Brewers News: Crew Reportedly to Trade for Pirates 1B Carlos Santana

The first move of the 2023 trade deadline is reportedly in the books for the Milwaukee Brewers and it solves a big need for the Brewers.

Reports are out that the Brewers are trading for first baseman Carlos Santana from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jason Mackey, Pirates beat writer for the Post Gazette was the first one to break the trade news.

In return, Milwaukee will reportedly be sending away shortstop Jhonny Severino, a prospect outside of the MLB Top 30 Brewers prospects list. That isn't a bad price to pay to upgrade a position in which the Crew desperately needed some help.

The Brewers have reportedly traded for Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana.

Santana was in his first season with the Pirates after signing a one-year, $6.75MM free agent deal this last offseason. Through 94 games, the 37-year-old has a .235/.321/.412 slash line with 12 homers and 53 RBI. Those runs batted in would currently rank second on the Brewers behind only Christian Yelich.

For his career, Santana is a .242 hitter with a .788 OPS and a 34.4 bWAR over 14 seasons. He played a majority of his career with the Guardians (10) while also making stops with the Phillies, Royals, Mariners, and now the Pirates.

Santana has played a majority of his games at first base this season, which is an area where the Brewers could use some help right now. The team's primary first baseman, Rowdy Tellez, has been on the IL and was slumping hard before he landed there.

His main replacement has been Owen Miller, who started the season hot but has since cooled off. Victor Caratini and Abraham Toro have also recently gotten starts at the position but Santana would be a bigger offensive threat than any of those three.

Santana has also played some designated hitter in recent years, which could be another great option for the Crew to deploy him at. Brewers designated hitters have the worst production in the league at that position by far. So when Tellez returns, both can see time in the lineup moving forward.

Severino, the prospect that the Brewers will lose in the trade, was one of the team's big international signings from two winters ago. He was the No.21 ranked international prospect during that signing period, but comes from a position of depth for the Milwaukee organization and hadn't yet made his way to affiliated ball.

The Brewers still have plenty to address before the trade deadline if they want to start fielding a more respectable offense for their final playoff push, but this is a good first domino to have fall.