Brewers Trade for Mike Moustakas, Royals receive Phillips and Lopez

[bill hAll Star]

Trying to reverse engineer this as I always do with a weird move from a front office that seems to be on the cutting edge of some newer analytics:

 

I don’t have time to look ahead, but I’m guessing we’ll face a lot of lefties given the Cubs’ staff plus the upcoming Dodgers series, etc.

 

I wonder if I’m a lot of those games we only start one of Shaw/Mous but we see it as even more of an edge to have Thames and Shaw off the bench for our double-switch bullpen games. The bullpen games get even crazier in September.

 

I guess one other small complete shot in the dark is maybe the Cubs were going after Mous with Bryant out? I don’t know. That’s a complete shot in the dark.

[coolhandluke121]

Moose will get a significant Miller Park boost. KC's home park is brutal for lefty power. Don't be surprised if Mouse finishes the year with 40 Homers.

 

He could certainly sustain a 40 homer pace as a Brewer, but finishing with 40 would be Ruthian at this stage of the season. I don't like the trade but I think the people who despise it are underestimating park factors.

[jonescm128]

Well this will all depend on Shaw’s defense at 2nd, but to summarize...

 

We just traded two legit prospects away for another rental that is going to shift Shaw over to 2nd (to likely play bad defense) and Moose isn’t even that great of a hitter...?

 

Umm...face value (I just woke up first time seeing these trade) this seems like way too much to give up and not that great of an idea period.

 

Phillips isn't the top tier prospect he was when he came over from the Astros. He showed out well last year but has struggled mightily in AAA and MLB this year and there is no chance he was going to start for the Brewers with Cain, Yelich, Braun, Thames ahead of him. Capitalizing on that value and getting an impact bat into our starting lineup is worth it.

[jjfanec]

Well this will all depend on Shaw’s defense at 2nd, but to summarize...

 

We just traded two legit prospects away for another rental that is going to shift Shaw over to 2nd (to likely play bad defense) and Moose isn’t even that great of a hitter...?

 

Umm...face value (I just woke up first time seeing these trade) this seems like way too much to give up and not that great of an idea period.

 

We have now thrown away Medeiros, Lopez, and Phillips for two rentals. Better be adding to the rotation and truly making a run now. I was hoping when I saw a trade with the Royals it would be Merrifield...not Moose.

 

Lopez is not a legit prospect. Another way to say it is we got two pieces that help this team without giving up a top 150 prospect

[Bulldogboy]

My take is the guys we gave up were blocked so not much lost and Moose is a vet who if he gets jacked to be in the race can provide a boost. Our lineup just wasn't deep enough with threats. Much better now. Don't be surprised if Shaw gets moved if this weekend is a disaster on D but I think I saw a guy named Rickie Weeks play there and we lived to see the playoffs. I gotta think at least one more move is coming. I am sure Cain back channeled Moose to give him the low down. Props to Shaw for giving up his spot. Says he is a team first guy which is huge. Thames is kinda expendable if you cover first with Moose or Shaw against a tough righty so he could be packaged next.

[pacopete4]

Phillips was pretty valuable to us late last year. I was looking forward to that this year. Granted we have Cain and Yelich now but ya just never know. Tough to see him go for a two month rental.

[jonescm128]

My take is the guys we gave up were blocked so not much lost and Moose is a vet who if he gets jacked to be in the race can provide a boost. Our lineup just wasn't deep enough with threats. Much better now. Don't be surprised if Shaw gets moved if this weekend is a disaster on D but I think I saw a guy named Rickie Weeks play there and we lived to see the playoffs. I gotta think at least one more move is coming. I am sure Cain back channeled Moose to give him the low down. Props to Shaw for giving up his spot. Says he is a team first guy which is huge. Thames is kinda expendable if you cover first with Moose or Shaw against a tough righty so he could be packaged next.

 

Wow. Rickie Weeks was worth -30 DRS at second base in 2012. Yeah, I think maybe Shaw will be fine.

[MrTPlush]

I didn’t say Phillips was the top prospect he used to be or Lopez. However, both are really solid prospects. That’s a hefty price to pay for a not so world beater 3B for a two months.

