Omar Narvaez to Brewers for minor league right-hander Adam Hill and a Competitive Balance draft pick.

[adambr2]

MLB teams just simply don't tend to value no defense offensive bats that much these days. It is lower than I thought, but not shocking. They almost get valued like they aren't a full starter most of the time. These types of players can be a great value for teams that can afford to or lessen that defensive deficiency. Much like the Brewers hiding Hiura's atrocious defense with Arcia last year (as much as they could).

 

It is a good trade for the Brewers as he fits perfectly into their plans with Pina. Good duo.

 

Yeah I really wasn't too concerned about giving up big names in this return. There just wasn't a high enough surplus value for Narvaez. I agree it's maybe even a little lighter than I thought but not shocking.

 

I am interested to see how his defense really is, from my perspective on defensive catching it seems that perception doesn't always match the eye test. I know there actually have been pitchers for Narvaez who have raved about his work behind the plate.

 

My guess would be a fairly hard platoon of Pina starting against all LHP, Narvaez starting against all RHP and Pina sometimes substituting late in games.

[A Swing and A Drive]

 

Haudricourt seemingly dismissed the notion that Ashby would be an acceptable return for Narvaez on twitter. He seems to think we'll be giving up more, hopefully he's wrong but that makes sense.

 

Haudricourt knows very little about Brewers baseball and virtually nothing about Brewers prospects.

 

Taking on Kyle Seager would have negative value to the trade. Seager has a clause in his contract that if he’s traded his 2022 club option for $15M becomes a player option.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

What do they do with Nottingham now? Will he play more first base?

[True Blue Brew Crew]

So the Brewers are noticeably deciding to use the draft pick they are gifted out of thin air for being a small market team to add major leaguers to the roster each year. You can either use the extra pick as a lottery ticket in the hope of it one day turning into a major leaguer or send it out straight away after it's awarded for a major leaguer. Seems like the sort of thing that could catch on.

[MrTPlush]

What do they do with Nottingham now? Will he play more first base?

 

AAA and be the 3rd catcher in the wings.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

David Stearns continues to play chess while other GMs fight over the checkers board. The guy obviously hasn't batted 1.000, but he is so good at his job, it's really hard to believe that he hasn't been stolen away by a big market. I expect more fun outside-the-box thinking to fill the holes at 3B and 1B. A little leery on the pitching holes, though. If Stearns has a weakness, it's in identifying higher-end pitching targets. He does, however, do well in identifying guys who can fit into a role and excel. Lyles and Pomeranz are prime examples.

[homer]

So the Brewers are noticeably deciding to use the draft pick they are gifted out of thin air for being a small market team to add major leaguers to the roster each year. You can either use the extra pick as a lottery ticket in the hope of it one day turning into a major leaguer or send it out straight away after it's awarded for a major leaguer. Seems like the sort of thing that could catch on.

 

I think Reds traded a pick last year for Sonny Gray.

[SRB]

What do they do with Nottingham now? Will he play more first base?

 

AAA and be the 3rd catcher in the wings.

 

Possibly 4th behind Freitas, but Nottingham is still just 24 (young for a catcher) and hasn't exactly forced his way on to the roster at AAA.

 

How long do we have Nottingham until he becomes a minor league FA?

[patrickgpe]

So the Brewers are noticeably deciding to use the draft pick they are gifted out of thin air for being a small market team to add major leaguers to the roster each year. You can either use the extra pick as a lottery ticket in the hope of it one day turning into a major leaguer or send it out straight away after it's awarded for a major leaguer. Seems like the sort of thing that could catch on.

I wish MLB would just let you trade any pick (or maybe any pick in the first few rounds). Seems crazy to be the only league with such rules.

[adambr2]

Lol. That's a terrible look for Haudricourt.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Taking on Kyle Seager would have negative value to the trade. Seager has a clause in his contract that if he’s traded his 2022 club option for $15M becomes a player option.

 

maybe that would have helped us retain the comp pic to go out and acquire another LOOGY to give multi-inning relief appearances to

 

The $15M player option for Seager isn't really that crippling for that 2022 season...I think there are some perfomance escalators on that year that could increase the amount as well, so if he'd do great for whichever team he heads to over the next two years Seager would likely exercise that option and wind up making closer to $20M in 2022. His ~$18M/year cost for the next two seasons is more than what Moose will be paid per year, but when healthy I think he's a better player than Moose. I was throwing Seager info out earlier in this thread because IMO he'd be a fit for the Brewers without needing to give up much, and his contract is palatable (especially if the Mariners would include some $$ in a trade to cover a portion of it).

 

Either way, glad they appear to have their catching plan put together - now on to figuring some pitching/corner IF questions out!

[jonescm128]

So the Brewers are noticeably deciding to use the draft pick they are gifted out of thin air for being a small market team to add major leaguers to the roster each year. You can either use the extra pick as a lottery ticket in the hope of it one day turning into a major leaguer or send it out straight away after it's awarded for a major leaguer. Seems like the sort of thing that could catch on.

