Brewers trade Chris Dickerson

After making a mid-season trade for Dickerson last year, the Brewers have clearly decided to go in another direction (my guess, Brandon Boggs).  This morning the Brewers traded Dickerson to the Yankees in exchange for veteran pitcher Sergio Mitre.  This is a deal that makes sense.  We really need some starting pitching insurance.  Mitre can easily move from bullpen to starter if need be.  His career record as a starter is less than appealing however.

Sergio Mitre has a career record of 13-29 with a 5.27 ERA.  This means that we traded a good player for a younger version of Jeff Suppan.  Mitre is only 30 years old, so he still has some hope of not going down in history as a pretty crummy pitcher.  Maybe he can turn it around in Milwaukee, but in all reality I do not think this deal was done for Mitre.  In my humble opinion, the Brewers wanted to move Dickerson so they could make room for Brandon Boggs on the Opening Day roster.  This deal puts my mind at rest for multiple reasons.

1)  This deal gives us an insurance policy, in case one of our five starters goes down

2)  Makes the roster much clearer for Opening Day

3)  We filled a need by letting go of a guy who might not have made the roster anyway

4)  Last season was without question Mitre’s best season as a pro and he worked primarily out of the      bullpen

There are two things that bother me about the deal though.  The first being the fact that this assures Mark Kotsay and Jeremy Reed will make the Opening Day roster.  Second problem, Mitre has been a terrible pitcher his entire career.  My guess is that, the Crew did not want to part with a guy like Gamel in order to get a higher level pitcher like Kevin Slowey of the Twins.  Which is fine.  This deal needed to be made.  Chris Dickerson has some real talent and it is a shame to see him go, but it is for the good of the team.

Happy Trails Chris!!!  It was fun while it lasted.  Just know that, it wasn’t you….it was me.