Matthew Trueblood

With the trade deadline just a few hours away, it's worth stopping to check what the numbers say about the Brewers' chances to win the NL Central, or to claim a Wild Card berth. That should inform their moves this afternoon. Image courtesy of © Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports With the trade deadline just a few hours away, it's worth stopping to check what the numbers say about the Brewers' chances to win the NL Central, or to claim a Wild Card berth. That should inform their moves this afternoon. A cursory check of the standings can tell you that the Brewers need to be buyers before the deadline. That's why they've already made two moves to increase their lineup depth and boost their offense, with trades for Carlos Santana and Mark Canha. Those two shore up three of the team's weakest positions, too, as they have been hurting for production at first base, in right field, and from the designated hitter all year. How much those additions have changed the team's outlook in this three-way division fight (and the even more complicated battle for the Wild Card spots in the National League) is a more nuanced, difficult question. Here are the Playoff Odds for the Brewers as of this morning, from each of the three major sites who provide them: Baseball Prospectus: 52.9 % to win the division, 67.1 % overall FanGraphs: 53.8 % to win the division, 65.4 % overall Baseball Reference: 21.1 % to win the division, 43.1 % overall Notably, while Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs each utilize projection systems to generate their playoff odds, Baseball Reference operates very differently. They use a strength-of-schedule-adjusted rating system based on runs and wins over a team's last 100 games, and don't lean on individual player projections at all. Obviously, there can be arguments in favor of either kind of projection, but Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs are generally regarded as more mathematically robust and scientific. Still, let's hedge a little. If we give both of the projection system-based odds twice the weight of Baseball Reference's, and then average them together, we get roughly a 47 percent chance of an NL Central title, and a 61.6 percent chance of reaching the playoffs one way or another. That's frighteningly close to a coin flip, but then, the Brewers are 1.5 games behind the Reds and just a few games ahead of the Cubs right now--and never mind the morass of the Wild Card. That underscores the urgency of this afternoon. Canha and Santana each give the team better projected production than they had before, which is baked into the BP and FanGraphs reports but not into Baseball Reference's. If we slightly adjust our rough-hewn mean upward on that basis, then they truly are 50/50 to win a division title. That means that they're right at a critical inflection point. Every move they make, and especially every edge they gain on the Reds or Cubs, will have an outsize impact on their hopes the rest of the way. That doesn't mean the team should sell the form for rental players. Whether and when to do that is a more philosophical than a mathematical question. If there are still players out there who would be major upgrades for this team, though, Matt Arnold should be aggressive, because these odds are fragile, and what he does over the next four-plus hours will determine which way they break. View full article

