Memorable July Trades

[Eye Black]

One of my favorite times of year as it relates to the baseball calendar is the anticipation of big trades leading up to the trade deadline. I thought it might be fun to share thoughts on memorable trades from the past. They can be Brewers trades in July, or trades that didn’t involve the Brewers at all, but also occurred leading up to the July deadline. No trade is too big (CC Sabathia) or small (Jerry Hairston) to discuss.

[Eye Black]

I will start with this 2014 trade (here is the original LINK to BF.net thread on this trade).

 

Today marks the 5th anniversary of this A’s-Cubs trade (word of the trade agreement initially broke around 10pm the night before)...

 

July 5, 2014: Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland Athletics for Billy McKinney, Addison Russell, Dan Straily and cash.

 

This trade has always stood out to me for the following three reasons...

 

1) It was earlier than anyone expected a huge trade. Billy Beane got out in front of the typical window leading up to the trade deadline and swung a seemingly big deal.

 

2) Instead of acquiring a single starting pitcher, the A’s traded for 2/5ths of their new starting rotation. That seemed very rare at that time, and I can’t think of another example since. Samardzija pitched well with his new team, but Hammel struggled quite a bit down the stretch. The A’s made the playoffs, but lost the Wild Card game to Kansas City by a score of 9-8 in 12 innings (the A’s had led 7-3 until the bottom of the 8th inning).

 

3) I thought Billy Beane was crazy for trading away Addision Russell in the deal. At the time Russell was a top ten prospect in baseball. By pre-2015 he was a consensus top five prospect across MLB. Yet Beane flipped Jeff Samardzija in the off-season to the White Sox in a deal that included SS prospect Marcus Semien in return. Semien was far less heralded prospect than Russell, but at this point has developed into a more valuable player than Russell. Semien has really had an even greater breakout to start 2019.

 

I enjoyed reflecting on this trade, so figured I would share some thoughts for those waiting in anticipation of this year’s big deadline moves.

[mtrebs]

One of my favorite times of year as it relates to the baseball calendar is the anticipation of big trades leading up to the trade deadline. I thought it might be fun to share thoughts on memorable trades from the past. They can be Brewers trades in July, or trades that didn’t involve the Brewers at all, but also occurred leading up to the July deadline. No trade is too big (CC Sabathia) or small (Jerry Hairston) to discuss.

 

I wouldn’t consider the Jerry Hairston trade to be small. IMO he played a significant role in 2011. I was very disappointed when the Brewers didn’t sign him for 2012. They could have used his versatility in the stretch during the disappointing 2012 season.

[Eye Black]

Below are all of the Brewers July/August trades since David Stearns took over as GM. I included the August trades as well even though those type of trade transactions won’t be available this year. I was interested in remembering the timing on some of them as compared to the deadline, so I looked them up and thought I would share.

 

July 7, 2016

*Traded Aaron Hill and cash to the Boston Red Sox. Received Wendell Rijo (minors) and Aaron Wilkerson.

 

August 1, 2016

*Traded Jeremy Jeffress and Jonathan Lucroy to the Texas Rangers. Received a player to be named later, Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz. The Texas Rangers sent Ryan Cordell (September 5, 2016) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

 

*Traded Will Smith to the San Francisco Giants. Received Phil Bickford (minors) and Andrew Susac.

 

July 13, 2017

*Traded Garrett Cooper to the New York Yankees. Received Tyler Webb.

 

July 26, 2017

*Traded Ryan Cordell to the Chicago White Sox. Received Anthony Swarzak.

 

July 31, 2017


*Traded Tayler Scott to the Texas Rangers. Received Jeremy Jeffress.

 

August 12, 2017

*Traded a player to be named later to the New York Mets. Received Neil Walker and cash. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Eric Hanhold (September 12, 2017) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

 

July 26, 2018

*Traded Kodi Medeiros (minors) and Wilber Perez (minors) to the Chicago White Sox. Received Joakim Soria and cash.

 

July 27, 2018

*Traded Jorge Lopez and Brett Phillips to the Kansas City Royals. Received Mike Moustakas.

 

July 31, 2018

*Traded Jean Carmona (minors), Luis Ortiz and Jonathan Villar to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Jonathan Schoop.

 

August 31, 2018

*Traded Bryan Connell (minors) and Johan Dominguez (minors) to the Chicago White Sox. Received Xavier Cedeno.

 

*Traded KJ Harrison (minors) and Gilbert Lara (minors) to the Washington Nationals. Received Gio Gonzalez and international bonus slot money.