 

It made all the sense in the world to trade the three players we have sent off (thank god I can stop putting Phillips in every trade proposal). All for rentals though. Not saying it is particularly a bad thing, but if don’t make the postseason what a giant waste...

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I am on record as liking Phillips and will be sad to see him go. That said, Broxton is a very similar player to me and has a bit more of a track record. Maybe the FO sees something in Keon's approach lately that gives them faith in him going forward.

 

Reality is, there wasn't room for Keon and Brett on this roster or really any roster through 2020. Moose should be a Miller Park monster. I would like him to be around for 2019 too, though 15mil seems too high.

 

I don't think the Crew sold a lot of the future, and they got better offensively. Lots of question marks, but I take the risk to find out if Shaw can play 2B.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

All I can say is Phillip's value has really dropped. We gave up more for Moose than was given for Asdrubal. Offensively Asdrubal and Moose have similar offensive output but Asdrubal is better. Oh and Asdrubal plays a position in need.

 

Terrible trade. Dont understand why Stearns didn't just go after Asdrubal. Dozier would have been preferred over this and would not have cost as much. At least our defense would not have been hurt as much.

[B-Train]

An even bigger story is in the making —- Along with prepping for 2nd base duties, Shaw has been working on his batting stroke from the right hand side. So, the line up balance vs. lefties is also solved. ( in blue)

[Samurai Bucky]

I guess this is what I get for falling asleep before the end of the game. Wake up, and there is a 13-page thread!!!! I read through the first four pages and thought I would just add my random musings at the end of the thread.

 

David Stearns is / was going to get criticized no matter what happened.

 

This trade: Moving Shaw to second? Ridiculous!!!!

 

Trading with the Twins: He gave up too many prospects!

 

Doing nothing: our offense is terrible... why didn't DS do something.

 

My guess is this is what happened:

[*] Price was too high for Escobar... D-Backs get him

[*] Price was too high for Cabrera... going to the Phillies

[*] Price is too high for Dozier

[*] [sarcasm]Read Brewerfan.net and saw how nervous people are getting[/sarcasm]

[*] Although Shaw is a big man, he is a good athlete

[*] Left-handed hitters do well at Miller Park

[*] Moustakas was available without giving up the farm

 

I thought Shaw's comments were standard "the team comes first" rhetoric. I think he will do fine.

[superfly]

Well this will all depend on Shaw’s defense at 2nd, but to summarize...

 

We just traded two legit prospects away for another rental that is going to shift Shaw over to 2nd (to likely play bad defense) and Moose isn’t even that great of a hitter...?

 

Umm...face value (I just woke up first time seeing these trade) this seems like way too much to give up and not that great of an idea period.

 

We have now thrown away Medeiros, Lopez, and Phillips for two rentals. Better be adding to the rotation and truly making a run now. I was hoping when I saw a trade with the Royals it would be Merrifield...not Moose.

 

Where is this 40 man roster that holds unlimited amounts of prospects you speak of? Apparently you should call Stearns and let him know where it is so we never have to dump a prospect again. Do we play 4 OF at a time as well?

[brewerfan82]

Can't wait for a 3B Aguilar, SS Arcia, 2B Shaw, 1B Braun infield. I can only imagine what Arcia would be thinking looking around at his defensive partners there, lol.

[jonescm128]

I am on record as liking Phillips and will be sad to see him go. That said, Broxton is a very similar player to me and has a bit more of a track record. Maybe the FO sees something in Keon's approach lately that gives them faith in him going forward.

 

Reality is, there wasn't room for Keon and Brett on this roster or really any roster through 2020. Moose should be a Miller Park monster. I would like him to be around for 2019 too, though 15mil seems too high.

 

I don't think the Crew sold a lot of the future, and they got better offensively. Lots of question marks, but I take the risk to find out if Shaw can play 2B.

 

I know the sample size isn't there but Keon has cut down his K% from 38% to 28% this year and has increased his BB% from 9% to 17%...plus his defense is incredible.

[MrTPlush]

Well this will all depend on Shaw’s defense at 2nd, but to summarize...

 

We just traded two legit prospects away for another rental that is going to shift Shaw over to 2nd (to likely play bad defense) and Moose isn’t even that great of a hitter...?

 

Umm...face value (I just woke up first time seeing these trade) this seems like way too much to give up and not that great of an idea period.

