Brewers trade Feyereisen, Rasmussen to Rays for SS Willy Adames, RHP Trevor Richards

[madbad2000]

Did Adames mention the vision issues at Tropicana prior to the trade? Was this a situation where Stearns and team saw the splits and figured he would improve with a change of scenery? Was this something that the Brewers had a tip about from an insider with Adames having issues seeing the ball and they pounced early before other bidders joined the fray?

[Eye Black]

Did Adames mention the vision issues at Tropicana prior to the trade?

Yes, and he tried wearing special nonprescription glasses to help with the issue. It’s buried now, but I shared some of his quotes while with the Rays earlier in this thread:

 

Post Link to Adames wearing glasses

 

His quotes were also discussed on the Effectively Wild podcast both at the time of the trade (Post Link) and again this week (Episode Link).

[Pugger]

We secured one of the foundations of our lineup for years to come who plays good d at a premium position for the spare change in the couch. This trade could end up being thought of right next to the yelich one soon.

 

I suspect this trade might be up there already.

[Never Outhustled]

We secured one of the foundations of our lineup for years to come who plays good d at a premium position for the spare change in the couch. This trade could end up being thought of right next to the yelich one soon.

 

I suspect this trade might be up there already.

 

Not even close. We gave up 2 serious arms in the deal. JP is 1.7 WAR this year. It's a good deal because we were desperate for offense, but it's not a steal like the Yelich deal.

[trwi7]

We secured one of the foundations of our lineup for years to come who plays good d at a premium position for the spare change in the couch. This trade could end up being thought of right next to the yelich one soon.

 

I suspect this trade might be up there already.

 

Not even close. We gave up 2 serious arms in the deal. JP is 1.7 WAR this year. It's a good deal because we were desperate for offense, but it's not a steal like the Yelich deal.

 

We gave up two relievers. One is a 28 year old sort of getting by on smoke and mirrors and the other is a 25 year old who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. In return we got a 25 year old shortstop who has nearly 8 WAR in a little over two seasons worth of plate appearances.

[timpep]

We gave up two relievers. One is a 28 year old sort of getting by on smoke and mirrors and the other is a 25 year old who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. In return we got a 25 year old shortstop who has nearly 8 WAR in a little over two seasons worth of plate appearances.

 

And Yelich won an MVP while the guys we have up amounted to worse than nothing.

 

This was a great trade for the Brewers but hardly the fleecing the Yelich trade was. I don't think the Marlins would do the Yelich trade over. Conversely, I think the Rays are just as happy as the Brewers so far.

[Fear The Chorizo]

We gave up two relievers. One is a 28 year old sort of getting by on smoke and mirrors and the other is a 25 year old who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. In return we got a 25 year old shortstop who has nearly 8 WAR in a little over two seasons worth of plate appearances.

 

And Yelich won an MVP while the guys we have up amounted to worse than nothing.

 

This was a great trade for the Brewers but hardly the fleecing the Yelich trade was. I don't think the Marlins would do the Yelich trade over. Conversely, I think the Rays are just as happy as the Brewers so far.

 

For perspective and maybe to help explain the attempted comparison to the Adames trade, the person you are responding to's initial reaction to the Yelich trade was 'Ugh' after it happened and lamented all the impact prospects with bright MLB futures given up to get Yelich in Milwaukee. Guessing he's still waiting for one of those former prospects struggling to stay in the majors 4 years after the trade happened to blossom into a perennial all star to try and declare that trade a wash. Debating the merits of whether or not to extend Yelich before the 2020 season started instead of trading him for more prospects is a separate discussion - the actual trade to acquire Yelich with what he had remaining on his former contract was flat-out highway robbery by DS and company, the Adames trade is nowhere near it.

 

Adames was an expendable player for the Rays because they wanted to get their top prospect into the majors - Yelich was the last piece of a firesale trading offseason that was supposed to quickly replenish the Marlins' farm system with impact ML-caliber talent. Two totally different types of trade scenarios. Had the Rays not had Wander Franco ready to be called up and a deep farm system behind him that would be requiring 40 man roster flexibility, Adames never gets dealt this year for bullpen pieces.

