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: Yandy Diaz

The Milwaukee Brewers are obviously in search of starting pitching, but having already acquired one from the Tampa Bay Rays, they're not likely to try to double dip on the same team and can look to fill that void elsewhere. That said, the first of two position players the Brewers could look to score from the Rays is Yandy Diaz.

Why would the Brewers be interested in Yandy Diaz?

Yandy Diaz could give the Brewers another trusted bat in their lineup, Diaz is slashing .272/.328/.394/.722. His .272 batting average would be fourth for the Brewers and his .328 on base percentage leaves a little to be desired but would still be eighth on the team.

Diaz has played primarily first base for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2024 but has nearly 300 games played at third base in his career as well and could always be used at DH should Gary Sanchez not perform to expectations after returning from injury.

Looking at some of Yandy Diaz's advanced stats, there is definitely reason to believe that he could improve on his numbers should he be brought to Milwaukee. Diaz has a .283 expected batting average, ranks in the 92nd percentile for average exit velocity and 90th percentile for hard hit percentage. Diaz can smack the ball around thanks to his 95th percentile rank in squared up contact and demonstrated by his maximum exit velocity of 117.4 miles per hour! That 117.4 mile per hour ground rule double was the hardest hit of his career.

Diaz also has good plate discipline, ranking in the 81st percentile for chase percentage, 89th percentile for strikeout percentage and 98th percentile for strikeout percentage. Diaz currently is "chasing" a career high 23.1 percent of pitches outside the zone, 3.1 percent above his career average but still 5.7 percent the Major League Baseball average. However, that's not all bad because Diaz is also making a career high 81.5 percent contact on pitches he chases (the MLB average is 57.0).

Yandy Diaz is 32 years old, making $8 million this season and is under contract for $10 million in 2025 and carries a team option for $12 million in 2026 so the money may not be ideal for the Brewers.