Milwaukee Brewers: The Good at Trading Team

The Brewers are supposed to be bad.
Turns out they are not, in fact, bad — but they should be. It’s important you know this.
They’re in the midst of a rebuild — at least, again, they should be. But Milwaukee’s being weird in this regard; Not following anyone’s timeline, including their own.
Milwaukee’s wild ride began in 2011, the last season in which they weren’t awful. In 2011, Milwaukee was quite good, winning the National League Central division title and making it to the National League Championship Series (Falling to the eventual World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games).
After this surprising run, Milwaukee hard a fall back to reality: Prince Fielder left for Detroit via free agency. Corey Hart’s existence — but, mainly his body — broke. Zack Greinke’s running mates in Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum and Yovanni Gallardo took a giant step back, culminating in Greinke’s departure to Hollywood.
It was a quick and harsh “back to earth” moment, but it’s been a blessing in disguise for the men who call Miller Park home.
Greinke’s trade, as devastating as it may have been for Bernie Brewer, marked the first step in something huge: Milwaukee’s rebound. Shipping Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels brought back Jean Segura, a highly-touted prospect. There were two other players received in the trade, but they currently play in the Mexican and Can-Am Leagues, respectively, so we’ll ignore them as Segura was the key, and likely lone, piece desired.
Segura spent parts of 4 up-and-down seasons in Milwaukee, never really living up to the expectations and talents he possesses. Eventually, he was traded to Arizona for Chase Anderson.
Anderson’s a bit of a weirdo — he’s about as consistent as consistent gets, which Segura certainly wasn’t during his stay in Wisconsin. He’s the kind of guy you watch pitch and think to yourself “Hey, I could do that.” There’s nothing flashy about him, but he gets the job done.
Anderson, who relies heavily on the success of his dynamic changeup, is/was in the midst of a Porcello-season — or one where a normally consistent middle-rotation starter pitches on par with the leagues elite. About 4 weeks ago, Anderson was placed on the disabled list with an oblique injury. How he fares when he comes back, roughly in 2 weeks, is anyone’s guess — though, if I were a betting man, I’d suspect he’ll pitch to a WHIP of 1.37 or lower, a mark he’s finished with in 2 of his 4 MLB seasons.
Such strong return on investment has been part of a growing trend. Milwaukee’s front office, led by general manager David Stearns and senior advisor Doug Melvin, have been incredibly efficient on the transaction market in recent years.
Anderson is simply exhibit A.
In the winter of 2015, Gallardo, a durable starter, landed Milwaukee Corey Knebel, a hard-throwing relief prospect. Knebel (17 saves, 1.75 ERA) is now Milwaukee’s closer.
Tyler Thornburg, a promising late-inning arm, was deemed expendable and sent to Boston for Travis Shaw. Milwaukee had a need for a bat in the middle of the lineup and Shaw, a corner infielder with above-average power, fit said hole to a tee. Coupled with the free agent signing of Korean baseball deity Eric Thames, Milwaukee has complimented Ryan Braun in the most unusual and cost-effective way possible.
The duo of Shaw and Thames have 51 home runs as of July 28th at a cost of $4,544,400. For comparison, Hanley Ramirez and Mitch Moreland, as a pair, have 29 home runs for the Boston Red Sox at a cost of $27,700,000.
Of course, it’d be foolish to overlook the Milwaukee’s recent dealings with the state of Texas. Jonathan Villar, a casualty of Houston’s infield depth, was acquired for cents on the dollar. Cy Sneed, the lone player sent from Milwaukee to Houston, is currently pitching to a 5.40 ERA with Corpus Christi in the Texas League.
To assist Houston’s playoff push in 2015, Milwaukee shipped Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to the Lone Star State. In return, Domingo Santana and Josh Hader found themselves headed to Milwaukee. Hader, just 23, is the proud owner of a 1.06 ERA through the first 17 innings of his big league career in 2017. Santana, 24, meanwhile has proven himself to be a solid everyday outfielder, slashing .289/.378/.872 in 346 at bats this season.
While Houston’s in-state rivals, the Texas Rangers, are looking to move Jonathan Lucroy at the deadline, Milwaukee is enjoying the rise of Lewis Brinson, acquired along with pitching prospect Luis Ortiz last summer. Brinson, in 267 at bats with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs, is hitting .345 with 10 home runs, 45 RBI’s, 63 runs and 11 stolen bases.
Milwaukee is far from a shoe-in for a playoff berth in 2017, then again, they weren’t supposed to be in contention in the first place. A rebuild that no one lauded has proven to be more effective than most, and has Milwaukee adding during a trade deadline where big-market teams like the Rangers, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets are looking to sell assets.
While it’s not quite a recreation of Oakland’s infamous Moneyball approach, Milwaukee is finding, and creating, tremendous value in the shuffling of assets.
Not to mention, they just landed the league’s most undervalued pitcher, Anthony Swarzak, for a minor league depth outfielder.
