Brewers acquire OF Rymer Liriano from SD for farmhand LHP Trevor Seidenberger; Shane Peterson DFA'd (Update: Peterson clears waivers, accepts NRI)

[wildcat2237]

This is really good pick up, which in part means we don't have to worry about picking up an outfielder in the Davis trade.

 

This is my takeaway from the Liriano trade. I now firmly believe Davis or Braun will be traded before spring training.

 

The Crew currently has Braun, Davis, Santana, Liriano, Broxton, Nieuwenhuis, Flores, and Reed all on the 40. In addition the Brewers have Phillips, Presley, and Young Jr. as non-rosters invitees to ST

[patrickgpe]

i don't think this has anything to do with any trade, just taking a chance on a once highly regarded prospect. The brewers won't or shouldn't trade either unless they get a decent offer.

[3and2Fastball]

A very good trade, I like it a lot

 

Here is a good article that talks about Liriano. Former Top 40 Prospect in all of Baseball, had Tommy John surgery, struggled a little in a very small sample of MLB at-bats but has real potential

 

http://padrespublic.com/sacrifice-bunt/no-rymer-reason/

[MVP2110]

I think people are forgetting about Flores a little bit, I can't imagine Stearns traded Sardines for him just to outright him, gotta think hell get a legitimate shot in the majors

[Jenkins5]

[EDIT: Welcome to the list, young man.

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=mil

 

I know this is completely off subject, but Cody Ponce is our #30 prospect???

 

The list will be redone in Feb. Essentially, after they added him after the draft, they have made no changes. Once they have their list done, they simply slot people in after acquired. I assume he will be Top 15 for sure on the new list.

[Outlander]

With Flores I think most feel he will be on the major league team but don't know when because there is pretty much no updates on his injury status and when he might resume baseball related activities. Plus, he isn't really thought as a CF option so he is relegated to backup outfielder.

[Jenkins5]

I think people are forgetting about Flores a little bit, I can't imagine Stearns traded Sardines for him just to outright him, gotta think hell get a legitimate shot in the majors

 

I think DS and the Brewers just liked Yadiel Rivera & Villar better personally and got good value back instead of holding onto him. Flores was a player they really like & thought could compete for job but they are going to take the top 5 OFs regardless of any trades they made. Flores & Liriano are out of options so if they perform similar, you keep the upside of Lirano.

[FVBrewerFan]

i don't think this has anything to do with any trade, just taking a chance on a once highly regarded prospect. The brewers won't or shouldn't trade either unless they get a decent offer.

 

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

This is the first stage. Acquire as much young talent as possible, regardless of position, period. None of these guys being picked up require moving anybody. It will be a wide open spring training, and some guys make the roster, those with options will go to AAA, and others will be dealt or cut. That's it.

 

And it's not done. Lucroy, Peralta, and Segura still need to be traded. Maybe Braun and/or Davis. Then you slowly bring up the pieces from your system. A couple years from now we can start worrying about any holes in the roster, and fill them at that time.

 

Until then, doesn't matter if they have 10 Flores/Liriano type guys.

[jerichoholicninja]

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

This is the first stage. Acquire as much young talent as possible, regardless of position, period. None of these guys being picked up require moving anybody. It will be a wide open spring training, and some guys make the roster, those with options will go to AAA, and others will be dealt or cut. That's it.

 

And it's not done. Lucroy, Peralta, and Segura still need to be traded. Maybe Braun and/or Davis. Then you slowly bring up the pieces from your system. A couple years from now we can start worrying about any holes in the roster, and fill them at that time.

 

Until then, doesn't matter if they have 10 Flores/Liriano type guys.

 

I agree with everything you've said there. However, where are the future infielders? There's Arcia who probably comes up at some point this year and then no one until you get to A ball and below. Rivera looks like a utility guy at best and of all the pickups this offseason Cecchini is the only one who could probably still be around by the time this team is competitive again. Maybe Coulter goes to 1B but you're still missing half an infield.

[FVBrewerFan]

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

This is the first stage. Acquire as much young talent as possible, regardless of position, period. None of these guys being picked up require moving anybody. It will be a wide open spring training, and some guys make the roster, those with options will go to AAA, and others will be dealt or cut. That's it.

 

And it's not done. Lucroy, Peralta, and Segura still need to be traded. Maybe Braun and/or Davis. Then you slowly bring up the pieces from your system. A couple years from now we can start worrying about any holes in the roster, and fill them at that time.

 

Until then, doesn't matter if they have 10 Flores/Liriano type guys.

 

I agree with everything you've said there. However, where are the future infielders? There's Arcia who probably comes up at some point this year and then no one until you get to A ball and below. Rivera looks like a utility guy at best and of all the pickups this offseason Cecchini is the only one who could probably still be around by the time this team is competitive again. Maybe Coulter goes to 1B but you're still missing half an infield.

 

True. But that doesn't matter for 2016 or even 2017. You can't control what position the talent available is to pick up off the street, or even acquire in trades. At this point, it's all about value in any trade.

