Milwaukee Brewers: FanSided Faux GMs summary

The Faux GMs simulation is over. It was a crazy few days, but it turned out well for the Milwaukee Brewers.

It would be easy to act as a video game boss and create a bunch of unnecessary moves. However, the Reviewing the Brew team did our best to stay true to form of the Milwaukee Brewers. We went after only moves that fulfilled needs.

In total, we decided to sign two free agents and make five trades. The trade number is admittedly a little high, but they worked out for us in the end.

OF Keon Broxton for LHP Alex Wells and RHP Matthias Dietz

With a surplus of outfield talent there is plenty of opportunity to get some future talent, or MLB pitching. After shopping Broxton around the best deal ended with him in Baltimore. Wells is a solid lefty, and number 16 in the O’s organization. Dietz is a young righty ranked 24. But both are projected as solid potential big leaguers.

C Stephen Vogt for LHP Nick Raquet

The Washington Nationals approached the Milwaukee Brewers with interest in Vogt. Between Jeff Bandy, Andrew Susac, and Manny Pina there were options without Vogt. Originally with an outfielder. But, we put together counter offers until Raquet became the target. This lefty is number 16 in the Nats organization.

OF Ryan Braun for C Yasmani Grandal and OF Joc Pederson

This offer took a grand total of zero bargaining. The Dodgers made the decision to approach with this offer. They took all of Braun’s contract as well. This is a great haul for the Milwaukee Brewers. But, the arbitration on Grandal is projected to be quite a bit. Even with that, this is a deal to feel very good about.

OF Kyle Wren for RHP Parker Bridwell

After several sales for talent, all that came in had been prospects. But, we took that into consideration when talking to the Phillies. An earlier deal is when Bridwell made the move from the Angels to the Phils. But after a bit of bargaining they took Wren, who did not fit into the future outfield. Bridwell, however, was solid in 2017 and will help the rotation quite a bit.

C Yasmani Grandal and Marcos Diplan for LHP Steven Matz

This is where we were able to flip Grandal into a lefty starter, which the Milwaukee Brewers were lacking. Matz dealt with injury problems last year, but he is a solid pitcher. With this deal, the Crew is no longer on the hook for Grandal’s contract, and the only collateral is Diplan. But with the other pitching prospects in these deals, he is somewhat expendable.

Sign RHP Anthony Swarzak for 2 years/$12m

This is what Sportstrac estimated Swarzak’s value at. This is a good deal to solidify the bullpen. It could be seen as a little much for a bullpen role, especially given the rest of the teams salary. But the righty performed very well for the team after the deadline.

Sign 2B Neil Walker for 1 year/$14m

This was a late decision. However, not many teams were all that interested in Walker. He played a great second base in 2017 and a one year deal let’s him do that again. The purpose of a one year deal is because Mauricio Dubon is almost ready to take over full time.

Almost Deals

There was really only one of these that happened. The Mets,  in a separate deal from Matz, asked for Sogard. We discussed it, and they offered a prospect shortstop named Luis Carpio. He is in their top 30 prospects. But, the decision amongst the Reviewing the Brew writers is that we wanted to keep Sogard for the time being.

Conclusion

This went very well for the Milwaukee Brewers. In the end, we lost a couple outfielders in Braun and Broxton. But to gain three prospects and lose only one is good. Along with that we added a lefty starter, and a solid arm to the rotation. Pederson will act as a fourth outfielder with Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, and Lewis Brinson patrolling the starting spots.

Next: Is Jeffress a non-tender candidate?

This was a great experience. These deals mimicked what the team might do this offseason, but the odds of any of these happening might be fairly low. The point was not creating deals, but exploring the needs and filling them. We accomplished it well.