Trading From Depth- 1B/OF

[pacopete4]

It’s been thrown around a bit in game threads but do we trade from our OF/1B depth? Here’s a little breakdown of possibilities:

 

1. Braun- probably not going to be able to trade. I’ll just move on.

2. Santana- defense has improved a bit and offense is beginning to come around. Could we get a better return now than this past winter?

3. Aguilar- he’s as hot as he may ever be. Do we attempt to find an AL team that wants this slugger? It’d be great to capitalize on this hot streak but would suck if this is really the “new” Jesús. He’s probably better suited for a DH spot with occasional 1B play.

4. Thames- being a left handed power bat it’d be hard to part with but he may also be better suited for the AL as his body is iffy moving forward. Problem is he would probably need to come back and hit right away to build up some trade value.

 

Or do we just stand pat and continue to use this depth to our advantage? I mean it always seems like we are starting a good lineup with any of this mixture.

[adambr2]

Unfortunately as we saw during the offseason, corner OF and 1B just aren't that valuable on the trade market right now. Braun as you said is pretty much untradeable, and I just don't see teams giving us back the value that we get from Aguilar and Thames.

 

Santana seems like the most viable trade candidate to me, but it's a catch-22. If he gets hot and pushed his OPS up to around .800, you're probably going to want him in RF daily and be hurting yourself by trading him. If not, his value will continue to drop as teams had concerns about him in the offseason which will look more and more justified.

 

You still might be able to get someone like Dozier for him either way, but I'd feel like we were selling really low on Santana to trade him for any rental not named Manny Machado.

 

If you really want to get value from a position of depth, you could probably get it from bullpen arms. They're in high demand at the deadline, and guys like Albers or Jennings at their current numbers could probably fetch more than you'd think at the deadline, especially considering both are controlled beyond this year.

 

But bullpen depth isn't like 1B/OF depth, can never really have too much pen depth and most likely you'd be dealing with other contenders who want to give up prospects anyway.

 

So to answer the original question I'd say stand pat with the 1B/OF depth, with the exception of Santana being a major piece used to acquire Machado.

[wallus]

With the age and injury history of these guys, I would hang onto all of them.

[coolhandluke121]

Very little trade value unless you want to move Yelich or Cain, which would be stupid. It would also be stupid to trade anyone because you're counting on Braun to replace his production. Thames is needed as an LHB 1B. And in a league where Mark Reynolds was lucky to even find a job, I don't see Aguilar having much trade value.

 

Unless the trade market changes a lot, just keep them all and have two big PH's on the bench at all times for when you pull starters early. If Thames or Choi could play OF more than a few times a year without doing too much damage, I might be more open to trading Santana, but I won't trade him if it means counting on Braun to regularly be healthy and productive.

 

Too bad Broxton and Phillips are both under .800 at CS, which is pretty bad for guys their age. I don't see them as reliable options if you're trying to win the division. They might still have some trade value though, and I think they'd both be moved before anyone currently on the 25.

[bill hAll Star]

Very little trade value unless you want to move Yelich or Cain, which would be stupid. It would also be stupid to trade anyone because you're counting on Braun to replace his production. Thames is needed as an LHB 1B. And in a league where Mark Reynolds was lucky to even find a job, I don't see Aguilar having much trade value.

 

I agree with the majority of your post, but I'd be really careful with that comparison.

 

Mark Reynolds, save for this hot stretch to open the year and the Coors juice of the 2 prior years, had not done anything for a long time. And Reynolds was just as bad as he always had been away from Coors.

 

I think there may be a bit going on here with Jesus, though maybe it's an early season sample thing. He has bumped up his fly ball % and line drive %. I was not a "Aguilar is for real" backer early this year, but I'm getting on board.

 

Now, your point does remain that it still is tough to broker a trade given that a contending team is probably who would want Aguilar and I doubt any of them would be handing away good pitchers, but Aguilar, even if he's closer to last year's version, is still probably well above Reynolds in value.

