Braun and Thames for Greinke

[Jopal78]

The Diamondbacks are retooling and looking to cut payroll. Greinke is owed 92.5 million dollars over the next three years. The Brewers owe Ryan Braun 40 million dollars (incl. buy out of option) and they owe Thames 7 million including the buyout of his option. Straight up the Brewers would be adding a top of the rotation starter for 3 years and adding 45 million dollars (or 15 million per season) to their total payroll. There are not equivalent free agent arms available at that price. Moreover, there is little chance at adding a front of the rotation arm at a cost of $15 million per season.

 

Thames is a superfluous player and Braun's production could be nearly be matched with Derek Dietrich without breaking the bank. Dietrich could provide versatility to play a little first base, and could be spelled in the outfield with Broxton and Gamel. There are also a plethora of useful outfielders available who likely will have to accept one year deals: Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Denard Span, etc.

 

If the Diamondbacks were willing to throw in cash in exchange for some fringe minor league players; it would only open up more options to fill in the roster with free agents. Corey Ray should be knocking on the door sooner than later, making the need for an outfielder temporary. The proximity of Phoenix to Southern California would likely be an enticement for Braun to waive his "10-5" rights.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

There is no way Braun would accept a deal to the DBacks. None.

[Zad Fnark]

Would it matter? Looks like he can't block trades to: Arizona, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Miami, San Diego and San Francisco.

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/milwaukee-brewers/

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Would it matter? Looks like he can't block trades to: Arizona, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Miami, San Diego and San Francisco.

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/milwaukee-brewers/

 

may block trade to any club after earning 10-and-5 rights 5/14/17

[markedman5]

Please no more Braun trade threads.......he isn't going anywhere.

[xisxisxis]

If we're dreaming... Trout & Pujols for Braun. The cost would be roughly $6.6M per WAR in contracts (taken and lost), but it would be so sweet to see Trout in a Brewers uniform for 2 years with the Brewers best chance to make it to a world series in decades... Heck we could just release Pujols or have him PH each night and DH. With the money saved the Angels can overpay for Bryce Harper...

[MrTPlush]

Please no more Braun trade threads.......he isn't going anywhere.

 

Seriously though...it is getting old. I don't mind me a fantasy trade idea here and there, but lets be real here. Braun isn't going anywhere. We blew the one single chance we had.

[JohnBriggs12]

Brewers deal Braun to Dodgers to free up cash to sign Harper. That's the only scenario I can see where Braun is dealt and it's a huge long shot.

[FVBrewerFan]

These threads make me long for the "move Braun to 3B" threads.

[SeaBass]

Brewers deal Braun to Dodgers to free up cash to sign Harper. That's the only scenario I can see where Braun is dealt and it's a huge long shot.

Even if the Brewers and Dodgers were able to agree to a trade I still don't think it's a slam dunk that Braun would agree to it. He's very comfortable in Milwaukee professionally and with the Brewers set up as a contender for the next few seasons I feel he would want to be a part of it more than ever.

[MadThinker88]

While very unlikey that Braun would wave the no trade clause to go to a team rebuilding, let's look at the proposal from another angle - would the DBacks even accept that package Grienke (plus something more - either a low prospect or money to offset the salary commitment) for Braun and Thames.

 

While I believe the DBack would love to get out of Grienke deal, I doubt they would bite on the proposed deal. They would need more in return. So the trade is no go there as well.

[adambr2]

This is actually a pretty creative idea and makes some sense from both sides and doesn't really deserve the blowback it's getting.

 

With that said I agree with those who say that Braun isn't accepting a deal to anywhere but L.A. and I doubt the Diamondbacks would do it anyway.

[superfly]

These threads make me long for the "move Braun to 3B" threads.

 

We can start a 2B thread anytime over trade threads...

[dlk9s]

Braun for Kawhi, straight-up.

[A Swing and A Drive]

I'm obligated to remind fans in threads such as this that Ryan Braun has no trade value.

[adambr2]

I'm obligated to remind fans in threads such as this that Ryan Braun has no trade value.

 

Neither does Greinke, though.

[stalton]

I'm obligated to remind fans in threads such as this that Ryan Braun has no trade value.

 

Neither does Greinke, though.

