Do the Tampa Bay Rays hold the missing piece for the Milwaukee Brewers?

The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays have had a lot of similarities in recent memory and have also worked out several deals to send players back and forth.

The Brewers and Rays have already made one trade in 2024 when the Brewers acquired Aaron Civale for High-A infielder Gregory Barrios.

The Tampa Bay Rays were exactly at the .500 mark at the day of the Civale trade on July 3rd and as of July 26th are one game over .500 and seem to be waiving the white flag. The Rays currently sit fourth in the competitive AL East and 9th in the American League playoff picture. Also indicating their surrender, the Rays traded star outfielder Randy Arozarena to the team one spot above them in the standings, the Seattle Mariners.

If the Rays are truly open for business, who could the Brewers look to grab from their frequent trade partners?

Milwaukee Brewers trade targets on the Tampa Bay Rays: Garrett Cleavinger

Garrett Cleavinger is one of the Tampa Bay Rays best left-handed relief pitchers. While the Milwaukee Brewers aren't in desperate need of relievers, having reliable bullpen depth given the injuries that have befallen the Brewers pitching staff, both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen. Most recently the Brewers had to place Rob Zastryzny on the 15 day injured list and bring Janson Junk back into the fold.

Garrett Cleavinger would certainly be an upgrade from Janson Junk and other bullpen fill-in pitchers we've seen this season. Cleavinger has a 3.35 ERA in 45 appearances covering 40.1 innings pitched. He also has a solid 117 ERA+.

Although his WHIP is a little high at 1.314 but his career WHIP is 1.277 so it could come down a bit, and that's even before the Brewers pitching lab gets a hold of him.

Looking at Cleavinger's advanced stats his 95.9 mile per hour average fastball velocity puts him in the 81st percentile in Major League Baseball. He's in the 90th percentile for average exit velocity and 86th percentile for hard hit percentage, meaning he generates a lot of soft contact. Cleavinger also ranks in the 85th percentile for chase percentage, 88th percentile for whiff percentage and 88th percentile for strikeout percentage.

Garrett Cleavinger may sound a little too good to be true or like a player that would cost a lot to acquire but it's not all pros with Cleavinger, there are some cons. Firstly, he just turned 30 and is in the latter stages of his prime years, as a late developer into a contributor to a major league roster, he will be arbitration eligible starting in 2025, so any good performance he has in 2024 is going to drive up his price for next season.

As for on the field cons, Cleavinger is in just the 10th percentile when it comes to walk percentage, meaning he walks a higher percentage of players than 90 percent of qualifying Major League Baseball pitchers. Cleavinger also ranks in the bottom half of barrel percentage and does not generate great extension, basically the opposite of Bryan Hudson in that regard.

Cleavinger has a five pitch arsenal and outside of his sinker (his least used pitch) all of his pitches have a .257 or lower opponent batting average. His best pitch is his aforementioned fastball which sits around 96 mph and carries a .115 opponent batting average. Contrast that with his very above average breaking sweeper which averages around 81 mph and Cleavinger's strikeout numbers become quite easy to make sense of.

Milwaukee Brewers trade targets on the Tampa Bay Rays: Isaac Paredes

Garrett Cleavinger and Yandy Diaz from the Tampa Bay Rays could be helpful acquisitions for the Milwaukee Brewers but Isaac Paredes might truly be the missing piece for the Brewers. Isaac Parades does so many things that the Brewers need that could take them from "team exceeding expectations as playoff contenders" to "true World Series contenders".

Isaac Paredes would instantly help the Brewers in one of their weakest spots, the backup 3rd base position. No offense to Andruw Monasterio, whose smile is infectious and has had his moments, but he is a true backup, not a guy who could challenge Joey Ortiz's lockdown of the hot corner. Isaac Paredes is a player who could challenge Ortiz for the starting 3rd base job

Isaac Paredes has played mostly third base in 2024 and his career but has played a solid 69 games at first base in his career as well. Should confidence in Rhys Hoskins continue to lower and in the absence of Christian Yelich cause Jake Bauers to play some outfield, Paredes can cover.

Paredes is batting .249/.356/.441/.797 and would bring some much needed power to the Brewers lineup. The Brewers currently rank 23rd in team home runs. Paredes' 16 would tie him for the team lead with Willy Adames and Rhys Hoskins.

Paredes, despite a somewhat low batting average, is a good contact hitter, ranking in the 89th percentile for whiff percentage, 81st percentile for strikeout percentage and 90th percentile for walk percentage. His batting average may be lower than that of Yandy Diaz but he does get on base more.

Isaac Parades does bring a great bat but isn't the best fielder, he's not bad but he's just slightly above average, so acquiring him wouldn't faze Joey Ortiz out. Also, Paredes will be entering arbitration again in 2025 so he does have team control for three years but will be due for a solid raise from the $3.4 million he's making this year. That said, Paredes could be a perfect option for the Brewers not only in 2024 but beyond.

Recently Matt Arnold said "I think it's highly unlikely that we'd move Willy at the deadline." So Willy Adames not surprisingly is going to finish the season with the Brewers, whether he remains a Brewer in 2025 is far less certain. Should Adames be lured away by a big market team that can shell out more money than the Brewers can, the Brewers by acquiring Isaac Paredes would be in a great position to recover from that loss, at least on the field.

By adding Paredes, in 2025 they could set him up as the starting third baseman and then kick Joey Ortiz inside to the starting shortstop position. While the clubhouse and Brewers fanbase would be terribly sad to lose Willy Adames' fun loving attitude, the on field situation would be in a really good place to recover by having Paredes to take over his role in the lineup and Ortiz in the field.

So Isaac Paredes could be the Milwaukee Brewers missing piece for 2024 and could be a factor in their long term success as well.