Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Potential Trade Targets This July

Shane Greene, RHP, Detroit Tigers

Another late inning relief option that will likely be available for trade in July is Shane Greene of the Tigers.

Greene, the Tigers’ closer, has 13 saves so far this season with a 1.69 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP in 16 appearances.

He posted 32 saves a year ago for Detroit, despite finishing with a 5.12 ERA. This year, his overall numbers look much better and hopefully he’s turned a corner. His K/9 ratio has increased to 11.3 so far this season, which would be a career high, and his 2.3 BB/9 is a career low.

The good/bad news about possibly acquiring Greene is that he does have another year of team control remaining through arbitration. If the Milwaukee Brewers were to acquire him, they would control his rights through the 2020 season. He’s making $4 million this year.

That means there would be a higher acquisition cost to pry Greene away from the Tigers in terms of prospects that have to be surrendered. But the extra year of control would make the Brewers bullpen that much more deadly in 2020 with Jeffress, Greene, Knebel, and Josh Hader all under contract and (hopefully) healthy.

His $4 million salary is also not a huge hindrance to the team payroll this year. It’s stretched thin and there may not be much room to add a lot of salary in July, but with probably somewhere around $2 million left on that deal in late July, that’s not going to break the bank for the Brewers.

Greene is just another option to give the Brewers that three-headed bullpen monster they’re looking for.