[Jopal78]

 

For perspective and maybe to help explain the attempted comparison to the Adames trade, the person you are responding to's initial reaction to the Yelich trade was 'Ugh' after it happened and lamented all the impact prospects with bright MLB futures given up to get Yelich in Milwaukee. Guessing he's still waiting for one of those former prospects struggling to stay in the majors 4 years after the trade happened to blossom into a perennial all star to try and declare that trade a wash. Debating the merits of whether or not to extend Yelich before the 2020 season started instead of trading him for more prospects is a separate discussion - the actual trade to acquire Yelich with what he had remaining on his former contract was flat-out highway robbery by DS and company, the Adames trade is nowhere near it.

 

Adames was an expendable player for the Rays because they wanted to get their top prospect into the majors - Yelich was the last piece of a firesale trading offseason that was supposed to quickly replenish the Marlins' farm system with impact ML-caliber talent. Two totally different types of trade scenarios. Had the Rays not had Wander Franco ready to be called up and a deep farm system behind him that would be requiring 40 man roster flexibility, Adames never gets dealt this year for bullpen pieces.

 

Yelich wasn't the last piece of a fire sale though. Yelich (or his agent) stated he didn't want to be a part of a 100 loss team and asked to be traded. This coming after the Marlins (astutely) moved Stanton's contract. They also had just moved Marcell Ozuna for whom they received an excellent return of three starting pitching prospects from the Cardinals: Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and Daniel Castano. One reason the Marlins are still waiting on a return for Yelich is that their leverage was extinguished when Yelich via his agent, declared he didn't want to be there any more. It was actually Realmuto who was the final piece of a fire sale where they also received a nice return of Sixto Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro.

[Eye Black]

This Ken Rosenthal article for The Athletic has some good insight and quotes from Willy Adames including the hitting instructor that Adames used at the suggestion of Mookie Betts…

 

Rosenthal: What Mookie Betts told Willy Adames

[nate82]

Another article on Adames and not being able to see the ball in Tampa.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/willy-adames-thankful-for-trade-to-brewers

[wallus]

Another article on Adames and not being able to see the ball in Tampa.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/willy-adames-thankful-for-trade-to-brewers

 

Extremely likeable player. I have never read him say anything bad about anybody. (assuming the Trop doesn't count as a person)

[AKCheesehead]

As an aside, my suspicious mind can't help but to wonder if there is something the Rays have done strategically with their lighting to gain a home advantage at the Trop.

[CheezWizHed]

As an aside, my suspicious mind can't help but to wonder if there is something the Rays have done strategically with their lighting to gain a home advantage at the Trop.

 

Well, they aren't very strategic if they are hurting their own players.

[DHonks]

Maybe Rachel Phelps bought the team and is trying to move them to another city? Can’t be Miami…that’s taken

[AKCheesehead]

As an aside, my suspicious mind can't help but to wonder if there is something the Rays have done strategically with their lighting to gain a home advantage at the Trop.

 

Well, they aren't very strategic if they are hurting their own players.

 

Correct. Thus they trade away players hurt by it. I mean, I am not trying to be tinfoil hat guy here, but just think of the scenario: Eventually build a roster where everybody sees fine in your stadium, while your opponents all have, as sveumrules would call it, a couple two tree guys who can't pick up the spin for diddly in your stadium. It would be a pretty nice home field advantage if you could pull it off.

 

And what the hell, let's take a look at their home/road splits on the season:

 

Split W L RS RA W-L%

Home 27 16 194 138 .628

Road 25 20 240 212 .556

 

It's probably nothing, but they would be brilliant if they actually were doing that.

[brewcrewdue80]

As an aside, my suspicious mind can't help but to wonder if there is something the Rays have done strategically with their lighting to gain a home advantage at the Trop.

 

Well, they aren't very strategic if they are hurting their own players.

