Brewers 2022 Trade Deadline: Instant Grades Of The Crew’s Deadline Deals

Brewers Trade LHP Antoine Kelly, IF Mark Mathias to Texas for RHP Matt Bush

Grade: B

Later on Monday night, the Brewers made another trade involving a reliever, getting former No. 1 overall pick Matt Bush from the Texas Rangers. Bush has a 2.95 ERA this year and has 2.5 more years of control and is still averaging 97 MPH on his fastball at 36 years old.

His advanced age may be of concern, even though he doesn’t have a ton of mileage on his arm. To get Bush, the Brewers gave up Antoine Kelly, arguably their top left-handed pitching prospect prior to the acquisition of Gasser in the Hader deal. Utility infielder Mark Mathias was also included in the deal. It seemed like a somewhat steep price to pay for a setup man but with where Kelly was ranked, it wasn’t an obscene price.

As long as Bush continues to pitch well and stays around for the next few years, this could end up working well for Milwaukee value-wise.

Brewers Trade OF Tristan Peters to Giants for RHP Trevor Rosenthal

Grade: F—-

That’s right, a quadruple F-minus. This was a head scratcher and just insane that the Brewers actually agreed to this asking price.

Trevor Rosenthal, a former good pitcher who, at 32 years old, hasn’t thrown a big league inning since 2020 due to a myriad of injuries goes to the Brewers. He’s scheduled to be ready again in about a month as he recovers from a hamstring injury. He’s also a free agent at the end of the season.

Still, Rosenthal is someone that makes sense go after. We wrote about why they should sign him back in June.

So you’re getting one month of a reliever who hasn’t pitched in two years. The return should be minimal, right? Maybe cash considerations or a 17 year old prospect in the Dominican Summer League, someone super far down and not much of a prospect, right?

Nope.

The Brewers decided that Rosenthal was worth trading Tristan Peters, an outfielder just promoted to Double-A that’s hitting .307, has an .871 OPS this season, and put himself on the map and in the Crew’s Top 30 prospects list at No. 19. The Brewers traded their 19th ranked prospect for one month of a pitcher that hasn’t seen a big league mound in two years.

That’s downright ridiculous. Regardless of whether Peters had a future in Milwaukee or not with the Crew’s bevy of outfield prospects, he had no business being included in this trade. None.

The price paid to make this deal is what puts it at a quadruple F-minus. There is no reason to pay that high of a price for a still injured pitcher that hasn’t been in a game in two years.