 

I'm getting flashbacks of college calculus and all the special cases of when equations approach zero divided by zero.

 

On topic, this might be one of those it might work in theory but in reality would never happen trades.

[Lathund]

I'm a big fan of Greinke; obviously his approach to pitching, but how he works hard at and excels even at hitting, fielding and baserunning (Well, by pitcher standards at least). I also think he has the ability to age well. So I view him as one of the potentially available targets that will help this team the most, and would love to acquire him.

 

However there's the small matter of the $30m+ AAV. Now I'm in the camp that believes that the Brewers *could* absorb that kind of money without going into the red. But that it would be a really tight fit, and one that'd be really tough to handle next season with arbitration rises incoming. And most of all that even if possible, it's a bad idea. So presumably any trade means Arizona eating salary, while not getting much in the way of prospects in return still. How much do they have to eat to even get one top 100-type prospect? Probably a lot. If the goal of a rebuild is actaully what teams state it is; a return to competitiveness but with significantly longer window (i.e not based on impending free agents, and with a prospect pipeline to fill the void that do open up), then pure salary relief shouldn't matter. I mean saving money during the rebuild only helps if it's used to go into the red in later years; which most owners would never do. Spending money during the rebuild on the other hand can improve it, by essentially buying prospects.

 

So if Arizona are rebuilding for competitive reasons, then they have very little reason to trade Greinke for salary relief as they won't have too many other contracts on the books after 2019. Whereas if a couple of years of massive profits for the owner(s) is part of the calculation, then salary relief is of course high on the list of priorities. The likelyhood of a deal would depend on what their focus is. As for the trade propsed by the OP, Ryan Braun and his 10/5 rights aren't going anywhere. And obviously neither are the other big contracts on the books (Yelich and Cain) so that's a non-starter.

 

But the idea of Greinke at $15m AAV is one I like a lot, and would look long and hard at to see if it's possible without giving up Burnes and Hiura (And ideally not Peralta/Woodruff either, but might not be realistic).

[tigerbrew]

Braun and Thames for Greinke

 

Would absolutely love to do this trade if possible, Brewers get an Ace for the rotation and got rid of Thames and Braun's remaining contracts.

[bill hAll Star]

This is actually a pretty creative idea and makes some sense from both sides and doesn't really deserve the blowback it's getting.

 

With that said I agree with those who say that Braun isn't accepting a deal to anywhere but L.A. and I doubt the Diamondbacks would do it anyway.

 

I actually do think the D-Backs would do it. They still are half-competing in their minds but I think ownership is pretty sold on selling things off. They've cut payroll enough that Greinke can maybe just rot away there at 30% of their payroll (and much higher than that the next 2 years), but I think they'd get rid of the 2nd half of his contract, essentially.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Again, the chance that Braun would approve a trade to a rebuilding club is less than 0%. It is probably useless to even debate it as a hypothetical.

[bill hAll Star]

Again, the chance that Braun would approve a trade to a rebuilding club is less than 0%. It is probably useless to even debate it as a hypothetical.

 

Yes, I know. I'm just saying the D-Backs would do it if it somehow worked (to completely contradict your point that we shouldn't even talk about it haha).

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Again, the chance that Braun would approve a trade to a rebuilding club is less than 0%. It is probably useless to even debate it as a hypothetical.

 

Yes, I know. I'm just saying the D-Backs would do it if it somehow worked (to completely contradict your point that we shouldn't even talk about it haha).

 

I think they'd be happy to rid themselves of that contract and get anything of value back in return. Thames would definitely be a tradable asset in the last year of his deal, and I would think that if he played 1B fulltime for Arizona, he'd put up numbers good enough to make him a valuable trade commodity at the deadline. I still think the only team that Braun would maybe accept a trade to, though, is the Dodgers. That would be one hell of a weird, convoluted three-way deal. But the Dodgers did just shed Kemp's and Puig's salaries, and they have a theoretical hole in the corner OF ....

 

(dang it, now you have me thinking about it! )

[wallus]

You can tell it's been a slow offseason when this topic made it to 2 pages...

[OnTheBlack]

Again, the chance that Braun would approve a trade to a rebuilding club is less than 0%. It is probably useless to even debate it as a hypothetical.

 

 

No...it's not.