 

*Traded Demi Orimoloye (minors) to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Curtis Granderson.

[clancyphile]

How much do we regret the Garrett Cooper trade now?

 

I'd liked him a lot - imagine him with the Crew this year instead of Aguilar.

[OnTheBlack]

One of my favorite times of year as it relates to the baseball calendar is the anticipation of big trades leading up to the trade deadline. I thought it might be fun to share thoughts on memorable trades from the past. They can be Brewers trades in July, or trades that didn’t involve the Brewers at all, but also occurred leading up to the July deadline. No trade is too big (CC Sabathia) or small (Jerry Hairston) to discuss.

 

I wouldn’t consider the Jerry Hairston trade to be small. IMO he played a significant role in 2011. I was very disappointed when the Brewers didn’t sign him for 2012. They could have used his versatility in the stretch during the disappointing 2012 season.

 

 

Hariston had put up .6 WAR and they traded Erik Komatsu for him.

 

That's pretty much the definition of a small trade. You can make a small trade and get a player who fits in well at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[OnTheBlack]

How much do we regret the Garrett Cooper trade now?

 

I'd liked him a lot - imagine him with the Crew this year instead of Aguilar.

 

 

I'm guessing he wouldn't even register. I highly doubt the Brewers have spent any time "regretting" trading a guy who likely would have ended up walking anyway.

 

What we REALLY would have regretted was not having Aguilar the last two years so we could hang on to Cooper longer. This would be about the last trade I'd imagine they'd "really regret."

 

The Yankees then turned around and trade him and a better prospect essentially for international bonus money.

 

Cooper was basically organizational depth who they weren't going to have room for.

[OnTheBlack]

I've got two. One I really liked, the other I didn't.

 

JJ Hardy for Carlos Gomez.

 

Gomez was one of my favorite players to watch. I know he wasn't well liked around the league and I don't care. It has become a bit cliche, but he had fun playing the game. Reminds me of Arcia in that way.

 

Would go on to put up 19.9 WAR for the Brewers in ~600 games.

 

Then he was the centerpiece in a substantial trade that included Santana and Phillips as the headliners, a stud pitcher Josh Hader and then Adrian Houser. So great return on JJ as well.

 

 

NOT a fan of Gerardo Parra for Mitch Haniger and Anthony Banda.

 

Banda was a throw in for me at that point and was indifferent. He's turned into a very good prospect, though one who's down with TJ surgery this year.

 

Parra was pretty much a bust for us the year we traded him as we fell off big time in the 2nd half and went from 1st to 82-80. In fairness, he did have a very good offensive season the next year as a 4th OF'er and we were able to swing him for Zach Davies.

 

I was just a fan of Mitch Haniger. Like everyone else, I've been a fan of far more guys who ended up doing nothing, but Haniger has developed into a really good offensive player as well as a very good defender in RF. It's pointless to speculate as to how things would have worked out(ie, do the Brewers trade for Yelich if they've got Haniger, Cain, Santana and Braun in the OF?

 

Parra ended up bringing Zach Davies back from Baltimore and Davies has been a solid pitcher for us by in large.

[Eye Black]

Forgot to mention the anniversary of the Sabathia trade today. Credit to Doug Melvin for making such a big move in early July.

 

July 7, 2008

Traded a player to be named later, Rob Bryson (minors), Zach Jackson and Matt LaPorta to the Cleveland Indians. Received CC Sabathia. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Michael Brantley (October 3, 2008) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

[Baldkin]

Forgot to mention the anniversary of the Sabathia trade today. Credit to Doug Melvin for making such a big move in early July.

 

July 7, 2008

Traded a player to be named later, Rob Bryson (minors), Zach Jackson and Matt LaPorta to the Cleveland Indians. Received CC Sabathia. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Michael Brantley (October 3, 2008) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

 

I'll never forget Sabathia hustling to Milwaukee and taking his normal turn in the rotation, so he could get two starts before the All Star Break (Doug Melvin told him he could wait and start later that week if he wanted).

 

That crowd on that Monday night of 35K+.

[Eye Black]

With tonight being the All Star Game I have to bring up one of my most memorable July trades. The 2011 All Star Game had ended, my friends had left, Prince Fielder had received his MVP award, and I am sitting by myself when this announcement comes on the screen....