In Carlos Santana and Mark Canha, the Brewers have already made two key additions to their underwhelming lineup. They also need a bullpen patch today, but before the MLB trade deadline hits at 5 PM Central, Matt Arnold should also check in on these five long-term options. Image courtesy of © Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports In Carlos Santana and Mark Canha, the Brewers have already made two key additions to their underwhelming lineup. They also need a bullpen patch today, but before the MLB trade deadline hits at 5 PM Central, Matt Arnold should also check in on these five long-term options. As the clock ticks down to the deadline, teams often go slightly into a shell, opting to focus on players who will be free agents at season's end. Those are the simplest and most time-sensitive moves, so both buyers and sellers (an easier sorting process to perform when discussing players close to free agency) prioritize them. For executives with grander vision, though, the deadline is a bigger opportunity. The Brewers operate on a limited budget, and in the winter, they can be hemmed in a bit by higher-spending rivals. Now is the time to see whether a valuable player under longer-term team control will shake loose at a good price. MJ Melendez, C/LF, Royals Trying to develop Melendez as the successor to Salvador Perez in Kansas City went so poorly that the team recently abandoned the project. He's been almost exclusively a corner outfielder this season, and on the surface, his bat looks light for that role. He's only hitting .217/.292/.352 on the season. Here's why he's still very attractive, in a nutshell: The Brewers aren't the Royals. The Brewers are the Brewers. If they got ahold of Melendez, they might be able to turn him into a catcher, after all. He's a left-handed batter, so he could be a devastatingly good complement to William Contreras in a hybrid catcher-DH role. Melendez has considerable swing-and-miss in his game, but he also has a solid approach, and he makes high-quality contact. Partially because he plays his home games in Kansas City, that contact has gone unrewarded, but his raw production doesn't accurately reflect his skill set at the plate. He's only 24 years old, and has five years of club control ahead after 2023. The Royals would surely try to set a high price on Melendez, but their front office is one of the two or three worst in baseball right now. Calling them about a player with lousy numbers in a corner outfield spot is worth a shot. They might not know what they have, or at least what the Brewers could make out of him. Paul Blackburn, RHP, Athletics His ERA is worse than last year's, but in reality, Blackburn has taken a meaningful step forward in 2023. He's inducing more chases and weaker contact. He has a six-pitch arsenal and has figured out how best to deploy his good slider, and he's under team control through 2025. The A's are so far from contention that he has virtually no utility to them, so although there would be a substantial price to pay, it might not be exorbitant. David Bednar, RHP, Pirates One of the hottest names on the trade market, Bednar is a hulking bullpen monster whom the Brewers already know all too well. His fastball, curveball, and splitter form as good a three-pitch mix as any closer in baseball can boast right now, and the heater sits around 97 miles per hour, with good ride and spin. It's always complicated to assemble an intradivisional trade for a player on more than the shortest-term deal, but Bednar would level up the Brewers' relief corps for quite a while. He's under team control through 2026. Dylan Cease, RHP, White Sox Control is always the question with Cease. He's maddeningly unable, and sometimes even seems unwilling, to attack the strike zone with what is easily above-average stuff. On the other hand, he's capable of dominating hitters like few other starters in the league. Last year, despite those occasional bouts of walks, he was a Cy Young Award vote-getter. He has two and a half years of team control remaining, so bringing him in (while expensive, in terms of talent) would keep the Brewers' pitching machine running smoothly even when Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff reach free agency. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers Often, it's a checkered injury history that makes a talented player available at a reasonable price well before they attain free agency. That's surprisingly inapplicable to the quartet above, but it's certainly the case with Skubal, who missed much of the second half last year and didn't get back until July this season due to elbow trouble. It's possible that the rebuilding Tigers will roll their dice and hope for better health for Skubal, but the likely reward for them in that is just the right to trade him this winter or next summer, instead. If they're willing to listen on him now, instead, he's worth pursuing, because he's a big lefty with good stuff and has demonstrated front-of-the-rotation potential. Skubal is under team control through 2026. The Brewers don't have any more desperate needs to fill on their 2023 roster. There's still room to upgrade, though, and if they're going to pay the premium that comes with climbing above-average at any position at this time of year, they might as well do so in a way that addresses those positions for the long term. Arnold and company landing any of these five players today is improbable, but one of the five will probably be dealt. It might as well be here. View full article

Pouncing on the market for right-handed bats before it could dry up, the Brewers have landed Mets outfielder Mark Canha. Lots more to come on this deal. We've already dug into Mark Canha as a target for this team, because he makes sense in myriad ways. Canha is a better athlete than true defensive presence, and he lacks the power of which one dreams when drawing up an ideal corner outfielder, but he's always had very good on-base skills, and he fits nicely into the Brewers' roster puzzle. In Justin Jarvis, the Brewers disgorged some of their pitching depth at the upper levels, but they're in good position to deal from that area of strength. Jarvis was 19th in our latest ranking of Brewers prospects, which is about the caliber of prospect one should expect to surrender for a valuable role player on an expiring deal. Canha keeps the team sounding the same notes they played by acquiring Carlos Santana late last week. They clearly preferred to shore up and secure the lineup's OBP, rather than chase power upside. Canha (as all favored Brewers acquisitions must) has reverse platoon splits for his career, but he's a consistently average-plus hitter against lefties, too. He'll take over some designated hitter duties, and probably some time in right field, where he could be placed in a rough platoon with Sal Frelick. This figures to be the last move to improve the Brewers' lineup. Their position players, then, look like this: Catchers: William Contreras, Victor Caratini Infielders: Carlos Santana, Brice Turang, Willy Adames, Andruw Monasterio, Owen Miller, Abraham Toro Outfielders: Christian Yelich, Joey Wiemer, Sal Frelick, Tyrone Taylor, Mark Canha, Blake Perkins That's more hitters than the roster will hold. Someone will soon be headed out to Nashville, even before accounting for players who might soon return from injury. Nonetheless, this now seems like a higher-floor, more consistently dangerous offense, and that's a good thing. The Mets are paying nearly all of Canha's remaining salary for the year, leaving the Brewers some flexibility for additions to the pitching staff if the opportunity arises. Presumably, that was how they got Matt Arnold to surrender Jarvis. One key to this addition is Canha's ability to put the ball in play, and to work the count. Though it represents a small improvement over the last month or so, the Brewers still have the sixth-highest strikeout rate in MLB, at 24.6 percent as a team. That begets a certain dysfunction, and bringing in Canha (who is striking out less than 18 percent of the time, for the second year in a row) addresses that deficiency. He manages to get the ball in play while still walking over 10 percent of the time, though, making him a good fit for the league's third-leading walk drawers--and perhaps the organization with the most systematically patient approach. View full article

And isn’t that weird?! He was a staple the last two years. Crazy how fast stuff happens.

