playing time in 2026, then this really blows.

 

Yes, this please.  Getting a legit OF to go with Chourio and Frelick is my biggest wish for the offseason.

[TURBO]

1 minute ago, mudbutt said:

There’s still Lockridge, Perkins, and even Bauers before you even get to a guy like Baddoo who is going to be in Nashville.  But despite all that I still hope the Brewers are hunting for a legit corner outfield bat and roll with Chourio or Frelick in center as I think that’s the easiest path to improving the lineup.

The fact that we still have Lockridge and Perkins does nothing for my confidence level.

Don't be so sure that Baddoo doesn't get an extended look at regular playing time unless we have another OF in mind that isn't yet on our roster.  Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Murphy's line-ups.

No, I'm not forgetting Mitchell...

[liveforoctober]

It's December 13th.

I promise you this won't be our opening day 40 man.

[Underachiever]

24 minutes ago, liveforoctober said:

Zerpa slides in as the 5th to last name in Brewers' history alphabetically only ahead of the Zimmerman's, Pete Zoccolillo and your A level trivia answer... Eddie Zosky.

Will be the 8th player with a last name starting with Z in team history.

If Zastryzny can hold his roster spot we would have quite the lefty combo. "The Sleep Brothers" "Double Nyquil" "ZZ Top"... something something snore?... I dunno I need a drink.

Forget the ground ball rate, velo, options, years of control...THIS is the content I come to Brewerfan for!!!!!

If they get the "NapTime" nickname, Enter Sandman has to be their song.

[SF70]

Great trade.

Mears had no options, diminished stuff and needed to go. Like Collins, but his weird defensive regression the second-half of the season gave me pause.

Love Zerpa’s stuff. Brewers will turn him into a HL monster. 

[Scooterfletcher]

1 hour ago, adambr2 said:

If this trade were in reverse we would be absolutely raving about getting 5 years of control of Collins.

But it’s not.  And the organization and team seem to do rather well.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I get the idea behind this, but the value leaving Milwaukee feels out of whack, and I'm quite down on Collins.

But whatever. The Brewers deserve the benefit of the doubt. If they target a pitcher, I'm on board.

[wiguy94]

I'm just sad that Collins was traded but such is the business of MLB. Don't get attached to Brewers players.

[BrewerFan]

15 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I get the idea behind this, but the value leaving Milwaukee feels out of whack, and I'm quite down on Collins.

But whatever. The Brewers deserve the benefit of the doubt. If they target a pitcher, I'm on board.

I think this is the definition of 'I guess I'll trust the Brewers here,' type trade. 

I like that this guy gets ground balls. That's... something.

But as others have pointed out, if we were to get 5 years of Collins back in this trade(and the reliever who had the better year last year)... I think this board would be thrilled.

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

I think this is the definition of 'I guess I'll trust the Brewers here,' type trade. 

I like that this guy gets ground balls. That's... something.

But as others have pointed out, if we were to get 5 years of Collins back in this trade(and the reliever who had the better year last year)... I think this board would be thrilled.

Yeah, probably. But I've been skeptical of Brewers moves in the past, and they usually prove me wrong. 

[RobertCrawley]

2 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Zerpa had 61% ground balls last season. 99th percentile on Savant for GB%.Allowed .326 BABIP which suggests some bad luck. His # 4 similar player on BRef is Jared Koenig.

Maybe with some better gloves behind him, he has a lot more success.

[Frisbee Slider]

Mears struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings last. Way down from 2024 and his career norms.

Statcast doesn’t seem to like Collins launch angles or exit velocity and gave him .349 xSLG last year. Collins benefited from some generous BABIP during his hot streak, too.

[Scooterfletcher]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

This. Zerpa has real goods. Was touching 98 last year after a velo tick in 2024 as well. He is a guy that has underperformed his goods. I personally really like this trade. Plus we add team control and the ability to Option. This is a sneaky good trade.

Also, I should add, as the OG Collins Hype Man on this board (dating back to his days as a Shucker) I don't think it is in any way reasonable to expect the player we saw in the first half of last year. Could it happen? Of course. He is a major regression candidate and we started seeing that quite clearly by season's end.

Drew Pomeranz to a T.

[wiguy94]

4 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Mears struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings last. Way down from 2024 and his career norms.

Statcast doesn’t seem to like Collins launch angles or exit velocity and gave him .349 xSLG last year. Collins benefited from some generous BABIP during his hot streak, too.

Yeah Mears stuff dropped off big time last year. He had 69 stuff (20-80 scale) by pitching bot and 120 stuff+ by stuff+ in his brief Brewers sample in 2024. Last year that dropped off 53 and 100 respectively so right around average. This was a guy who was left off the roster in the NLCS because the Brewers didn't view him as a leverage option.

Maybe the stuff bounces back next year but he was always a pretty easy guy to see get traded this offseason considering he had no options remaining.