Seems to me the Tigers were willing to listen to all offers, but ultimately were focusing on obtaining young major league ready pitching as part of any trade. The Brewers didn’t have any young major league ready pitching they were willing to trade for a rental.
Ok, so what? In large full season samples his slugging percentages have been:
2024: . 464
2025: .463
2026 (to date): .462
Whats more his BA has been:
’24: .275
’25: .270
’26; . 276
Like you, I hope he’s got another gear as he gets older and becomes a 30/30 .300 threat. But so far in his career he’s been really consistent in BA and SLG% and the .790 OPS so who knows?
Sure, if the production is the same. PCA is the much better player right now and has more room to regress and still be valuable.
Chourio at $7.2M while being a sub 2 WAR player this year is probably about right, but his contract will get real unfavorable should he not substantially pick up the production going forward.
PCA and it’s not close right now. PCA is already an MVP candidate at 24. Chourio at 22 is a good but not yet great player.
Right now PCA putting up a 7.0 WAR while still making 900K ($10M in ‘27) . Chourio is putting up a 1.9 WAR while already making 7.2M ($8.2M in ‘27). Who knows what the future holds but for the short run the Cubs are getting better production/value for their money.
Former BA Top 100 prospect, but scouting concerns ultimately proved prescient as his strikeout rate in the majors was too high for his power output to compensate.
If it is indeed the end of line in the majors, he’s likely got some interesting stories to tell and a decent wad in the bank for a head start on whatever is next.
I guess that’s the problem with buying into the hype, prospect lists, trade value websites etc.
No doubt the Brewers have some players with real premium talent, but organizational needs where teams are in their respective success cycle, pressure on the front office are all real things and factor into decision making more than these 3 players are more valuable than those 3 players.
Yeah, in theory anything is possible . In reality prospect for prospect trades almost never happen, and certainly not with the complication of involving a third-party.
It is as simple as that. A GM with a $200M payroll and back to back playoff experiences is retooling the roster to compete in the immediacy, not aiming for seasons down the road.
Further, on a human level, after blowing the Division last year, and failing this season, Scott Harris and Co. are almost certainly under pressure to deliver wins now, not in 2029.
So what? If they’re offered pitchers they like internally and need or some players they don’t need and who importantly don’t fit where they’re at in the success cycle, it’s not really a hard choice is it?
I don’t think a tinfoil hat is needed to understand why Detroit did what they did.
They’ve been in the ALDS the last two seasons, They had a $200M+ payroll on opening day.
They have Dingler (27), McGonigle (21) Colt Keith (25), Riley Green (25), and Torkelson (26), Max Clark (21).
It’s fair to assume with that core of hitters they’re not rebuilding, they were interested in adding young pitching to pair with Valdez, Jobe, and Melton in order to compete in the immediacy.
A ball and AA Hitters from Milwaukee (no matter how talented) simply weren’t that valuable to Detroit because of their organizational need for pitching is much greater than that of young bats given the make up of their big league roster.
Every one knows baseball players have good months and bad months (especially when playing with a broke hand). Contreras remains one of the premier catchers in the major leagues.
It’s like saying your Porsche doesn’t drive as well this summer than it did in 2024. It’s still a Porsche and nearly everyone else has a Honda.
So there is no real point to your article. Is that better?
Yeah, it was a bunch of baloney “plug and play in MLB”? Typically the armchair GM‘s here when you disagree about the inevitability of prospects and bring up the fact that 90% of them fail the common response is “I follow these guys and you don’t know what you’re talking about”.
So I took the approach that if you’re serious about some guy that’s had 26 games above A ball as “plug and play” in the major leagues, let’s put a little money on it and see who it is right.
Obviously I got no takers. But lets be clear on one insinuation, I wasn’t being mean or disrespectful, used no name calling or impugned anyone’s fandom. It was merely pointing out nonsense when I saw it.
I am positive you’re right. Trading Yoho left them short a bullpen arm with major league experience, so Cleveland included Heuer. Now they need his 40 man spot.
Further, May has a 3.48 ERA in 14 post- season innings. He is their most experienced playoff pitcher (Miz 12 IP, Ashby 9 IP, Patrick 9 IP, Uribe 7 IP, Megill 7 IP, Hall 3 IP, Gasser 2.2 IP, Harrison 0 IP, Henderson O IP, Drohan 0 IP, Sproat 0 IP)
Brewers were never going to acquire Holmes. He has a player option for ‘27 and has missed most of the year with a broken leg. He pitches well and he heads to free agency. He pitches poorly and they're stuck with him next year. That’s a risk Milwaukee wasn’t going to take in exchange for premium minor league talent.
Offer is there. You know better than me I guess, so if want to put some money where your mouth is that Ragsdale is “plug and play MLB ready” and sees action for the Cardinals this season, let me know.
Give me a break. “Plug and play MLB ready”?? He’s got 26 games above A-Ball.
Let me know if you want to lay some action on him seeing the majors this year. Plug and Play?! Hahahaha
It’s a sellers market, they’ve now acquired four players and given up one prospect who was on a Top 100 list and it’s all doom and gloom. Yet, the same folks would jump up and down if they stood pat and ran it back with who they had.
Plug and play mlb ready…. That was a good one 😆
He’s been an All Star 3 seasons out of his six, despite “a 2 year slump” he is 3rd amongst NL catchers in terms of OPS.
Boy, good thing this content is given away for free. If you had to sell it to eat, you’d starve to death.