Milwaukee Brewers: Grading The Crew’s Trade Deadline

What They Gave Up

RHP Cody Ponce, 1B Jesus Aguilar, SS Mauricio Dubon

Ponce had been moved to the bullpen in Double-A and needed 40 man roster protection in December for the Rule 5 draft. He likely wasn’t going to get it, so they got something for him, which is fine.

Jesus Aguilar broke out in 2018, was an All-Star, played a huge role in the Crew’s 2018 success, and was beloved by teammates, fans, and all. But he struggled in 2019, with some crazy regression and his value plundered. He lost the starting job and fell into a platoon at first base with Eric Thames. So they get Jake Faria for him, a 26 year old pitcher who could start down the road but can be effective out of the bullpen this year.

Perhaps the Brewers could’ve gotten more for Aguilar, but considering he started as just a waiver claim, all the value he provided the organization was more than they could’ve asked for, and I think it’s still a solid trade.

Trading Mauricio Dubon is something I expected to happen fairly soon. What I didn’t expect is what he got traded for. With Robert Murray reporting a “significant” trade involving Dubon and the Giants, and Murray’s report from a few weeks ago about the Brewers discussing a deal with the Giants involving Dubon and Will Smith, pretty much everyone expected Will Smith to return.

But nope, it’s a different rental reliever, and a much worse one based on this year’s stats so far. Pomeranz is a consolation prize and it remains to be seen if it’s a good one. Getting a rental failed starter/now reliever with poor stats and a 29 year old project who has no command at all is a confusing return for the Crew’s 3rd best prospect.

The Brewers farm system has been ranked among the worst in baseball after Keston Hiura‘s graduation, but how far it’s fallen is surprising. That a top 3 prospect could only get that return is shocking. Trading Dubon makes sense, but the return he got did not.

Deadline Grade: C+

This was a disappointing deadline for the Milwaukee Brewers. They needed a frontline starting pitcher to really give them any chance for a World Series win this year. Brandon Woodruff is out six weeks and is now the team’s best hope. But is he enough? Do they need more? I suppose we’ll find out in October, but you can’t add more once you’re there.

The struggles in the middle part of the season didn’t give the front office enough confidence in this team to go all in this year, despite getting two rentals. They also focused on controllable projects like Faria and Black, hedging their bets for 2020.

They improved the bullpen, once again just hoping the rotation can cobble something together in October. It worked for a while last year, but can it work again, and work enough to get them to and win a World Series?

They opted for quantity over quality. Quality is what wins you a World Series. Yes, you need some quantity as well, and having a quantity of quality talent is preferred, but they still have the same amount of quality talent as they went into the deadline with.

I don’t see any of these pitchers they acquired moving the needle in 2019. If they do, great, but it’s not likely.

Not getting that starting pitcher to pair with a healthy Woodruff to lead a rotation and playoff series will plague the Milwaukee Brewers. It’ll plague them until they finally get one who can help lead that rotation. Bullpens are great, but high quality starting pitching is still important, and the Brewers don’t have that.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope these transactions work out extremely well for the Crew and they do have the team to win the World Series in 2019. But, right now, it doesn’t look like it.