I wish MLB would just let you trade any pick (or maybe any pick in the first few rounds). Seems crazy to be the only league with such rules.

 

They don't let you do that? I figured teams could but they just didn't. Wasn't aware there were rules around it.

[pacopete4]

First the Urias trade and now this one. There's been an awful lot of complaining early in this offseason even though our GM looks to have pulled off two great trades for this franchise.

[adambr2]

Narvaez has some really odd career platoon splits. His batting average and slugging is significantly higher against RHP, but he actually gets on base better against LHP to the tune of a whopping .371 career OBP vs LHP. Almost like he can see the ball just as well or better against LHP, just not hit it as well.

[mtrebs]

Lol. That's a terrible look for Haudricourt.

 

Don’t call him out though. I pointed out how he was wrong on Twitter once and he blocked me. I had to disable my account and create a new one so I could follow him as he does retweet a lot of things that I like to see.

[patrickgpe]

Lol. That's a terrible look for Haudricourt.

 

Don’t call him out though. I pointed out how he was wrong on Twitter once and he blocked me. I had to disable my account and create a new one so I could follow him as he does retweet a lot of things that I like to see.

you don't need to follow him to see his tweets. i get them all on bleacher report's brewers feed.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

First the Urias trade and now this one. There's been an awful lot of complaining early in this offseason even though our GM looks to have pulled off two great trades for this franchise.

 

Nah, patience is overrated! We are in the age of crazy over-the-top hot takes!

 

This is fun. It's so cool cheering for a team that makes intelligent decisions and doesn't freak out and make reactionary moves.

[adambr2]

First the Urias trade and now this one. There's been an awful lot of complaining early in this offseason even though our GM looks to have pulled off two great trades for this franchise.

 

Agreed. Added three starting caliber players with significant upside and the only thing of real consequence lost is Trent Grisham and Zach Davies, who many didn't want back anyway.

 

Narvaez is a perfect complement to Pina. SS is solved. Tons of possibilities still out there for 3B.

[adambr2]

Lol. That's a terrible look for Haudricourt.

 

Don’t call him out though. I pointed out how he was wrong on Twitter once and he blocked me. I had to disable my account and create a new one so I could follow him as he does retweet a lot of things that I like to see.

 

Don't worry, he blocked me too. His skin is as thick as tissue paper. I just google "Tom Haudricourt Twitter" and his last few tweets come up.

[brewmann04]

If he cant get Dallas on a two year deal I be very happy.

[Lathund]

With this move, I'd ideally like to see the 26th roster spot occupied by a catcher who can also play another position (Ideally other than 1B), allowing the Brewers to use Narvaez aggressively as a pinch hitter, and to use Piña aggressively as a defensive sub when needed. Don't think there are many of those around though, but if at all possible it would make for a good complement to the LHH bat-first/RHH glove-first combination behind the plate.

 

As for the return I like it. A-ball pitcher and 71st pick. Neither of which you'd expect to have much of an impact during the remainder of Yelichs contract. Which may not be a hard window, but still should be a time where we're trying hard to win. Narvaez was still a ~2 WAR (by any of the three measures) player in 482 PAs last year despite his defense. Be creative about pinch hitting usage, maybe get him some time at 1st if he can handle it, get Piña more time behind the plate, and I like the combo. It's not Grandal, but then again only White Sox, Phillies and whoever finds the 2020 version of Mitch Garver will have a Grandal-esque player.

[tmwiese55]

Thanks for whoever pointed out the trade kicker on Seager, yea that changes things for sure.

 

If that's all we gave up for Narvaez then of course there is no need to also take on a bad contract. Seems like a steal to me. With these D issues it wouldn't surprise me if he plays a chunk of games at 1B as well here and there. [sarcasm]Another seemingly great value move by our lazy idiotic GM haha[/sarcasm]. Still have all the money available to do something at 3B/1B.

[johnbitzer]

Hey guys,

 

Over at Baseball Trade Values, we think this deal comes in as very fair. We had Narvaez at 5.1, with the return being Hill at 1.1 and the draft pick anywhere from 2-4 (figure 3 to split the difference). So it matches out pretty well from a value perspective.

 

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/trade-17416/

[Patrick425]

I keep reading about Narvaez's bad defense. However, according to Baseball Reference he had a -0.6 dWAR last year and Grandal had a -0.4 dWAR. I know others on this site are more in tune than I am with various defensive analytical numbers, so I'm sure I'm missing something. I have read that Grandal is considered one of the best framers in the game and Narvaez was one of the worst in 2018 and about average in 2019. Does anyone know what his reputation is as far as how well he handles pitchers?

[ctmyers]

Hey guys,

 

Over at Baseball Trade Values, we think this deal comes in as very fair. We had Narvaez at 5.1, with the return being Hill at 1.1 and the draft pick anywhere from 2-4 (figure 3 to split the difference). So it matches out pretty well from a value perspective.

 

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/trade-17416/

 

Why did Hill's value increase 27% from November 30th to December 5th?