 

We have now thrown away Medeiros, Lopez, and Phillips for two rentals. Better be adding to the rotation and truly making a run now. I was hoping when I saw a trade with the Royals it would be Merrifield...not Moose.

 

Where is this 40 man roster that holds unlimited amounts of prospects you speak of? Apparently you should call Stearns and let him know where it is so we never have to dump a prospect again. Do we play 4 OF at a time as well?

 

What is your problem? I fully am aware of the roster crunch and these guys were highly expendable. I have said many times Phillips in particular was destined to be traded at the deadline.

 

Doesn’t mean we had to go acquire a bunch of rentals or these ones specifically. I also think that 40 man roster crunch is incredibly overblown. A lot of the guys are either not worth protecting or would never get selected/make it through an entire MLB season.

 

I just found it interesting we have now used three legit prospects (doesn’t mean they are great) to get a few rentals. One of which moves Shaw to 2nd...which hopefully goes well, but who knows. I’m not judging it or any other trade until after the deadline and after Shaw sees some extended time at 2nd. Those were just my quick takes when seeing the trade.

 

Apologizes you didn’t like the word “dump”.

[Brewcrewin07]

A few things I think... a lot of people here are WAY too in love with so many of the Brewers prospects...when all they are is just that, prospects...you use them to acquire major league talent any chance you can get.

 

2. Rentals or not, when the Brewers make trades, it's fun as hell, and their commitment to winning is sure as hell better then it used to be when we had nothing to get excited about after May.

 

3. Too many people care way to much about the potential defensive impact this could have..It's all about the bats...always has been, always will be..they needed another bat, and they got one.

 

4. A lot of people worship the ground DS walks on...now when he makes a trade they don't particularly like, they question what he's doing

 

5. he's not done yet

[jerichoholicninja]

Don't really care about losing Phillips or Lopez. Don't really care about Shaw to 2B. Don't want Moose though. Incredibly overrated. Some power, no OBP. Basically describes all the flaws in our offense.

[liveforoctober]

Don't really care about losing Phillips or Lopez. Don't really care about Shaw to 2B. Don't want Moose though. Incredibly overrated. Some power, no OBP. Basically describes all the flaws in our offense.

 

"Some power" ... Lol

 

Hernan Perez has some power. Manny Pina has some power. Mike Moustakas is a home run hitter.

[istanbultaye]

I would imagine that, other than shifts for right handed pull hitters, Arcia would be taking the throw on SB attempts, and more balls hit up the middle Arcia will be taking the ball to the bag himself limiting some of the DP turns as well. So having Arcia does help cover some of those areas that Shaw would likely struggle with. Range will definitely be an issue, but I think he will probably not be so egregiously bad that it will completely outweigh the offensive increase.

 

That said, I'm not a big fan of the move, since a lot of the offensive improvement is negated by defensive decline, so it doesn't seem like it will be a noticeable change by itself in terms of wins and losses. But, with 77 hours left on the Trade Deadline, it will be interesting to see what else may happen that would turn this into a big win if/when other moving parts come to light.

[pacopete4]

We have a bar league softball infield minus Arcia

[PeaveyFury]

I just found it interesting we have now used three legit prospects

 

Isn't it also at least feasible to think that the results of the trades show what either the organization's view or the market's view was of their actual value? For all we know, these were truly the best trades these assets could have resulted in.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

I guess we will get to see how well Arcia can play SS AND 2B now. He has always been a bit of a ball hog. There won't be much competition for him up the middle now.

[Eye Black]

I do think Moustakas’ offensive profile is fine with high OBP guys around him in the order. He is going to put the ball in the air without striking out much, and if you have guys get on base in front of him he is often going to move them up at the very least.

 

This season he has done well with 2 outs and runners in scoring position (.845 OPS in 39 PAs) and in situations defined as “high leverage” by B-Ref (.859 OPS in 87 PAs).

 

On a separate note, one thing that stands out to me is if this experiment does fail it sort of compounds the impact of losing out on Machado.

[liveforoctober]

I like Brett Phillips. Seems like a really positive kid. But it doesn't hurt me to lose him when I consider he was hitting .240 and striking out over 25% of the time in the same league where Orlando arcia hit .350...