Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Potential Trade Targets This July

Will Smith, LHP, San Francisco Giants

Back in 2016, the Milwaukee Brewers traded Will Smith to the Giants as the Crew was in rebuild mode and the Giants were going for it. Afew years later, the tables have turned and the Brewers are now contenders and the Giants are rebuilding.

Despite their poor record, the Giants have a strong bullpen and are likely to trade a couple of members of that group at the deadline. One of the top members of that group is Will Smith.

This season, Smith has a 3.29 ERA so far, and has nine saves as the Giants’ designated closer. Smith has a 2.78 FIP, a 1.02 WHIP, and is looking good.

Last year, in his first season back from Tommy John surgery that took out his entire 2017 season, Smith posted a 2.55 ERA in 53 innings.

Smith has always been a reliable bullpen arm, even going back to his days in Milwaukee, posting a 3.28 ERA in three seasons with the Brewers.

With the Brewers having lost Knebel for the entire season, reacquiring Smith would give them that third dominant arm in the bullpen. Not to mention it would reunite Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff aka Jeremy Jeffress. Smith and Jeffress had a close bond they developed during their time in Milwaukee. And both were traded on the same day in 2016. Jeffress is back, and bringing back Smith would put that dynamic duo on center stage once again.

Acquiring Smith makes perfect baseball sense, and it also makes for a great story, with Smith reuniting with Jeffress back in the city where both broke out to be high-quality big league relievers.

Smith would only be a rental, and will become a free agent at season’s end, meaning the acquisition cost will be much lower. With Knebel coming back next season, the Milwaukee Brewers could let Smith walk afterwards. Getting Smith back would be a win-win.