Brewers: 3 MLB Trade Deadline Destinations for Pedro Severino

At 57-44 and four games in front of the St. Louis Cardinals for first in the NL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers wouldn’t generally be a team you’d expect to be selling at the deadline. But then this is a team that finds themself in an interesting spot at one position.

The Brewers originally planned to go into the 2022 season with a catching tandem of holdover Omar Narvaez and offseason acquisition Pedro Severino. When the latter received an 80-game suspension right before the season was to begin, the team went out and traded for Victor Caratini to replace him.

Since then, Caratini has proven to be a very capable half of a catching duo with Narvaez. But something needed to be done when Severino returned from his suspension, so he ended up getting added to the active roster too.

Severino has done fine since his return, hitting .250 with a .743 OPS. But he has played in just six of the team’s 21 games since his reinstatement on July 3rd. His lack of utilization combined with the fact that he is ineligible for this year’s postseason makes him a prime candidate to be traded before the August 2nd MLB trade deadline.

Luckily for the Brewers, there are some teams in the playoff hunt who could use some catching help for the final stretch of the season. Could any of them pair up as the perfect trade partner for the Crew?

Here are three possible MLB trade deadline destinations for Brewers catcher Pedro Severino.

Pedro Severino Trade Deadline Destination #1: Tampa Bay Rays

Why not start with a team that has recent trade history with the Brewers? The two have connected for two trades in just over a year, swapping shortstop Willy Adames and pitcher Trevor Richards for pitchers Drew Rassmussen and J.P. Feyereisen in May of 2021 and exchanging utility man Mike Brosseau for minor league pitcher Evan Reifert last offseason.

On top of that, it appears that the Rays are in wheel and deal mode already. With just a few trade deadline deals having been done so far, Tampa Bay made one of the bigger ones as they acquired David Peralta to shore up their outfield situation.

If the Rays are looking to improve a different position as well, catcher would make a lot of sense. The team’s backstops had a .569 OPS that was 5th worst in MLB and a .204 average that ranked 11th.

Injuries haven’t helped matters. Tampa was already one of their main catchers in Mike Zunino who is out for the season with thoracic outlet syndrome. Then on Tuesday, they lost Francisco Mejia to the injured list as well. Only Christian Bethancourt and Rene Pinto remain, and they have a .472 and .557 OPS on the season, respectively.

The two have history and the Rays have a glaring need at the position. It’s hard to imagine a better trade pairing than this.

Pedro Severino Trade Deadline Destination #2: Houston Astros

There aren’t many teams who have gotten worse catching performances than the Rays during the 2022 season. The Houston Astros would certainly qualify as one of them, though.

Astros catchers find themselves just below those of the Rays in OPS on the season, having compiled just a .543 that ranks 4th worst in the league. To make matters worse, their .165 batting average ranks dead last.

The Astros have gotten most of their catching production out of former Brewer Martin Maldonado. He was a defense first catcher when he played for Milwaukee and that hasn’t changed as he has hit .173 with a .581 OPS in 76 games this season.

The rest of the production has come from Jason Castro, who is currently on the IL, and Korey Lee. While Castro has managed just a .115 average and .384 OPS in 34 games, Lee has been only marginally better at a .182 average and .490 OPS.

Of course, Brewers fans likely remember that the two teams came together five years ago to complete a huge trade at the deadline. That was win Milwaukee sent Houston outfielder Carlos Gomez and starter Mike Fiers for prospects Adrian Houser, Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, and of course now three-time NL Reliever of the Year Josh Hader.

A Pedro Severino wouldn’t be nearly as newsworthy as that one, but a trade deadline match between the two teams could still be a good idea once again.