Brewers acquire Swarzak from White Sox for Ryan Cordell

[82brewcrew82]

Don't really like how people shrug off Cordell because we were going to lose him in the Rule 5 draft anyway. That is true if we didn't trade him, but this was not our only trade option. We could have gotten a prospect(s) in return or something more controllable I am sure. Could have been a plethora of options this winter before the Rule 5 draft. Can't just consider a trade a win because we traded away a player we were going to lose in the Rule 5 draft(Cooper/Cordell) and ignore the fact other options were surely available now or in the future.

 

Not saying I don't like the trade, but not sure one can just shrug off the loss of Cordell like it was nothing. Decent price to pay for a rental reliever with no track record.

 

It's not just the prospect of losing him for nothing. It is also about how you value him and based on the reports I have seen he was not all that highly regarded. Probably an agree to disagree thing but I will not be losing any sleep over this one.

[djoctagone]

Some people are mentioning the Rule 5 draft for no reason? I just figured we wasn't on the 40 man.

swarzak is eligible for free agency after this season. cordell isn't. thus, a 40-man spot would open up after the season ends, which would give the brewers more flexibility for rule 5 draft protection.

[Austin Tatious]

I cringe any time the Chisox come up as a trade partner. Rick Hahn (Harvard Law) is a brilliant guy. He wins trades.

[Brewer Fever]

The Rule 5 absolutely factors in this. If this Brewers know they're going to want that 40 man roster spot for someone else other than Cordell, then he needs to be moved somehow. Since outrighting him probably means losing him for nothing to a claim, then all the more reason to trade him and get something that can help now.

 

I think it's obvious they had other guys they want to protect over Cordell and that's why trading him kills two birds. He was occupying a 40 man spot that they're going to need real soon.

[3and2Fastball]

Improving the bullpen is a must, so I like the trade. It is easy to criticize based on looking at the trade in a vacuum, however this is just one move in the big picture and helps the 2017 team.

 

We all know the cost of relief pitching is high, considering that I would have guessed that we'd need to move more for Swarzak than just Cordell.

[yoshii8]

I cringe any time the Chisox come up as a trade partner. Rick Hahn (Harvard Law) is a brilliant guy. He wins trades.

 

 

I also think David Stearns is pretty brilliant. Hopefully Swarzak pitches like he has all season, would be a big pickup.

[dlk9s]

Swarzak will enter the game tonight with no outs and the bases loaded.

[Greenleaf1]

If we don't make the playoffs it'll be a bummer to lose Cordell for essentially nothing, but I think Cordell probably benefitted from having such close proximity to bigger names for his entire Brewers tenure, starting from being traded alongside Brinson/Ortiz to sharing the outfield with Brinson/Phillips. He was true minor league depth and the odds of him making a big league impact with the Brewers were very slim with Braun/Santana/Brinson/Phillips all ahead of him at least (not to mention Broxton).

 

My only concern is not at least getting a guy with another year of control for him, but realistically he's a lower teens prospect at an area of depth for us, this is probably the least we were going to have to deal with losing in order to get some solid bullpen help this year.

 

I don't like this deal at all though unless we can go out and make another meaningful trade. If we can now go get Wilson/Kinsler, I like this trade a lot more.

[MrTPlush]

White Sox make it official:

 

 

 

Chicago White Sox @whitesox

 

The #WhiteSox have acquired minor-league outfielder Ryan Cordell from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Anthony Swarzak.

10:00 AM · Jul 26, 2017

[monty57]

I love the idea of getting controllable talent, but not every single move has to be for controllable talent. Sometimes moves like this make sense. A reliever with multiple years of control would probably have cost Phillips instead of Cordell.

 

We're still in first place, and this move should make us better. If I had to bet, I'd say that at this time next year we will be on the opposite side of these trades, adding more controllable talent to the minors. For the present, we improved our biggest area of need, and we likely opened up a 40-man spot to protect someone more highly regarded than Cordell going forward.

 

The only way I could spin this to a negative is if there was a better move that now will not happen because Cordell was going to be a key piece. But for that, I'll just assume that Stearns knows more about the potential trades he has on the docket then I do. If this move would keep him from getting that stud starting pitcher with 4-5 years of team control, then I'd guess he wouldn't have made this trade.

[bork]

Cordell would have had more value if he could actually play 3B and not at a Ryan Braun level.

[MoreTrife]

I cringe any time the Chisox come up as a trade partner. Rick Hahn (Harvard Law) is a brilliant guy. He wins trades.