 

They still have the players above to trade to get infielders. There's even guys like Villar, Cooper or McFarland could take a huge step. Just a few examples, but there are others. Or, if a year from now they are really deep with young OF talent or pitching, they can make a trade at the high minors level. Lots of ways to acquire IF a year or two from now.

 

Once they are on the rise again, that's when you start worrying about need at any one position. At that point, you can even afford to go out a buy a big FA. Mark A has shown he's willing to do that, but now is not the time.

 

This is a really hard sell to a lot of fans, I get that, but they are doing it the right way. So far at least.

[DocLuna7]

Seidenberger assigned to the Lake Elsinore Storm. Pitching coach there is Glendon Rusch. He can regale him with stories of the legendary Rusch-Quevedo 1-2 punch of 2002-3. I can't believe Disney hasn't made a movie about that ragtag bunch.

 

Good luck, Trevor. Let him teach you how to bunt, pitching advice, not so much.

 

Possibly my least favorite Brewer of the last 20 years.

 

This made me laugh out loud. Didn't Rusch hit a bomb against Arizona during the home opener one of those two miserable seasons? I can hardly wait for his Brewers Retrospective here on this site.

[adambr2]

Why the heck did the Padres even DFA him? Its not like their 25 and 40 man rosters are just overflowing with talent. We probably should be considered the odds on favorite in CF and we just got him and his 6 years of service time for a non-prospect. Odds are one of these Liriano, Ceccini, Middlebrooks, Broxton, Flores deals are going to look awesome in hindsight. It only really takes 1 home run to make all these minor moves totally worth it

 

He wasn't good in his major league trial last year. 1 HR and 39 K's and a .555 OPS in 109 ABs? That after more than 3,000 minor league ABs? Figuring SD might feel he's hit a wall in his development. Dealing Davis to make room for that would be rather foolish. He's far from a finished product, doesn't have the power to project as a regular corner OF and is questionable defensively in CF. Lots of red flags here.

 

The list of players who weren't good in their first 109 AB major league trial are long. That's not a concern for us at all as we have plenty of time to give him a lot more of a trial than that.

[yfinn6]

Not to mention, were those 109 ABs consecutive, meaning he played almost every day, or were those ABs broken up over time? If it's the latter, that's really hard on a young player trying to get some consistency.

[MrTPlush]

A guy who was absolutely horrendous in 128 at-bats to start his career. This player also only managed a single homerun and struck out in 33%+ of his at-bats. Both happen to be products of the Padres too:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rizzoan01.shtml

[BillScottCanRake]

This made me laugh out loud. Didn't Rusch hit a bomb against Arizona during the home opener one of those two miserable seasons? I can hardly wait for his Brewers Retrospective here on this site.

 

April 5, 2002, Rusch pitched a complete game 3-hitter, allowing two runs on solo home runs while hitting one of his own in a 6-2 Brewer's win.

 

Box Score via Baseball-Reference.com

 

Milwaukee was 2-2 after that game. Unfortunately, things didn't go so well after that, with the Brewers losing 7 in a row and winning only 54 more times the whole year.

[Outlander]

Not to mention, were those 109 ABs consecutive, meaning he played almost every day, or were those ABs broken up over time? If it's the latter, that's really hard on a young player trying to get some consistency.

They were fairly consistent at bats in August and September. However, that was during the 2014 season, when he had less than 100 at bats at AAA up to that point. He played a full season at AAA in 2015 and did rather well but didn't even get a September callup for some reason even though he played some of his best ball in August/September.

[DocLuna7]

This made me laugh out loud. Didn't Rusch hit a bomb against Arizona during the home opener one of those two miserable seasons? I can hardly wait for his Brewers Retrospective here on this site.

 

April 5, 2002, Rusch pitched a complete game 3-hitter, allowing two runs on solo home runs while hitting one of his own in a 6-2 Brewer's win.

 

Box Score via Baseball-Reference.com

 

Milwaukee was 2-2 after that game. Unfortunately, things didn't go so well after that, with the Brewers losing 7 in a row and winning only 54 more times the whole year.

 

Thank you BillScott.... I was at that game. I couldn't have told you that he allowed the two solo runs but I did remember that he hit that bomb and picked up the win. One of the few highlights from that very forgettable season.

[SRB]

Liriano's brief stint in the majors came in 2014, not last season. I believe 2014 was his first full year back after TJ surgery?

