Brewers: 3 Trade Targets To Track During The Season

The difference between pretenders and contenders can be seen around the trade deadline. Upgrades usually have to be made by GM’s to prepare for the end of the year run. David Stearns and the Brewers will encounter the same dilemma as almost every other team in the league…are we buyers or sellers?

In an ideal world, the Brewers will be competitive throughout the season and in a position to buy and improve the roster.

If the Brewers decide to become buyers, here are a few guys that could be heavily considered as trade options given the correct circumstances. Let’s take a look.

1, Kyle Seager, 3B

The 10-year MLB veteran has never left the Pacific Northwest as he’s been a staple of Seattle Mariners baseball for many years. It may be time for him to go though. Kyle Seager has never made the playoffs and he may be ready to start a new chapter and join a contender. Enter the Milwaukee Brewers.

This hypothetical trade relies on a few factors on Milwaukee’s end. The Crew currently has a few options at third base including: Travis Shaw, Orlando Arcia, and Daniel Robertson. If this list of players were to struggle though, David Stearns might be eager to make a deal given the Brewers are in contention.

Seager isn’t a guy who’s stats will jump off the page at you, but he’s a solid player. In his career he’s slashed .256/.326/.443 and is a durable guy having played at least 150 games in seven of the nine 162 game seasons he’s played in (he played all 60 last year). Defensively, he owns a career dWAR of 6.2 and impressively ranked in the 78th percentile in outs above average in 2020.

Kyle Seager’s veteran presence could be a big mid-season boost for the Brewers.

If you peel back the onion, Seager is better than his offensive stats showed last year. He only posted an average of .241 but was in the top half percentile of all hitters in every advanced offensive statistic according to Baseball Savant. Specifically, he was one of the best in the MLB in strikeout percentage, only getting punched out 13.3% of the time. Another area he excelled in was walk percentage where he found himself in the 81st percentile at 12.9% of the time.

Because he’s older and hasn’t been playing at the level a team would like to see given his salary, Seager shouldn’t cost too much in terms of a prospect return. He has a club option for next season that is sure to be declined, making him a rental acquisition.

Sodo Mojo, the Mariner’s FanSided affiliate teased a deal a couple months ago including Seager and their proposal included Brewers’ prospects Antoine Kelly and Payton Henry in addition to Avisail Garcia. If this were to happen in July, a return like that would be extremely unlikely.

Regardless, it would be pretty interesting to see Kyle Seager join a squad competing with the Dodgers, thus creating a sibling rivalry with brother Corey.