Brewers trade candidate #4: Keston Hiura
The Brewers thought Keston Hiura would be the young hitter that would lead this team alongside Christian Yelich for years to come. Instead both players have regressed post-2019, but Hiura's situation is much different than Yelich's. Yelich was an established MVP with years of producing above-average numbers in the big leagues prior to earning his contract extension that has a full no-trade clause. While Hiura had one good half of one season in the bigs before his three year slump.
Hiura brings no defensive value and is practically useless against left handed pitchers. His numbers against righties haven't been good enough to compensate. He doesn't have a position and his strikeout numbers have only gotten worse. There are a variety of reasons why it makes sense for the Brewers to move on.
Hiura's trade value will never again reach the heights that it had in 2019. The Brewers held on to him, believing in that bat. With the bat no longer there, his value has plummeted faster than FTX.
A change of scenery is necessary for Hiura. The Brewers have done all they can to get him back to his old self. With Rowdy Tellez and Jon Singleton on the roster to cover first base, and no reason to give him regular playing time at second base or left field, Hiura should get a chance to play elsewhere with regular opportunities and a clean slate to get himself back on track.
If he can get back on track elsehwere, it'll be great for him to resurrect his career. But it would be tough for the Brewers to stomach, knowing they had him and that the talent was always in there. That leads me to drop his chances of being traded to below 50%, just because they may not have given up completely and won't want to see him succeed elsewhere.
But if they have tried everything, it's time to move on. And if they believe they haven't tried everything yet, then what's been taking them so long to try everything to fix him?