Hidden Casualties In the Greinke Deal

We’ve talked a lot about the players coming into Milwaukee with the deal that Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

What we haven’t talked about is the fact that the Brewers actually lost three players in the deal. Of course, we all know the Crew lost Greinke, but in turn, the corresponding prospects forced the hand of Milwaukee to deal out two current Milwaukee Minor Leaguers: Brock Kjeldgaard and Edwin Maysonet.

Brock Kjeldgaard was playing with the Brevard County Manatees – the Advanced-A afilliate of Milwaukee – as a first-basemen and outfielder. He’s a hard swinger and has shown promise as a future Major League player, but unfortunately not enough for Milwaukee to take any more serious interest in him. He had a dismal spring training with the parent club that was riddled with strikeouts, seemingly confirming the reports of poor plate discipline that followed the 26 year-old through the Minor league ranks.

In many ways, Kjeldgaard is a man without a country already, even before the decision came down designate him for assignment. He started as a pitcher, but saw limited success and ultimately enjoyed being able to hit, where he regularly performed well. He’s tall and strong, but lacks some of the speed and ability to play outfield well at a high level. He seems like a natural first baseman, but is ultimately blocked or, at the very least, superfluous at that position at a Major League level in Milwaukee. He’s got raw power that can be outstanding – 75 homers since being drafted in 2005 – but it’s less admirable when he can’t make contact on a regular basis. He needs work still, but there’s enough promise to be able to send him somewhere to get better and possibly move on to the Majors.

Edwin Maysonet is another story altogether. Also DFA’d by Milwaukee on June 27th, Maysonet has had a roller coaster ride between the Brewers and the AAA Nashville Sounds. Maysonet has spent ten years going through the Minor Leagues, and finally got his shot for the Brewers in 2012 after short stints in the Astros Major League club in 2008 and 2009. He played 30 games for the Crew, and hit .250 with one home run and four RBI’s in 60 official at-bats.

It’s not that he performed badly necessarily, but he was often a victim of circumstance. The Brewers did not ever feel very comfortable with Maysonet, either at the plate or in the middle infield, though he performed decently at both. That’s just the problem, though. He had a short time, through injuries and general disarray, to prove that he could stick on a Major League club and he simply couldn’t do it. Now, with the addition of Segura in the farm system and Scooter Gennett climbing the ranks, Maysonet finds himself redundant. There are plenty of teams that could use a utility infielder like Maysonet and he could give us some value in return, but he just wasn’t right for the Brewers any longer.

So, we bid a tentative farewell to Brock Kjeldgaard and Edwin Maysonet, two players who tasted the good life of a Major Leaguer, and now find themselves on the wrong end of a good deal.

We’ll keep you updated on their future, as well as any deals that come down the pipe.