 

Last season he spent the entire year in AAA and hit .292/.383/.460/.843

[Jenkins5]

A guy who was absolutely horrendous in 128 at-bats to start his career. This player also only managed a single homerun and struck out in 33%+ of his at-bats. Both happen to be products of the Padres too:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rizzoan01.shtml

 

Boom! MrTPlush hits it right on the head and Rizzo's stats were rather similar to Liriano's in same first sample size. Fair enough to say it has worked out well since Padres traded him after that season. It is also important to not that he missed all of 2013 due to Tommy John. He played almost all of 2014 in AA. Before he got called to the Majors, he played a mere 16 games. Now he did absolutely destroy AAA in those 16 games by slashing .452/.521/.661 for 1.182 OPS in 62 PA. Still he essentially jumped from AA to MLB with only a 1/2 month of AAA AB's

 

Interesting enough, Liriano has gotten better at every level. Were a lot of players production may drop as they advanced up. In AAA he has played about a full seasons worth at 147 Games

 

147 G 620 PA (534 AB) 99 R, 166 H, 42 2B, 4 3B, 14HR, 77RBI, 21 SB, 72 BB, 146 K, .311/.399/ .483 for .882 OPS

[Thurston Fluff]

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

Not to nit pick but it's been done here before. It's how we got the Braun, Fielder era.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

Not to nit pick but it's been done here before. It's how we got the Braun, Fielder era.

 

I guess that depends on your definition of a rebuild. We more or less got the Braun/Fielder/Hardy/Weeks/Hart era by a prolonged period of ineptitude followed by some solid drafting for a change. Maybe if we used the term "accelerated rebuild", it would be a more accurate description of what they're trying to do now. The current team had the luxury of possessing assets that other teams were willing to acquire for other assets that more closely align to when our next competitive window should open. The era before the Braun/Fielder combo didn't have the luxury of having assets to trade to infuse more prospects into the system; instead they mostly had to rely completely on the draft and try to supplement that talent with mostly ineffective free agent signings.

 

Although there are certain similarities to what Stearns is doing now and what Melvin did early in his tenure, and that's pick up guys off the scrap heap (Dan Kolb, Derrick Turnbow, Scotty Po, Brady Clark, etc.)and hope you find a gem that becomes a decent player for you and maybe can be flipped for a good return (Scotty Po for Carlos Lee trade). You could also argue that where Melvin erred was that he seemingly always wanted MLB-ready talent in return, where he maybe should have been trying to gets kids who would supplement what he had in the minors to match up the big wave that was coming. When he traded Lee & Nelson Cruz to the Texas in 2006 (about two years before our window would open), he got two guys in Kevin Mench & CoCo Cordero rather than upper level prospects that could have aided the window from 2008-2014 or so.

[MadScientist]

Exactly. I have noticed a lot of smart people are really struggling with how a true re-build works. Perhaps because it's never been done here. Even many in the local sports media don't get it. I keep hearing about needing a better 1B. If they trade Lucroy, they need to trade for a catcher. Now the OF is crowded, must mean Davis will be traded. No.

 

Not to nit pick but it's been done here before. It's how we got the Braun, Fielder era.

 

I guess that depends on your definition of a rebuild. We more or less got the Braun/Fielder/Hardy/Weeks/Hart era by a prolonged period of ineptitude followed by some solid drafting for a change. Maybe if we used the term "accelerated rebuild", it would be a more accurate description of what they're trying to do now. The current team had the luxury of possessing assets that other teams were willing to acquire for other assets that more closely align to when our next competitive window should open. The era before the Braun/Fielder combo didn't have the luxury of having assets to trade to infuse more prospects into the system; instead they mostly had to rely completely on the draft and try to supplement that talent with mostly ineffective free agent signings.

 

I'm not sure you can say they didn't have tradeable assets, but you can say they did a lousy job of selling in lost years. Look at 2002. They were 22 games under at the end of June and 30 at the end of July. They should have been able to trade off Hernandez (All star, 834 ops SS has to be worth something), instead he walked a the end of the season. Mike DeJean had a good year as a closer, but they didn't trade him until the following year when he had a bad year and they got almost nothing in return. Matt Stairs should have been traded as well. 2001 after they fell off a cliff in July, they probably should have tried to get something for Devon White who was having a good final season.

 

I know FA draft compensation was different back then, and they didn't have a piece like Lucroy, but they could have done more. Of course looking at the trades they did do, perhaps it wouldn't have made a difference.

[TooLiveBrew]

This looks like a savvy pickup. No one in the org. as of today is clearly a better option for CF (although his build makes me think he's a corner OF longterm), & his potential upside is obviously pretty high.

 

If we wind up with even a budget version of Carlos Gomez, then this is an outstanding move. Nothing to lose on our part. It's kind of fun to be in the position to be able to roll the dice on guys like this.

 

I see a clear plan from Stearns, but even if you don't (or don't agree with it), it's undeniable that he's taking advantage of the types of deals he should be -- shows a definite savvy & understanding of what rules or loopholes to be capitalizing on.

[brewmann04]

This is a no issue trade IMO nothing but a positive move.

[The stache]

I am absolutely in love with the moves David Stearns has been making. Liriano is another guy with high upside. He's still relatively young (24?), and not fully recovered from TJ. I was really high on this young man a couple years ago, and he's the exact kind of player we want to be adding to our system.

 

I'll take fliers on players like Rymer Liriano and Garin Cecchini all day long. Low risk, high reward is smart organizational building.

 

Color me very excited.