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3 Starting Pitcher Targets The Brewers Should Try To Trade For Immediately

By David Gasper

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell waits for relief pitcher Jake Cousins to enter the game
Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell waits for relief pitcher Jake Cousins to enter the game / MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
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Brewers rotation trade target #2: Tigers LHP Eduardo Rodriguez

Another potential aggressive trade acquisition to help the Brewers starting rotation is Detroit Tigers lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez is having a fantastic season with Detroit, with just a 2.06 ERA through nine starts.

If he keeps pitching like this, the 30 year old Rodriguez will likely exercise his opt out clause and become a free agent at the end of the season. Otherwise he could opt in for the remaining three years and $49MM on his contract.

That would be a sizable sum of money for the Brewers to potentially take on. Any trade of Rodriguez would be complicated by the factor of his opt out clause. Milwaukee or any interested club would rather pay the prospect price of a rental instead of three and a half years of control while the Tigers will want a return larger than that of a rental. Finding a middle ground won't be easy.

Further complicating any potential Brewers pursuit of Rodriguez is the fact that the Tigers are currently in second place in a weak AL Central. Sure, they're expected to fall out of the race as the season goes on but when they're only 2.5 games back, trading away your best starting pitcher will be hard to sell to fans and ownership as a smart move.

This is where a trade similar to the Willy Adames deal could potentially work. Two competitive teams trading big league players to address needs early on in the season. The Tigers will need some help on their big league roster if they're going to remain competitive and in order to make this deal, the Brewers will need to deal from their big league roster.

Given the spate of injuries the Brewers are dealing with, having the depth at other positions to be able to deal from to acquire Rodriguez may be difficult to do. To harken back to the Adames trade once more, the Brewers dealt from their bullpen depth to make that deal and their bullpen depth was quite short the rest of that season.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

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