 

 

I also think David Stearns is pretty brilliant. Hopefully Swarzak pitches like he has all season, would be a big pickup.

 

And went to harvard haha though not law school.

[Boomer5]

I doubt Swarzak is going to help us much this year unless you think this is a playoff team. They are only a game out in the loss column but the analytics says the Brewers do not have a reasonable playoff caliber team.

 

I would actually see him being a very valuable trade chip on a large prospect package at the deadline.

[CheezWizHed]

I cringe any time the Chisox come up as a trade partner. Rick Hahn (Harvard Law) is a brilliant guy. He wins trades.

 

 

I also think David Stearns is pretty brilliant. Hopefully Swarzak pitches like he has all season, would be a big pickup.

 

And went to harvard haha though not law school.

 

Rick Hahn did go to Harvard Law. David Sterns [sarcasm]just[/sarcasm] went to Harvard.

[MadScientist]

Don't really like how people shrug off Cordell because we were going to lose him in the Rule 5 draft anyway. That is true if we didn't trade him, but this was not our only trade option. We could have gotten a prospect(s) in return or something more controllable I am sure. Could have been a plethora of options this winter before the Rule 5 draft. Can't just consider a trade a win because we traded away a player we were going to lose in the Rule 5 draft(Cooper/Cordell) and ignore the fact other options were surely available now or in the future.

 

Not saying I don't like the trade, but not sure one can just shrug off the loss of Cordell like it was nothing. Decent price to pay for a rental reliever with no track record.

It's possible that Cordell could have been traded for someone else, but it takes two to tango. Given the market for relievers in July, this is probably the best they could get for Cordell. Off season trades are more of a gamble to even happen as other teams are also managing their 40-man rosters to protect the critical prospects.

 

Stearns is trying to improve the Brewers' chances for playoffs without trading away the future, which makes sense giving both their standing and their overall record. Decent, but not great, minor league players who are blocked for the foreseeable future and will need to be added to the 40-man roster soon are the best tradable assets he has. As for only getting a rental, it makes some sense if part of the reason for trading Cordell was that he will be lost because someone more critical will be on the 40-man. With a more controllable guy, they'd just have to remove someone from the roster after the season anyway.

[monty57]

I doubt Swarzak is going to help us much this year unless you think this is a playoff team. They are only a game out in the loss column but the analytics says the Brewers do not have a reasonable playoff caliber team.

 

I would actually see him being a very valuable trade chip on a large prospect package at the deadline.

 

They are alone in first place 2/3 of the way through the season. They may not have as much talent as the Cubs, but if they win more games in a defined 162 game period they get to go to the playoffs. By definition, that makes them a "playoff team" regardless of what "the analytics" may say.

 

Also, they are five days away from the deadline, so I doubt they made a trade for him simply to flip him in for a "large prospect package" when they just got him for Cordell.

 

To start the year, I didn't think they would make the playoffs, but right now they are in position to make the playoffs and Swarzak will hopefully make them a little better. As unlikely as that may have seemed a few months ago, can't we just enjoy this run and hope it ends up with a division title?

[jerichoholicninja]

How does it take a guy two days to get from Chicago to Washington DC? Did his horse break a leg?

[3and2Fastball]

How does it take a guy two days to get from Chicago to Washington DC? Did his horse break a leg?

 

He had to stop at the Wilmer Flores grief counseling institute on the way.... the treatment is covered in the CBA

[igor67]

The analytics say nothing of the sort they provide a range of predictions. For example Fangraphs was quoted earlier they actually have 3 different playoff percentage methodologies. 1) assumes teams play the remainder of the season like originally projected in April. 2) play the rest of the season assuming the teams current performance is their real talent level. and 3) flip a coin for each game. I consider method 1 to be ridiculously pessimistic, since we had many young player legitimately develop into better players then predicted at this point. That said 2 is too optimistic, and 3 is just kind of there.

Baseball prospectus does a projection based on combining how good players where expected to be with how well they have done to generate a more middle of the road projection and the most realistic in my mind. Depending on which method though you get 12%, 40%, 44%, or 30% as of today. Half of the methods make the Brewers favorites to make the playoffs over the Cubs even after about the worst week possible.

[Boomer5]

I doubt Swarzak is going to help us much this year unless you think this is a playoff team. They are only a game out in the loss column but the analytics says the Brewers do not have a reasonable playoff caliber team.

