beckdawg
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I look at the trade like this. MIL was always going to do something with the prospects in this deal. IMO, Brinson alone could very well be a 3-4 win player and he's literally ready now. So, I sort of feel like while not a total wash, the difference between him and Yelich isn't worth the other 3 players in the deal albeit you know what Yelich is and Brinson is a hope that he's good.
But aside from that I question how much better the Brewers are. Their best hitter last year was Travis Shaw. He was worth 3.4 fWAR. That said, he only was a 119 wRC+. I would exactly call him a player you build your franchise around though he's a good supporting cast type. Santana was their #2 hitter at 3.3 fWAR but presumably is getting traded now. Thames was #3 and is 31 and was only a league average 2.1 starter type. Manny Pina is a pretty good young catcher but he is more defense with a lack of bat at 94 wRC+. Ryan Braun is 34 and only was worth 1.5 wins last year. Orlando Arcia is probably who you'd argue is their "franchise" guy but even in the minors he's never really been a monster hitter. His best wRC+ above rookie ball was 126 in 2015 at AA. Decent for a SS but it's not like he's Correra out there.
Overall though from the batting perspective they don't have anyone who jumps out really. And in terms of prospects, Corey Ray(A+ CF) and Keston Hiura(A 2B) are ok but not game changers. They have a lot of interesting young pitching albeit the upside of a top end guy is missing.
To get to the point, I feel like they are a team that is probably an 80-85 win type and lack the player to get over the hump and go into the real contender types. So, unless yelich takes another step forward and becomes that guy I'm not sure this move really moves the needle for me. They were always going to be strong in the OF with the prospects they had. They just traded future for now. So, they probably got better but I'm not sure they did enough to get past the cubs for the foreseeable future. I mean the cubs beat them last year playing like shit for half a season. Not sure the 2-3 extra wins Yelich may provide changes that.
But aside from that I question how much better the Brewers are. Their best hitter last year was Travis Shaw. He was worth 3.4 fWAR. That said, he only was a 119 wRC+. I would exactly call him a player you build your franchise around though he's a good supporting cast type. Santana was their #2 hitter at 3.3 fWAR but presumably is getting traded now. Thames was #3 and is 31 and was only a league average 2.1 starter type. Manny Pina is a pretty good young catcher but he is more defense with a lack of bat at 94 wRC+. Ryan Braun is 34 and only was worth 1.5 wins last year. Orlando Arcia is probably who you'd argue is their "franchise" guy but even in the minors he's never really been a monster hitter. His best wRC+ above rookie ball was 126 in 2015 at AA. Decent for a SS but it's not like he's Correra out there.
Overall though from the batting perspective they don't have anyone who jumps out really. And in terms of prospects, Corey Ray(A+ CF) and Keston Hiura(A 2B) are ok but not game changers. They have a lot of interesting young pitching albeit the upside of a top end guy is missing.
To get to the point, I feel like they are a team that is probably an 80-85 win type and lack the player to get over the hump and go into the real contender types. So, unless yelich takes another step forward and becomes that guy I'm not sure this move really moves the needle for me. They were always going to be strong in the OF with the prospects they had. They just traded future for now. So, they probably got better but I'm not sure they did enough to get past the cubs for the foreseeable future. I mean the cubs beat them last year playing like shit for half a season. Not sure the 2-3 extra wins Yelich may provide changes that.