BREAKING: Brewers Acquire Catcher Bo Naylor from Guardians for Reliever Craig Yoho

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of David Richard-Imagn Images

Always operating on multiple levels, the Milwaukee Brewers made their first major trade of the season Saturday morning—but the focus of it appears to be 2027 and beyond, rather than 2026. Milwaukee is sending Craig Yoho and Blake Perkins to the Cleveland Guardians in a deal that nets them catcher Bo Naylor, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post and Robert Murray of FanSided.

 

Guardians beat reporter Zack Meisel adds the final piece to the puzzle, noting that the Brewers will also get Codi Heuer in the deal. It amounts, then, to a swap of relievers who were not working in high leverage and of position players who had lost prominence in their respective organizations.

 

Let's start by running through what the Brewers are getting. Naylor ranked 49th on our list of the top trade candidates for the deadline period, over at DiamondCentric: 

Quote

Bo Naylor, Guardians

C  Age: 26 FA: Nov 2029* Sal: $800k

Naylor looked so lost at the plate over the first month that Cleveland traded for Patrick Bailey, installed him and Austin Hedges as their tandem behind the plate and shipped their former catcher of the future to the minors. Since settling in at Triple-A Columbus, he’s produced well, but in a way that engenders little optimism for a 26-year-old who’s supposed to be in the bigs: low batting average, gap power more than over-the-fence power, and lots of walks. He’s a good enough receiver to stay behind the plate, but not so good that he can get away with not hitting at all. He’s gone from prospect to project and is largely suspect now; Cleveland is ready to move on if he can command a useful piece for their scramble to win the AL Central. If he stays in the minors the rest of the year, though, he’ll still be four seasons from free agency, which would give an acquiring team an extra year to extract value from their new backstop.

That capsule says everything about why the Brewers took interest. Everyone understands Naylor, the younger brother of Seattle first baseman Josh Naylor, to have upside left, but his bat has gone to pieces. The Crew will take over the reclamation project and try to get him back in touch with his talent. If they succeed, he could step in as their new primary backstop next spring, should they trade William Contreras this winter. If they fail, he's still a cromulent backup option, and a much cheaper one than (say) Gary Sánchez. Much work lies ahead, though.

Heuer, 30, has changed hands more times than Pat Venditte on a long subway ride. He's a low-slot righty with a four-seamer that sits around 95 MPH, a slider that pairs well with it, and a changeup to keep lefties from sitting on the other two offerings. His elite release extension surely made him attractive to the Brewers, who love that trait. He's strictly a middle reliever, but they might well trust him more than Craig Yoho—if only because they trust Yoho so little.

Naylor could have four more years of team control left, depending on whether and when the Brewers call him up this season. Heuer has just one, after this year. In acquiring these two fringe pieces for Yoho (still six years of control left) and Perkins (three more, if offered arbitration each time, which is unlikely), they don't gain or lose much projected team control. Rather, this move secures some value for Yoho, whom the organization has been down on for several months, and gets Perkins out of the way in an outfield logjam that needed to be addressed.

The main benefit of the deal will come if they can turn Naylor back into the better version of himself. In the meantime, though, Heuer profiles as a still-optionable (for the moment) arm who can pick up innings at the bottom of the bullpen ladder and be swapped out when needed, while still offering upside as Chris Hook and Jim Henderson get to work with him. It's a move about resolving roster clutter and providing needed changes of scenery, and it's a move about the medium-term future. If it affects the 2026 Brewers' pursuit of a World Series title at all, though, it should be in the positive direction, which surely made the front office comfortable enough to pull the trigger.

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[Trax]

Headscratcher.... 

[Trail]

Great move for Yoho...long term at least.  I think he's going to be successful.  

[ChapelHeel66]

Eek.  If you thought Perkins couldn't hit, wait til you see Naylor.  Is Pat Murphy so frustrated with Gary Sanchez's challenges that we need a better defensive backup...for two players?

"The main benefit of the deal will come if they can turn Naylor back into the better version of himself."  That's true defensively, as he has traditionally been pretty good but has graded out average this year on defense.  But the "better version of himself" at the plate is still a very bad hitter.  He lost his job to Patrick Bailey.

I hope Perkins gets more playing time in Cleveland and can reset.  He's a good piece on a ballclub.

