Milwaukee Brewers: After Domingo Santana, Who’s Next To Get Traded?

The Milwaukee Brewers shipped outfielder Domingo Santana to the Seattle Mariners recently. What other pieces from the 2018 Brewers could be the next to be traded from the team?

A trade of Domingo Santana felt inevitable. With his lack of minor league options, lack of a starting job, and his regression in his stats, Santana wasn’t going to have much more success with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Facing an incredible amount of depth, the Brewers have a little bit of a roster crunch on their hands as some of their young prospects come up to claim their roles on the team. The Brewers have many quality players but not enough spots on the roster to keep them all happy. Some of them are going to have to be traded to clear room.

The Santana trade was the first Domin(g)o to fall. The question is, which domino is next?

Chase Anderson

Anderson regressed hard in 2018. He allowed 30 home runs in 2018, and 22 of them came at Miller Park. He’s a fly-ball pitcher, and they never tend to do well at Miller Park, especially when given a large number of opportunities.

There’s one more guaranteed year left on Anderson’s contract, and it’s worth $6.5 million. He has two more option years left. The options are worth $8.5 million in 2020 and $9.5 million in 2021. That’s not an absurd amount of money for a mid-rotation starter like Anderson, and another team should be able to take on that contract pretty easily.

With Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Brandon Woodruff all looking to get regular starts next season, along with the returning Jhoulys Chacin and finally healthy Jimmy Nelson, it’s going to be tough for Anderson to crack the starting rotation a year after being the Opening Day starter.

It’s probably best for both sides if Anderson gets traded this winter. He’ll do better in a pitcher’s ballpark and the Brewers can use their younger arms to help carry the team.

It’ll be selling low on Anderson, which isn’t something you normally want to do, but there’s still enough of good Chase Anderson left for another team to give up something decent for him.

Keon Broxton

Many would think that trading away Domingo Santana would be a good sign for Keon Broxton sticking around Milwaukee. That was a logical line of thinking until we found out the return for Santana included Ben Gamel, a major league outfielder that can play all three outfield positions, hit left handed, and hit for a pretty good average without striking out much.

Gamel can hit better than Keon, and although he doesn’t bring as good of defense, he can play center field. Broxton’s main value is with his defense. His bat, although it has pop, doesn’t make consistent enough contact for him to be considered an everyday player, and it does hurt him in pinch-hit situations as well.

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If the Brewers decide to stick with Gamel as the fourth outfielder and have someone like Hernan Perez be the fifth man in the outfield when they’re in a pinch, Broxton could easily be traded. Troy Stokes and Tyrone Taylor should be able to be called upon quickly if needed from the minor leagues as well.

Broxton, like Santana, doesn’t have much trade value on his own, considering he has a huge hole in his swing. But his defense in center field is strong enough that we could see a similar return package for Broxton as we did for Santana.

Eric Thames

Thames is another player the Milwaukee Brewers would be selling low on, but they almost have no choice. Thames is due $6 million in 2019 and he’s slated to be on the bench all season long. That’s a little too much money for a defensively limited bench bat who plays a non-premium position.

Even at first base, Thames is just passable on defense, and he’s an ugly sight out in the outfield. With Jesus Aguilar entrenched as the regular first baseman now, Thames is out of a job.

With how much the Brewers are limited in their payroll spending, Thames is a logical candidate to get moved. An AL club that can put him at first base or DH makes a lot of sense for Thames. Detroit, Minnesota, or Toronto could all make some sense for Thames as a landing spot.

He’s a fan favorite, and it’d be tough to see him go, but Thames makes a ton of sense to be the next to get traded away from the 2018 Brewers.

As much as David Stearns touts his roster depth, it’s important to keep bringing those young players into the fold. The Milwaukee Brewers would be best off by trading at least one of these three players before Opening Day.