Fair... but it's far from guaranteed, especially with this particular group, that those two stay back once they're back, or that the others stay healthy. Or that Colin Rea can stay effective. I'm parroting Tim here but (as I've also already said elsewhere) I think starting pitching is a bigger need for this team than we might realize.

With the trade deadline now scarcely more than 24 hours away, the number of possible moves out there for the Brewers remains pretty large. Whatever happens, though, some 40-man roster maneuvers seem imminent. Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports With the trade deadline now scarcely more than 24 hours away, the number of possible moves out there for the Brewers remains pretty large. Whatever happens, though, some 40-man roster maneuvers seem imminent. It would have been almost impossible, even during spring training, to predict the way this season has played out for Luis Urias and Eric Lauer. Certainly, if you'd said the Brewers would reach the trade deadline in a dead heat for first place, no one within earshot would have guessed that it would have been despite negative contributions in limited playing time from either of those guys. After a strong showing at the World Baseball Classic (including an unforgettable home run during the knockout rounds), Urias looked primed to be one of the Brewers' key cogs this year. Alas, he suffered a severe hamstring strain on Opening Day, and he didn't look remotely right even when he returned. Lauer, by contrast, struggled throughout the spring, but he's the kind of pitcher who can look terrible in exhibition play, then flip a switch and be effective when it counts. After all, he's the rarest breed in the league: a hurler who depends on hitters missing or mishitting balls right down the middle on a semi-regular basis. Whatever allowed him to thrive that way in the past, however, it continued to elude him even in the regular season this time. Now, both Urias and Lauer have spent more of the season elsewhere than with the parent club. Urias has over twice as many plate appearances for Triple-A Nashville as he has for Milwaukee, and Lauer is just getting a rehab assignment going after a long stint on the shelf. Yet, both players are likely to have a modicum of trade value. Urias would be an appealing project for a team selling a rental hitter to the Brewers; he still has two years of team control remaining after 2023. Lauer only has one year, and his health status makes things a bit murkier, but his track record of success and the fact that he's a lefty who's already successfully reegineered himself once will draw in at least a few interested parties. Neither player will be the main piece in a notable trade, of course. Their stock is way down, even though Urias has heated up recently and seems like he might have survived his mid-career crisis. They're worth watching, though, because including them in a deal could lessen the prospect cost to the Brewers for a short-term acquisition, and it could also ease whatever crunch is created by the acquisition of new players who will need to fit onto the 40-man roster. At this time of year, players like Urias and Lauer sometimes change hands out of expediency, as much as out of genuine marketability, but that's ok. The Brewers' surprising depth and good player development have rendered the two redundant, even if they do recover their previous form. Interestingly, each feels like an especially good fit for the Red Sox or the Nationals, two potential Brewers trade partners of note. The Nationals have Jeimer Candelario, the top rental hitter on the market, and Urias could be an instant replacement for him, in addition to whatever prospect capital the Brewers include. Lauer, meanwhile, could eat innings on what is a truly putrid Washington pitching staff. The fit in Boston is just as neat, though a little more layered. The Brewers would have interest in Adam Duvall, the aging, slugging outfielder, who's much less desirable and helpful than Candelario. Both Urias and Lauer are at least as valuable as Duvall alone, but if they included either (or both), the Crew might entice the infield- and pitching-hungry Red Sox to package Duvall with impending free agent James Paxton, whom Mark Feinsand called their best trade chip in an article on MLB.com Monday. Paxton would be a huge upgrade over Colin Rea and Adrian Houser at an unforgettable home runthe back end of the rotation, and could make the Brewers a more dangerous team in an eventual playoff series, too. Urias and Lauer don't have to be traded this week. It's just a good time to check in on each, and to remember that the guys on the fringes of the 40-man roster (really, anyone who is on that roster but not active with the big-league team) are always trade candidates at this time of year. It's strange how these two, especially, have slipped into obscurity, when they had such prominent roles with the team at the end of camp. Soon, they're likely either to be gone altogether, or to be back in the mix for the stretch drive. View full article

It's a legitimate concern.