[Trax]

Naylor a backup quality catcher has hit about .200 with a high strike out rate.  I think Yoho if he stays healthy is going to be real good in his role.  Perkins a gold glove quality defensive player and great club house guy.  The reliever we got better have some potential.  At least Naylor has options...

This might indicate a catcher may be leaving us soon, either Sanchez or Quero....Just guessing.  Can't see the gain otherwise with this trade..

[endaround]

Sanchez is making all of $1.75 million this year. So no Naylor wouldn't really be a cost savings over him next year even if Sanchez get a raise after putting in good work this year.

[LouisEly]

Quero hasn't caught in over a month.  No other catchers on the 40-man in case of injury to Contreras or Sanchez.  I don't think it's anything more than needing a 3rd catcher in case of emergency.

[Aleister]

This makes trading Querro more likely. Naylor can be our back up next year and Matt Wood will be our 3rd option in AAA.

I heard the Angels want a catcher?

[Trax]

Darrien Miller certainly could be moved up and added to the 40.  Who do you remove to make room?  Black and Rodrigues are two I'd like to see added to swing something for an example.  I'd have more faith in adding a Eric Haase type than trading for Naylor if we truly have such a need.   We'll see....

[Ro Mueller]

14 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Quero hasn't caught in over a month.  No other catchers on the 40-man in case of injury to Contreras or Sanchez.  I don't think it's anything more than needing a 3rd catcher in case of emergency.

Yup, we've been playing it thin with Quero not catching, Ramon Rodriguez injured and Matt Wood still in AA ball.

Happy to add 26-year old Naylor to the mix and hoping that both he and Yoho ultimately thrive. It looks like Naylor has 1 minor league option remaining, so he doesn't actually need to win a full-time Major League spot until 2028.

[long ball]

24 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Quero hasn't caught in over a month.  No other catchers on the 40-man in case of injury to Contreras or Sanchez.  I don't think it's anything more than needing a 3rd catcher in case of emergency.

I think this is the main motivation for the move. 

maybe they also think they could turn Naylor around a little bit, but I think that’s secondary to having a 3rd healthy catcher on the 40 man they can stash in AAA. 
 

as for Yoho, it was pretty clear the Brewers weren’t quite as enamored with him as us fans. Too bad we never saw him get a long term shot. I hope he finds success with Cleveland. The other 2 guys in the trade don’t mean much. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

21 minutes ago, Aleister said:

This makes trading Querro more likely. Naylor can be our back up next year and Matt Wood will be our 3rd option in AAA.

I heard the Angels want a catcher?

Tons of AL teams want a catcher, but yeah, the Angels want a long-term catcher.

Welcome to BF!

[Trax]

It has to be the move you make before the bigger move.  Otherwise we traded 2 MLB usable depth pieces for 2 Triple A pieces.   I guess I did like the Yoho potential more than most...

[biedergb]

Mostly a meh trade. But like last year Areinamo for Jansen swap I feel we sold low on Yoho. Granted he was a low leverage reliever who never really earned the trust or was consistent enough to force is way (he is like a pitcher version of Black). Feels like we could have gotten more for him than a AAAA emergency back up C and reliever who I can see get a few shots then dfa (like several we have just traded for in McCullers, Shewmake etc).

good luck Craig. That2024 meteoric prospect rise was so so much fun. He was electric that year. 

[Sixtolezcano]

2 hours ago, Trax said:

Naylor a backup quality catcher has hit about .200 with a high strike out rate.  I think Yoho if he stays healthy is going to be real good in his role.  Perkins a gold glove quality defensive player and great club house guy.  The reliever we got better have some potential.  At least Naylor has options...

This might indicate a catcher may be leaving us soon, either Sanchez or Quero....Just guessing.  Can't see the gain otherwise with this trade..

No. Contreras will be traded.

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Sixtolezcano said:

No. Contreras will be traded.

LOL, You must mean Wilson.

Naylor may go to Nashville cuz a .143 avg won't cut it in the MLB. 

[Brian]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Quero hasn't caught in over a month.  No other catchers on the 40-man in case of injury to Contreras or Sanchez.  I don't think it's anything more than needing a 3rd catcher in case of emergency.

I would guess Naylor will be going to Nashville. 

[Trax]

1 hour ago, Sixtolezcano said:

No. Contreras will be traded.

I expect he may very well be traded, but not before December and only then for a windfall.   

 

[Team Canada]

4 hours ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Heuer, 30, has changed hands more times than Pat Venditte on a long subway ride.

*chef's kiss*