2026 Trade/Waiver Targets

[jay87shot]

What about swinging a trade for Matt Chapman with the idea of re-trading him this offseason. We would have a big upgrade and there likely arent going to be much in the way of 3B available this offseason. If we gave up say 3 prospects we would likely be able to re-coup them and have Made take over 3B next year.

Offensively he has been average, but there should be some park factor improvement. He is currently at 2.9 WAR which is huge without hitting a ton. At 33, he has 4/100 left on his deal after the year. With a weak 3B class he would be in demand to sell over the offseason.

[wiguy94]

One guy I'd be kind of interested in is Steven Cruz on the Royals. He's been pretty terrible this year and I'm not sure the Royals would trade him but he has options and some really intriguing tools to work with. Maybe the Brewers could get him to that next level.

[Lathund]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

What about swinging a trade for Matt Chapman with the idea of re-trading him this offseason. We would have a big upgrade and there likely arent going to be much in the way of 3B available this offseason. If we gave up say 3 prospects we would likely be able to re-coup them and have Made take over 3B next year.

Offensively he has been average, but there should be some park factor improvement. He is currently at 2.9 WAR which is huge without hitting a ton. At 33, he has 4/100 left on his deal after the year. With a weak 3B class he would be in demand to sell over the offseason.

I don't think this is a very good way of doing business. What if he suffers a serious injury, or there are obvious signs of decline, before the Brewers can trade him and they're stuck with that $100m? If you're not able or willing to live with the contract you're acquiring, don't acquire it. I don't think the Brewers operate like this, just like I don't believe the seemingly common narrative that they offered the QO to Woody believing/hoping he'd decline it. They wouldn't have offered it if accepting it would've impacted their plans. 

If you want a 3B just for this season, ideally get a rental. Or a versatile, cheaper, player if it's for multiple years. Now I presume that part of the reason you even thought of Chapman is that the rental 3B market isn't very attractive. But the way I see it, the move then isn't to try to fit a square peg into a round hole, even if the square peg is very productive any nice. It's to not play at all, or play a different game (i.e improve elsewhere).