[YelichPosse]

I think the combo of us needing all hands on deck as there will be more injuries through the year at these positions, as well as most teams are looking for pitching if anything, will lead us to stand pat with this 1b/of StearnsMonster. I do believe he had intentions at one point of trading Santana or Aguilar but wisely didn't accept garbage returns. How smart does that look now?

[MrTPlush]

We already found out the importance of all that depth. Pretty confident we aren’t going to screw it up.

[coolhandluke121]

Very little trade value unless you want to move Yelich or Cain, which would be stupid. It would also be stupid to trade anyone because you're counting on Braun to replace his production. Thames is needed as an LHB 1B. And in a league where Mark Reynolds was lucky to even find a job, I don't see Aguilar having much trade value.

 

I agree with the majority of your post, but I'd be really careful with that comparison.

 

Mark Reynolds, save for this hot stretch to open the year and the Coors juice of the 2 prior years, had not done anything for a long time. And Reynolds was just as bad as he always had been away from Coors.

 

I think there may be a bit going on here with Jesus, though maybe it's an early season sample thing. He has bumped up his fly ball % and line drive %. I was not a "Aguilar is for real" backer early this year, but I'm getting on board.

 

Now, your point does remain that it still is tough to broker a trade given that a contending team is probably who would want Aguilar and I doubt any of them would be handing away good pitchers, but Aguilar, even if he's closer to last year's version, is still probably well above Reynolds in value.

 

I didn't actually compare Aguilar to Mark Reynolds per se. I was merely pointing out that there doesn't seem to be much demand. Mark Reynolds having trouble finding a job doesn't mean Aguilar would have trouble finding a job. It may very well mean no team is willing to give up much of value for him though, considering they wouldn't have had to give up anything for Reynolds and most of them still didn't want him.

[tmwiese55]

Brewers have been playing the long game the whole time in building their team for the DH in the World Series rather than going in shorthanded like most NL teams, genius.

[brewerswinNLcentral]

Thats a great point .

And we will showcase it the next 5 games too

I would love the DH in the NL someday

[Dadbauer]

Source our of Korea says Ji-Man Choi has requested a trade to a team who will play him more in the major leagues - they are also calling him up today with no word on a corresponding move. If they end up cutting ties with Choi, I don't see us trading either Thames or Aguilar.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Source our of Korea says Ji-Man Choi has requested a trade to a team who will play him more in the major leagues - they are also calling him up today with no word on a corresponding move. If they end up cutting ties with Choi, I don't see us trading either Thames or Aguilar.

 

That's pretty pretentious of him if true. No one made him sign a minor league deal in the offseason. That's the only option he had, though, because frankly he's been a bad major league player.

[pacopete4]

I don’t blame a guy for wanting out of a situation that includes Thames, Aguilar and Braun all at one position. It’s business. I would love for some dumb team to think Aguilar is a .900 OPS player and e sell high on him as Thames returns though.

[adambr2]

Source our of Korea says Ji-Man Choi has requested a trade to a team who will play him more in the major leagues - they are also calling him up today with no word on a corresponding move. If they end up cutting ties with Choi, I don't see us trading either Thames or Aguilar.

 

That's pretty pretentious of him if true. No one made him sign a minor league deal in the offseason. That's the only option he had, though, because frankly he's been a bad major league player.

 

Like Brew said its just business. He actually had a May 15th opt out if he wasn't up the MLB team by then so he could have bailed by now if he wanted to.

 

He's 27 and running out of time to establish himself at this level. He sees the writing on the wall here at 1B and wants to give himself the best chance to make it. Nothing wrong with that.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Source our of Korea says Ji-Man Choi has requested a trade to a team who will play him more in the major leagues - they are also calling him up today with no word on a corresponding move. If they end up cutting ties with Choi, I don't see us trading either Thames or Aguilar.