 

July 12, 2011

Traded players to be named later to the New York Mets. Received Francisco Rodriguez and cash. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Danny Herrera (September 1, 2011) and Adrian Rosario (minors) (September 1, 2011) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

 

 

I remember smiling ear-to-ear. It seemed like we were in the midst of charmed year of Brewers baseball (at the time tied with the Cardinals for 1st place), and now they had added a legitimate bullpen piece on the eve of the 2nd half to a club making a run at a championship.

[CheezWizHed]

Forgot to mention the anniversary of the Sabathia trade today. Credit to Doug Melvin for making such a big move in early July.

 

July 7, 2008

Traded a player to be named later, Rob Bryson (minors), Zach Jackson and Matt LaPorta to the Cleveland Indians. Received CC Sabathia. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Michael Brantley (October 3, 2008) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

 

I'll never forget Sabathia hustling to Milwaukee and taking his normal turn in the rotation, so he could get two starts before the All Star Break (Doug Melvin told him he could wait and start later that week if he wanted).

 

That crowd on that Monday night of 35K+.

 

I saw the Brantley at the All-Star game last night and wondered what "would've been" if they took Green instead. At the time I was happy to keep Green, but wow what a swing in fortunes.

[Eye Black]

Taking another look at the list of July trades the Brewers have made with Stearns at the helm makes me think they prefer to make significant moves in the off-season (i.e. prior to season) and are more apathetic to trading in-season. I know they’ve been in the mix for guys like Jose Quintana and Manny Machado, but they really haven’t executed any headline stealing type moves in July. I know those moves are difficult to come by (and in the case of Quintana I’m glad they didn’t make a deal), so maybe it’s more related to an unwillingness to overpay when bidding against other contenders.

 

Back in 2017 they were leading the division by 5.5 games on July 15th and they made no substantial moves other than adding some relievers for cheap. I don’t know if there have been enough seasons under Stearns at this point to say it’s definitely a trend, but it will at least add to my surprise if they make some significant move this season.

 

One thing I’ve never been able to really make up my mind on is whether I believe adding a significant piece in July offers any type of emotional boost in the locker room. You hear players allude to it at times saying something along the lines of the front office believing in them or being committed to trying to win. Just today, the head of the Rays front office, Chaim Bloom, said “what we think of this group and the way they’ve played so far it certainly motivates us to want to help them out however we can.” It was interesting to hear him say that because historically the Rays aren’t a team making big deadline deals to acquire win now players.

 

I am not trying to be critical of the Brewers front office when I say this, but I do wonder if there are times when you can be too cautious with sticking strictly to your internal valuations. Overall, risk aversion for a small market team is probably an important attribute to practice if you hope to sustain longer term success. That being said I think there may be times when you have to compromise those ideals for the present day.

[Eye Black]

I found this article interesting: Last 9 champs have all made big trades by Richard Justice

 

It reviews the biggest mid-season trade made by each of the past nine World Series Champions.

 

This passage in particular reminded me of something I had forgotten about the 2017 Astros...

 

The Astros had lost 17 of 28 games in August when Verlander arrived moments before Sept. 1 and gave the club a resounding jolt of energy. As Astros catcher Brian McCann would say later, “He changed a lot of things -- performance, expectations, energy.” The Astros had a really good team, but Verlander pushed them to greatness.

[IIAY]

I've got two. One I really liked, the other I didn't.

 

JJ Hardy for Carlos Gomez.

 

Gomez was one of my favorite players to watch. I know he wasn't well liked around the league and I don't care. It has become a bit cliche, but he had fun playing the game. Reminds me of Arcia in that way.

 

Would go on to put up 19.9 WAR for the Brewers in ~600 games.

 

Then he was the centerpiece in a substantial trade that included Santana and Phillips as the headliners, a stud pitcher Josh Hader and then Adrian Houser. So great return on JJ as well.

 

It's fun to look at the J.J. Hardy Tree. Start with 3 home-grown players:

 

J.J. Hardy (11 bWAR with Brewers)

Mike Fiers (4.4 WAR)

Jorge Lopez (0.2 WAR)

 

Trades involving these 3 players have resulted in the following:

No longer in organziaton

Carlos Gomez (19.1 WAR)

Domingo Santana (4.2 WAR)

Brett Phillips (1.4 WAR)

 

Still in organization

Josh Hader (6.0 WAR)

Mike Moustakas (3.4 WAR)

Adrian Houser (0.5 WAR)

Ben Gamel (0.2 WAR)

Noah Zavolas (having a good year at AA)

 

That is a total of 50.4 bWAR while with the Brewers for these 11 players with obviously more runway for those still with the Brewers.