Brewers: A Look At The 3 Worst Deadline Deals in Franchise History

#2 Brewers Part Ways With Vaughn

Padres received: OF Greg Vaughn, RHP Jerry Parent

Brewers received: RHP Bryce Florie, LHP Ron Villone, OF Marc Newfield

On the morning of July 31, 1996, the Milwaukee Brewers were 52-54 and losing ground in the American League Central. Arguably the best hitter in their lineup, Greg Vaughn, was just coming off an All-Star Game appearance, but was going to be a free agent in the fall. So general manager Sal Bando decided to make the move to trade Vaughn to the San Diego Padres.

The centerpiece in the deal was the eventual four-time All Star in Vaughn. In Milwaukee, where he began his big league career, Vaughn launched 169 home runs and drove in 566 runs while being a staple of the middle of the batting order in the early to mid 1990s. After heading west, Vaughn ended up having a HUGE season in 1998 where he popped 50 home runs and won the Silver Slugger award. Jerry Parent never made it above Single A in the Padres farm system.

While the Brewers figured they weren’t going to be able to afford to pay Vaughn in the offseason, they wished they’d gotten more in return. Bryce Florie and Ron Villone were both pretty average relievers for Milwaukee and both left after the 1997 season.

The part of the deal that really hurts is with Marc Newfield. Newfield had a very solid end to the 1996 season with the Brewers, hitting .307 with seven home runs and 15 doubles, so things looked promising. But all that promise went out the window when he showed up to camp the following year out of shape and with a considerably slower bat. He was later cut by the team on December 18, 1998 due to being a non-factor the two seasons after he came to Milwaukee.

#3 Milwaukee Pulls Trigger on Schoop

Orioles received: IF Jonathan Villar, RHP Luis Ortiz, IF Jean Carmona

Brewers received: IF Jonathan Schoop

In what was supposed to be a jolt for the offense, Jonathan Schoop couldn’t be what the Brewers needed him to be, in fact, he was the opposite.

In a trade of Jonathans, Villar was the only active major league player that Baltimore would get. He had a solid couple years in Milwaukee hovering around a .250 average with some quality defense. In Baltimore, he did have some nice seasons including 2019, where he played all 162 games and hit .274 with 24 home runs and 73 runs batted in. Luis Ortiz only played in three MLB games with the Orioles and had a 12.71 ERA and a 10.96 FIP. Jean Carmona is currently 21 years old and in Single A ball in the Orioles system.

The Crew believed they were getting a guy that could propel them to new heights. They’d recently acquired Mike Moustakas from the Royals and the infield was coming together…but one guy couldn’t get going, Schoop.

In 46 games in a Brewers uniform, he slashed .202/.246/.331 with only four long balls and a strikeout percentage of 30.6%. He had a terrible September, when the Brewers needed him most in the hopes of catching the Cubs in the NL Central and found himself behind the likes of Hernan Perez and Tyler Saladino. Unlike the first two examples where the Crew were sellers, this was one of the very few times the Brewers were buyers at the deadline and made the wrong call.

The plan was to have Schoop produce at second base for a year and a half, which would reduce the need to rush their top prospect, second baseman Keston Hiura, to the big leagues. Instead, Schoop was non-tendered in the winter of 2018 and the Brewers ended up having to bring Hiura to the big leagues early on in 2019. He found success there, but given his struggles in 2020 and 2021, perhaps rushing him made things worse in the long run.

Obviously, not all deals work out. But the word around the MLB is that the Brewers are ready to make an addition or two this season before the deadline passes. Will that transaction find itself on a future list like this? I can’t wait to find out.