 

That's pretty pretentious of him if true. No one made him sign a minor league deal in the offseason. That's the only option he had, though, because frankly he's been a bad major league player.

 

Like Brew said its just business. He actually had a May 15th opt out if he wasn't up the MLB team by then so he could have bailed by now if he wanted to.

 

He's 27 and running out of time to establish himself at this level. He sees the writing on the wall here at 1B and wants to give himself the best chance to make it. Nothing wrong with that.

 

No he couldn't have. By making the Opening Day roster, his opt out was voided. Granted it was crappy that he was sent down after one game, but that's how rosters work.

 

Again, no one made him sign a minor league deal, and it isn't like he's ripping the cover of the ball by Colorado Springs standards, either.

[pacopete4]

You wonder now if the Brewers put him on the opening day roster to get around that opt out date. If they did, again that’s business. I’d probably want out if I was him too. It’s not like he’s refusing to continue playing, he’s asking for a trade to put himself in a better position to be a Major League Baseball player.

[adambr2]

That's really how it works? You can add a guy for 1 day to circumvent an opt out?

 

Anyway, Choi is totally within his rights to ask for a trade and provided he's still doing his job it's not pretentious or wrong at all. He's buried on the 1B depth chart and wants to try to get his career going. Certainly understandable.

 

Doesn't mean the Brewers have to comply but he can sure ask. If they don't get an offer they like they won't deal him and he can look for a better opportunity elsewhere next season.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

That's really how it works? You can add a guy for 1 day to circumvent an opt out?

 

Anyway, Choi is totally within his rights to ask for a trade and provided he's still doing his job it's not pretentious or wrong at all. He's buried on the 1B depth chart and wants to try to get his career going. Certainly understandable.

 

Doesn't mean the Brewers have to comply but he can sure ask. If they don't get an offer they like they won't deal him and he can look for a better opportunity elsewhere next season.

 

Yes ... that one day on the roster circumvented the opt out. Thing is, Choi was buried on the 1B depth chart the minute he signed his minor league deal this spring. Thames and Aguilar were already here, and the Braun to 1B talk started even before Yelich was acquired.

 

I guess my opinion is that if Choi wants to be traded, he needs to start putting up Garrett Cooper-esque video game numbers in Colorado Springs. Then maybe some team will be willing to trade something of value for him. Until then, I love having that depth sitting at AAA, especially with brittle guys like Braun and Thames ahead of him on the depth chart.

[young guns]

Was the opt out for the major league team or just the 40?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Was the opt out for the major league team or just the 40?

 

Opt out was for the 25-man roster, but because Choi had an option remaining, he had no say whether the Brewers could send him down. A lot of times, when a player signs a minor league deal with an opt-out, they have no options remaining, which gives them even more leverage.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Was the opt out for the major league team or just the 40?

 

Opt out was for the 25-man roster, but because Choi had an option remaining, he had no say whether the Brewers could send him down. A lot of times, when a player signs a minor league deal with an opt-out, they have no options remaining, which gives them even more leverage.

 

Yeah, I think we had discussed the Choi situation in after Opening Day. Since he had technically been on the Major League (25 man) roster on or before May 15, his opt-out was voided. Shrewd move, although questionable ethically (similar to the Davies situation where he was optioned over an all-star break).

[adambr2]

Aguilar is kind of at that point where he just isn't going to be traded because no one is going to give up a star type return for him and we'd be foolish to trade him for a modest return now after the revelation he has been.

 

Braun because of his contract and NTC is very unlikely to be traded. That leaves Thames as the most likely candidate to be traded. That's a tough call. Thames brings a lot to the table offensively when healthy. I would not give him away, certainly.

[pacopete4]

Tough to give up Thames right now with Shaw being hurt/struggling as he’s that left handed punch we need. Problem is he’s not an outfielder and Aguilar is limited to playing 1B.

[homer]

They might trade Thames but it will be during the off season. I think Aguilar is here to stay.