Milwaukee Brewers: Five potential August trade targets

The July Non-Waiver Trade Deadline has come and gone. The Milwaukee Brewers made a couple acquisitions prior to that deadline but now a new trading season has begun.

The August Waiver trade period is slightly different than July. It can be difficult to fully understand the waiver process. MLB Trade Rumors has an excellent explanation here. But basically, players go on revocable waivers and there are a variety of ways it can go from there.

If a player isn’t claimed, they can be traded anywhere. If a player is claimed, they can be either pulled back, have a trade worked out, or simply let go to the claiming team.

Teams put most of their players through on waivers and for the most part, nothing ever comes of it. Bryce Harper was even put through waivers. And, while no one claimed him, the Nationals likely have no interest in getting rid of Harper. So it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see most of the Brewers on waivers, even guys like Orlando Arcia who obviously won’t go anywhere.

Generally, no one outside of front offices really knows who gets put on waivers and who gets claimed. In July there was a rumor for everything, now it’s mostly silent. The Mariners traded for Yonder Alonso from Oakland and he was claimed off waivers. There were no rumors that he was claimed at all until the trade came down. We likely won’t get a warning ahead of time before these deals go down. And they can go down at literally any time.

Last year, the Milwaukee Brewers were reportedly close to making an August trade of Ryan Braun to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This year, David Stearns and the Brewers are unlikely to be dealing from their major league roster and will instead look to add to it. There are places for upgrades on this roster, whether big or small, August trades can fill them.

To be eligible for a Postseason roster, a player must be on the roster before September 1 so the deadline on August 31 represents the last opportunity to add to the ballclub for the playoff run. The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t do too much at the July deadline but are poised to make a few more moves in August given they’re still in contention. Here are five potential players that could join Milwaukee in August.