 

I would actually see him being a very valuable trade chip on a large prospect package at the deadline.

 

They are alone in first place 2/3 of the way through the season. They may not have as much talent as the Cubs, but if they win more games in a defined 162 game period they get to go to the playoffs. By definition, that makes them a "playoff team" regardless of what "the analytics" may say.

 

Also, they are five days away from the deadline, so I doubt they made a trade for him simply to flip him in for a "large prospect package" when they just got him for Cordell.

 

To start the year, I didn't think they would make the playoffs, but right now they are in position to make the playoffs and Swarzak will hopefully make them a little better. As unlikely as that may have seemed a few months ago, can't we just enjoy this run and hope it ends up with a division title?

 

They are not in first place. The loss column is all that matters. You can make up wins but you can never reduce your losses. But to your point, being only one loss from the WS champion Cubs on July 26 is amazing.

 

I absolutely hope they win the division. That's a given. But more moves will have to happen besides Swarzak. Our rotation is now missing Garza and Guerra is pretty much finished. Im not sure when Anderson is coming back but they are still a starter short.

[Ennder]

They are not in first place. The loss column is all that matters. You can make up wins but you can never reduce your losses. But to your point, being only one loss from the WS champion Cubs on July 26 is amazing.

 

I absolutely hope they win the division. That's a given. But more moves will have to happen besides Swarzak. Our rotation is now missing Garza and Guerra is pretty much finished. Im not sure when Anderson is coming back but they are still a starter short.

 

They are actually in first place though, you've used this logic multiple times but it really makes no sense. It would make sense with say 5 games left or something where the team could realistically win out but there are still 63 games to be played by the Cubs. If we both play to the same exact winning percentage the rest of the season we end up in 1st. No team in baseball is taking the Cubs record over the Brewers if given the choice today.

[Boomer5]

They are not in first place. The loss column is all that matters. You can make up wins but you can never reduce your losses. But to your point, being only one loss from the WS champion Cubs on July 26 is amazing.

 

I absolutely hope they win the division. That's a given. But more moves will have to happen besides Swarzak. Our rotation is now missing Garza and Guerra is pretty much finished. Im not sure when Anderson is coming back but they are still a starter short.

 

They are actually in first place though, you've used this logic multiple times but it really makes no sense. It would make sense with say 5 games left or something where the team could realistically win out but there are still 63 games to be played by the Cubs. If we both play to the same exact winning percentage the rest of the season we end up in 1st. No team in baseball is taking the Cubs record over the Brewers if given the choice today.

 

They aren't. Losses are all that matters. I'd love to argue this but that's really the final issue that matters when teams have played uneven numbers of games it's losses. It's really just math. They will all play 162 and you can never reduce your losses.

 

Agree to disagree.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The Brewers have a 0.5 game lead on the Cubs because they have played 3 more games than them and have a slightly higher winning percentage. If you only weigh the loss column, you neglect to focus on the fact the Brewers have two more wins than the Cubs, also. For those 3 extra games, the Cubs would need to win 2 of them just to tie the Brewers in the standings. More games in hand also means more off days down the stretch. You can never reduce your wins, either.

 

It depends how you look at it at this stage of the season, and it will sort itself out once all 162 are played.

[Ennder]

 

They aren't. Losses are all that matters. I'd love to argue this but that's really the final issue that matters when teams have played uneven numbers of games it's losses. It's really just math. They will all play 162 and you can never reduce your losses.

 

Agree to disagree.

 

 

That isn't math though because this isn't a system where a team comes close to winning all of their games. In say football where you play 16 game seasons and some teams only lose 1 or 2 it makes sense, it does not make sense in baseball. With 63 games to go with teams that tend to lose at least 35% of the time it doesn't work.

 

If there were a bunch of rainouts for the Cubs going into the final 2 weeks of the season and the Brewers have 10 more wins than the Cubs and 1 more loss, the Brewers chances of winning the division would be insanely high and the Cubs insanely low. Just looking at the losses and ignoring the wins does not work in this situation. It makes no logical sense. Sure the Cubs could win out and take the division but they are clearly behind the Brewers in the standing at that point and they would switch places in a heartbeat.

 

If the Brewers were done and the Cubs had 3 to play I totally get your point though. They control their destiny and we do not. But with 63 games left to go you can't look at it that way.

[Outlander]

The Brewers are currently in first and it is fact, why is this even being debated. You could argue you would rather have less losses but can't argue who is technically first.