I mean just so we’re clear, I didn’t even say the name Jeferson Quero in the piece. Not sure how that came into it. And I’d add that I *did* say either Frelick or Chourio, but folks seem much more hung up on the latter than the former. To me, they’re very close to equal in trade value, so the disparity is confusing. Anyway. Just a couple clarifications.

Well, no it isn’t. But if you’re using BTV, like at all, then I understand why you and I aren’t seeing eye to eye on pretty much anything. If any site is for lazy people and trolls, it’s that one.

The Brewers can’t deal Burnes right now, though. Did you mean this *winter*? Because yeah, that starts to make some sense. Would be a very different but interesting deal.

I’m never gonna bicker with you about the Cubs fan thing. You’re free to think I’m a sleeper cell or whatever. 🤣 But never, ever use Spotrac for baseball stuff. They don’t know what they’re doing. Kim can opt out of the deal he’s on ahead of 2025, but he’s still under team control through 2026. It’s like Ohtani, or Jorge Soler back in the day. They agreed on a contract knowing the player might opt out of it at some point, but then he just goes into the arbitration system. He didn’t come over as an unfettered free agent, like Senga or Suzuki or Tanaka.

The Brewers have already made one trade to upgrade their infield and their lineup ahead of the MLB trade deadline. It was a low-wattage, short-term move, though. There's one potential game-changer the team could pursue, even though it's not a hot topic right now. Image courtesy of © Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports The Brewers have already made one trade to upgrade their infield and their lineup ahead of the MLB trade deadline. It was a low-wattage, short-term move, though. There's one potential game-changer the team could pursue, even though it's not a hot topic right now. It's functionally impossible, at the moment, to predict what the San Diego Padres are about to do. They&# trades by frenetic head honcho A.J. Preller. Most pundits predict that they will stand pat, or even make small improvements in pursuit of a Wild Card berth. The Brewers could change their minds, if the price is right. With Brice Turang and Willy Adames, the team has stout defense up the middle, but they're getting lousy offensive production. At third base, Brian Anderson's injury setback means at least another fortnight of Andruw Monasterio, who has been perfectly cromulent but doesn't seem like a long-term answer, and who could even collapse down the stretch if his luck turns. The Brewers might just be eager enough to pull the trigger on a big infielder trade with Preller. Let us talk, then, about Ha-Seong Kim. At 27 years old and on a team-friendly contract, Kim is a bargain. Even if he declines his side of a mutual option ion 2025, he can't become a free agent until after 2026. That's just the tip of the iceberg of his value, though. After a rough rookie campaign when he came over from the Korean Baseball Organization, Kim figured things out in 2022, and he's exploded into one of the most valuable and exciting players in baseball in 2023. He's batting .279/.374/.447 this year, with 14 homers and 21 stolen bases. He plays second base, third base, and shortstop, all with nearly equal aplomb. According to Baseball Reference, only Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. have been more valuable than Kim this year. FanGraphs is way down on him, ranking him only 11th in WAR. He is 46th in WARP at Baseball Prospectus, which takes his batted-ball data and granular level of competition into account more carefully, but even so, he's one of the better young players in baseball. Why on Earth would the Padres trade him, then? It's pretty simple. Firstly, they're not good enough right now. That should be obvious, given their 52-54 record. Secondly, they're already running as high a payroll as they can afford to run, so their improvements have to come either completely from within, or via trades that deepen their farm system. Thirdly, they have Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Fernando Tatis Jr. all on long-term, huge-dollar deals, and none of those contracts would be movable right now, even if that were what the team wanted to do. Fourthly, with Machado and Bogaerts locked in on the left side of the infield, either Tatis or Jake Cronenworth (who's also playing on a long-term extension, signed this winter) could slide to second base if the team traded Kim, leaving a relatively easy offensive position to fill--be it right field or first base. Thus, getting a massive haul in exchange for Kim could be the next way out of trouble for Preller, whose back will be to the wall if he doesn't rapidly recover from this misstep of a season. He can do it without torpedoing his team's chances to sneak into the playoffs in 2023. It's worth exploring, from his end. For the Brewers, Kim couldn't be a more perfect potential addition. He could spell the struggling Adames, and get Turang out of the lineup against lefties, while being the primary third baseman for the next year and a half. Then, if Adames departed as a free agent, Kim could slide over to shortstop, creating a seamless transition. All along, he'd add some thump and some much-needed contact skills to the heart of the lineup, and he'd fit in with the running game the Brewers have already cultivated this season. There's just one catch: the massive cost. To make this the right button for San Diego to push, the Brewers would have to pay through the nose. We're talking about a package that starts with either Jackson Chourio or Sal Frelick, and includes Jacob Misiorowski, and it might not stop there. For three and a half cost-controlled seasons of one of the best infielders in baseball, that's a fair price. Sometimes, fair prices are excruciating. It will be understandable if, ultimately, Matt Arnold is unwilling to take that much pain, even in exchange for the massive gain Kim could offer. Eventually, though, the Brewers have to go for it. It's not just Adames on whom a ticking countdown clock toward free agency is getting louder by the second. Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff are also just a year and a half from reaching that opportunity. Kim would be a short-term addition with the potential to put this team over the top, and he'd double as a flexible long-term option that would give them many avenues to perpetual contention. It might be a pipedream, but it's the pipedream worth studying seriously, because the circumstances that could force the Padres to consider it won't last forever, and neither will the Brewers' core. View full article

