Brewers: 5 Moves From 2021 That Didn’t Work Out as Planned

Brewers #3 Move That Didn’t Work Out in 2021: Trading Away Orlando Arcia

Whenever you trade away a fan favorite player like shortstop Orlando Arcia, you’d better get some players who wind up as big time contributors in return. That already has no chance of happening going forward for the Brewers.

It’s not like a move away from Arcia was going to be a completely surprising one once it actually happened. A former #1 prospect for Milwaukee, he never lived up to that billing, hitting .242 with just a .293 on base percentage in a Brewer uniform once all was said and done.

Combine that with the fact that the team wanted to see what Luis Urias could bring to the team as a full-time player and you could visualize the Brewers eventually moving on from Arcia. The surprising part was the timing.

Arcia was traded to the Atlanta Braves less than a week into the 2021 season, not exactly a common time for MLB trades to take place. In exchange, the Brewers received two right-handed pitchers: Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel.

While Sobotka had a handful of MLB games under his belt (50, to be exact, with just a 5.36 ERA to show for it), Weigel had just one, but was 25 years old and had some time, still, to be developed by Milwaukee.

Weigel would be one of the many players to see the roster for the Brewers in 2021, but would appear in just four games, giving up two earned runs in four innings. For the most part, he and Sobotka spent most of the year down at Triple-A Nashville.

Neither looked particularly impressive there. Weigel ended up putting up a 7.27 ERA over 43 1/3 innings while Sobotka had a 5.54 ERA over 39 innings. That apparently was all the team needed to see as both became minor league free agents this offseason.

Arcia, meanwhile, spent most of his time with the Braves at Triple-A, but he did play in 32 games for Atlanta in 2021. Most importantly, he won a ring as his new team won the 2021 World Series.