 

Correct. Thus they trade away players hurt by it. I mean, I am not trying to be tinfoil hat guy here, but just think of the scenario: Eventually build a roster where everybody sees fine in your stadium, while your opponents all have, as sveumrules would call it, a couple two tree guys who can't pick up the spin for diddly in your stadium. It would be a pretty nice home field advantage if you could pull it off.

 

And what the hell, let's take a look at their home/road splits on the season:

 

Split W L RS RA W-L%

Home 27 16 194 138 .628

Road 25 20 240 212 .556

 

It's probably nothing, but they would be brilliant if they actually were doing that.

 

Ooh I like this theory and the stats are fairly large difference there to back it up. Pitchers allowing 74 more runs on road than home on 43-45 games split. Avg just over 3 runs per game at home so you can estimate 67.5 runs less allowed.

[AKCheesehead]

Yeah they have exactly double the positive run differential at home vs on the road, and they've played 3 fewer home games.

[sveumrules]

Brewers have gone an MLB best 33-16 since trading for Willy.

 

SFG (30-15), LAD (30-17) and HOU (30-17) have been the only other teams with 30 wins over that same stretch.

[TURBO]

I hope Willy is so good over the course of his time in Milwaukee, that this is the best trade we ever made, even better than the Sabathia trade...

[homer]

I wish you could go back to his first day on the team (maybe you can but I don't know where) but in the last 30 days Adames has the 4th best OPS in all of baseball behind Gallo, Ohtani, and Brandon Lowe

[Simba2020]

Looking at home-road splits, since the Rays were created, all teams have hit .264 at home and .256 on the road. That differential has been pretty consistent all-time in baseball. From the 2001-2009 period, the Rays themselves hit .267 at home and .257 on the road. So everything looks pretty normal.

 

Beginning with the 2010 season, the Rays must have changed something at the Trop. Since that time, the Rays have hit .243 at home and .251 on the road. That's a pretty dramatic flip. Not sure if they did it intentionally or not, but for sure something must have changed.

[sveumrules]

I wish you could go back to his first day on the team (maybe you can but I don't know where) but in the last 30 days Adames has the 4th best OPS in all of baseball behind Gallo, Ohtani, and Brandon Lowe

 

You can select custom date ranges on the FanGraphs leaderboards, since the trade Willy has posted the 8th highest WAR in MLB…

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2021&month=1000&season1=2021&ind=0&startdate=2021-05-22&enddate=2021-07-16

[BillMilton]

Does anyone remember SS Orlando Arcia?

[sveumrules]

Lol. An already questionable bullpen just got worse.

 

Brewers bullpen through 5/21: 113 ERA- | 117 FIP-

Brewers bullpen after 5/21: 70 ERA- | 90 FIP-

 

Somehow the trade improved our offense by around 1.35 runs per game & also improved our bullpen ERA by about 43%.

 

Starting to think Stearns & company are practitioners of the dark arts or something.

[adambr2]

Lol. An already questionable bullpen just got worse.

 

Brewers bullpen through 5/21: 113 ERA- | 117 FIP-

Brewers bullpen after 5/21: 70 ERA- | 90 FIP-

 

Somehow the trade improved our offense by around 1.35 runs per game & also improved our bullpen ERA by about 43%.

 

Starting to think Stearns & company are practitioners of the dark arts or something.

 

Yeah, Stearns & Co. are good at what they do. I think they value one or two core bullpen pieces and other than that are good with a bunch of dart throws for a position that can be quote volatile. Indeed, they have outperformed my expectations considerably and they should be commended. Guys like Jake Cousins have performed better than I could have ever imagined. It was a bad take, and I certainly own it.

 

Is it this enjoyable to find bad hot takes to bump and embarrass folks with them with a touch of wit and sarcasm? Because it seems so lately.

 

I also said the following on that day, but I guess this one wouldn't be nearly as much fun to bump.

 

"there's a lot to like about Adames. He is 25, has had a pretty good career so far, was a top 100 prospect and is controllable. Maybe we just felt the value was too good to pass on."