The Los Angeles Angels are becoming a bit of a problem for the Brewers as the MLB trade deadline draws near. They just scooped up two possible targets for Milwaukee in a single trade with the Rockies. Now what? Image courtesy of © Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports The Los Angeles Angels are becoming a bit of a problem for the Brewers as the MLB trade deadline draws near. They just scooped up two possible targets for Milwaukee in a single trade with the Rockies. Now what? Blame it all on Alek Manoah. When the Blue Jays' burly right-hander accidentally hit Angels outfielder Taylor Ward in the face with a pitch this weekend, it ratcheted up the urgency of Los Angeles's pursuit of a bat to round out their lineup. Already committed to 2023 contention, the team got ahold of both Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron in a trade with the Rockies, sending them two pitchers with considerable upside who are (nonetheless) ages away from contributing to a big-league team. Grichuk is a capable corner outfielder with good power, and was a much-discussed possible upgrade over the likes of Tyrone Taylor in that role. Cron is a first baseman and designated hitter, and became less attractive a target once the Brewers landed Carlos Santana, but he was still a plausible fit at the right price. Speaking of the price, the most interesting thing here might be that both pitchers Colorado acquired are in Low A right now. Even understanding that they have a chance to mature into something valuable, getting both of these players for that kind of return is underwhelming, from the Rockies' perspective, and looks like a win for Perry Minasian of the Halos. There are two ways to read that. Maybe it means that the heavily seller-friendly market pundits forecasted is not quite as robust as expected. In that case, it could augur well for the Brewers, as they continue to seek more help offensively. On the other hand, two viable options just came off the board, and the cost only increases the feeling that the team might have missed an opportunity. There remain a few good right-handed hitters who will change teams over the next 44 hours, but this put a dent in that market. It was a good weekend for the Brewers' bats, but the NL Central race is tighter than ever, so they can't afford to miss out altogether on the chance to further improve. View full article

