Milwaukee Brewers: Now Is The Time To Trade With San Francisco

The time to fill the need at second base is now for the Milwaukee Brewers. The pieces could not be more in place.

One of the better options for the Milwaukee Brewers to take that spot is Joe Panik from San Francisco. He hit .288 last season with a WAR of 2.0. More beneficial candidates at this point are few and far between. This season is the first year of arbitration for the second baseman, meaning he won’t become a free agent until 2021.

Rumor has it, according to Henry Schulman, that the Giants are trying to sign one year deals with five of their players. Panik is included in this bunch. He also tweets that the trades tend to increase around this deadline. And why not? These guys are controllable.

The issue is that San Francisco wants to compete this year. And they probably have the team to, well they are close. They traded for Evan Longoria, adding a great bat. But they are open about their obvious need in the outfield. It just so happens that the Milwaukee Brewers are pretty open about being overstocked in that area.

The idea of Panik is not new, and it is not popular with Giants fans. But there is no deal for a Brewer outfielder without him. Let me put it this way, the team did not get Giancarlo Stanton. That is tough, but there were more options. The next big attempt is Jay Bruce, who just signed with the Mets.

This leaves the Milwaukee Brewers as trade partners or the Pirates as trade partners left among the Giant outfield rumors. But let’s be honest here, an aging former superstar is worth maybe a few years. What the Crew has is youth. That is what is drawing the San Francisco in.

So far, the two main points of interest are Domingo Santana and Keon Broxton. Naturally the price is much higher for Santana. If their interest sways to Broxton, then Panik feels like just the right price.

The Giants farm is seriously depleted after the Longoria move. So unless there is a three team deal on the horizon, Santana will not be moving to San Francisco. The true candidate is Broxton. And the true price is Panik. The time to go for it is now.

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Getting the years of control on Panik and not having to give up any immediately necessary parts is way too good to pass up. Truthfully, this could be one of the better moves GM David Stearns could make. But it is all up to how the Giants see their team. Will they compete better with a solid second baseman, or a solid outfield? And they will no doubt see the latter is answer,