Brewers make moves
Trades bring needed pitching help; Aguilar sent to Rays
Tom Haudricourt sums up the Brewers’ trades, which included Jesús Aguilar to Tampa Bay for a pitcher.
Faced with an acute shortage of healthy arms and encountering exorbitant prices for elite starting pitchers, the Milwaukee Brewers put quantity ahead of quality Wednesday before the major-league trading deadline expired.
Making two trades beyond the one completed at the start of the week, the Brewers added four pitchers to their organization – two assigned to the bigleague roster and two sent to Class AAA San Antonio.
As for his approach heading into the
lone trade deadline, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said, “It's probably evolved a little bit over the week and the last 10 days, as our pitching situation has evolved. In general, when you go into a deadline, most contending clubs seek to add the highest-impact talent that you possibly can. Often times, that's challenging at a deadline when prices are so extreme and supply is diminished.
“In this case, at a minimum, we thought it was important to add to the overall pitching depth on our roster, given the injuries and some of the attrition we've had over the last month. So, we're pleased we were able to accomplish that.”
In his first trade Wednesday,
Stearns sent first baseman Jesús Aguilar – an all-star in 2018 but slump-ridden for most of this season – to Tampa Bay for right-hander Jake Faria, a former starter moved to relief this year with better results. Faria, 26, who has four more years of contractual control, was assigned to San Antonio.
Later in the day, the Brewers traded middle infielder Mauricio Dubon, one of their top minor-league prospects, to San Francisco for veteran left-hander Drew Pomeranz and hard-throwing reliever Ray Black. After failing as a starter for the Giants, Pomeranz recently was moved to relief with success and will be used in that role by the Brewers. Black, who pitched in 26 games for San Francisco in 2018 and has five more years of control, will go to San Antonio.
On Monday, the Brewers acquired right-hander Jordan Lyles from Pittsburgh for minor-league pitcher Cody Ponce and immediately installed him in their starting rotation for their game Wednesday night in Oakland.
The Brewers were faced with a pitching crisis after starters Brandon Woodruff (strained oblique) and Jhoulys Chacín (strained lat) went on the injured list within four days of each other, a situation compounded by the uncertain status of left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who has been nursing a sore shoulder.
Pomeranz, 30, was having a miserable season as a starter for the Giants, going 2-9 with a 6.10 ERA in 17 games, before being moved to a relief role recently. He made four appearances out of the bullpen, pitching 51⁄3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.
If Pomeranz is used strictly in relief, only Lyles is a starting addition, so Stearns was asked how these moves are going to solve the rotation issues.
“We've demonstrated we can fill innings creatively,” he said. “We can have bullpen days. We have guys who have the capability of starting. It's probably not out of the question that Drew would make a start at some point for us this year, but we look at him primarily as a reliever.
“It allows us to do different things, to have more pitchers that we believe are capable of consistently getting outs. What's important to us is doing what we can to patch together 27 outs each game.”
Asked if he took a run at any elite starting pitchers before lowering his sights, Stearns said, “We were involved in pretty much every pitcher who was rumored to be out there, and some who were not. As we always do, we cast a very wide net, tried to understand how realistic certain situations might be, and then focus our approach from there, once we understood what's real and what's not.
“You always go into this deadline, and every deadline, understanding that the prices for players, especially upper-echelon players, are going to be really high. Sometimes, you're able to match up... and sometimes you're not. The price didn't necessarily surprise me. I expected the prices to be high and they were.”
The Brewers like pitchers with swing-and-miss stuff who are versatile and under contractual control, and Faria and Black fit those molds. Faria, 26, made 26 starts for the Rays from 201718 but pitched only in relief this season, making seven appearances and posting a 2.70 ERA. In three years with Tampa Bay, he went 9-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 40 games (26 starts).
Faria pitched primarily this season for Class AAA Durham, going 6-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 23 games (seven starts). In 592⁄3 innings, he allowed 55 hits with 26 walks and 74 strikeouts.
Black, 29, made 26 appearances out of San Francisco's bullpen in 2018 but had pitched only twice in the majors this season. In 23 appearances at Class AAA Sacramento, he was 1-0 with a 5.16 ERA, pitching 222⁄3 innings and allowing 19 hits and 13 walks with 36 strikeouts.
“I would expect both of those guys will see major-league time with us this year,” Stearns said of Black and Faria.
Aguilar was an all-star for the Brewers in 2018, slugging 35 home runs and driving in 108 runs. But he got off to a terrible start at the plate this season, particularly in the slugging department, and eventually lost playing time at first base.
Aguilar recovered somewhat at the plate in recent weeks but still was batting only .225 with eight homers, 34 RBI and .694 OPS.
Dubon, 25, considered one of the Brewers' top minor-league prospects, was having a big year at San Antonio. In 98 games he was batting .297 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI with a .809 OPS.
Of trading Aguilar and Dubon, Stearns said, “If you look around at deadlines in general over the last couple of years, prices aren't cheap this time of year. We understand that.
“To acquire players we believe are going to be able to contribute at the major-league level in the long-term, you're going to have to give up some pretty good talent. We've done that in the past, and it's something you have to be comfortable doing at a trade deadline.”
The question on the minds of Brewers fans after the modest trading period was: Did the Brewers do enough to stay in the race for a playoff spot? They are battling Chicago and St. Louis for the NL Central crown, and an even bigger group of clubs in the race for the two wild-card berths.
“We wanted to add to the depth of our pitching staff, and we think we were able to do that,” Stearns said. “We know we're going to have to play more consistently throughout these last two months. We're going to have to pitch more consistently throughout these last two months, and I think we will.
“I think we've got a team that's very capable of staying in the playoff race and advancing in the playoffs. I think we have to play more consistently than we have thus far during the season.”
More: Stats for players involved in Brewers trades Wednesday, Page 8.