Two right-handed outfield bats make an awful lot of sense for the Brewers, with two days before the trade deadline. Their prices are likely to be similar. Which one should they pursue? Image courtesy of © Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports Two right-handed outfield bats make an awful lot of sense for the Brewers, with two days before the trade deadline. Their prices are likely to be similar. Which one should they pursue? The Brewers' divisional lead couldn't be any slimmer, and in addition to the pesky Reds, they now face some threat from the onrushing Cubs. To stave off both, they need to complete the work they began by trading for Carlos Santana this week. Their lineup needs further reinforcement, ideally from a right-handed batter who can play some outfield. The trade targets who make the most sense in that vein are Mark Canha, of the Mets, and Brent Rooker, of the Athletics. Both players are right-handed hitters who mostly play left field. Neither is a strong defensive player. For various reasons, they're likely to have similar price tags in trades. Ultimately, though, they're quite different. Which one makes more sense for the Crew? Mark Canha Already 34 years old, Canha is in the second season of a two-year, $26.5-million deal he signed with the Mets prior to 2022. He's a well-built, relatively fast player, but he's not the good defender he once was, even in left field. He also doesn't hit for especially good power, particularly given his defensive limitations. That's the bad news. The good news is plenty good, though. Canha commands the strike zone, and owns a .347 career on-base percentage. His .338 mark this year would be his lowest since 2018, but he's trending up, hitting .260/.367/.400 in July. He doesn't swing and miss very much. He doesn't expand the zone. He hits line drives. Canha could platoon with Sal Frelick in right field when the team is at full strength, but unless and until that state is achieved, he'd be an upgrade over the incumbent options at designated hitter. If they acquired him, the Brewers would also hold a club option on him for 2024, worth $11.5 million (with a $2-million buyout, which they could plausibly get kicked into this deal by the Mets). Brent Rooker Nowhere near the overall athlete Canha can be, Rooker is best confined to DH duties, although he could spell Christian Yelich some in left field without doing too much damage. When he's hitting to his full potential, it doesn't matter where he plays, because his bat is lethal. That's how he ended up on the All-Star team this season. He did go into a long slump in June, and he's been selectively used since, but over the last month, he's batting .302/.371/.585. Even in that span, Rooker has fanned 23 times in 62 plate appearances. Unlike Canha, he has ample power--some of the best in baseball--but tons of swing-and-miss in his offensive profile, and he draws few walks. He crushes lefties, but often gets eaten up by right-handed hurlers with good sliders. The exciting thing about Rooker is that he's under team control for the long run. He can't even become arbitration-eligible until the offseason following 2024. He'd be an addition to whom the team could hold on for as much as the next four years, if he discovers greater consistency in his approach under the tutelage of Brewers hitting coaches. Yet, he'd cost little more than Canha, because the league (including the A's themselves) is well aware of his warts and his limitations already. Rooker feels more like a Brewers move. Though Matt Arnold will surely prove to be different in some ways than David Stearns was, the track record for this front office is that they like to do arbitrage with young, defensively limited hitters in whom they see certain upside. They found Jesus Aguilar, Eric Thames, and Rowdy Tellez. Rooker is the spiritual successor to moves like that one, and to the team bringing in Luke Voit and Darin Ruf earlier this year. For that very reason, though, one could argue that Canha is the guy for whom to shoot. The Brewers' lineup needs depth at least as much as it needs one-dimensional power. Canha is the one who lengthens a batting order and puts more relentless pressure on the opposing pitching staff. He's the one who could join the baserunning carousel the team likes to run when Brice Turang and/or Joey Wiemer is getting on base. The Brewers need to think like a division leader with a chance to earn one of the byes that exist under the newly expanded playoff format. Canha is the guy who gives them a better chance to cinch a division title and make noise in October. View full article

He's counting on that! Sneaks up on EVERYONE!

We're off and running! The Brewers have acquired first baseman Carlos Santana from the Pirates, patching the most obvious hole in their roster as they prepare to sprint for the finish in the NL Central. Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports We're off and running! The Brewers have acquired first baseman Carlos Santana from the Pirates, patching the most obvious hole in their roster as they prepare to sprint for the finish in the NL Central. With Rowdy Tellez still sidelined with the finger injury he sustained in a freak shagging accident, the Brewers have elected not to wait any longer to fix first base. In Carlos Santana, 37, they get one of the most metronomic, disciplined switch-hitters in baseball. He batted .235/.321/.412 in 393 plate appearances with Pittsburgh. He's been a deceptively adroit and agile fielder for his entire career, and he's a sneakily good baserunner. He's stolen six bases in six tries in 2023. In exchange for Santana, the Brewers gave up Jhonny Severino, one of the two jewels of their 2022 international free agent signing class. Here’s what our prospect maven Spencer Michaelis had to say about Severino: The gist of this should be familiar to fans of the Crew. The team gave up a player who is years from having the potential to contribute for an immediate impact during a pennant race. Sometimes, a player like that turns out to be Freddy Peralta, but even in that case, it can be worth it. Whether this trade will be remembered fondly will come down to how Santana and the 2023 Brewers finish the season. Formerly a dangerous, balanced power hitter from both sides of the plate, Santana has aged into more of a professional drawer of walks. Since the start of 2020, he's batted .213, with a .368 slugging average. That's weighed down by a miserable 2021 with the Royals, though. He's still capable of hitting 15-20 home runs over a full season, and of getting hot for a while. Meanwhile, his patience at bat sets a high floor for his offensive contributions. Just as importantly, perhaps, Santana's arrival spells the end of the team's desperate casting-about for a first baseman. Owen Miller can throw out his first baseman's mitt. One of Santana's surprising virtues has been durability; he routinely racks up 150-plus games player and over 600 plate appearances. He's a terrific clubhouse presence and leader for the team, too. This is the kind of move that leaves the options box for others full. It's a great start, though, and a sign that the Brewers intend to secure their advantage in the division race to the best of their ability. View full article