The Brewers have told other teams that they’re open to hearing offers for anyone on their roster, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports in his latest Insider-only column. As Olney notes, this could make Jonathan Lucroy a potential trade candidate this winter, though obviously, “only in the right deal.” Lucroy’s name was mentioned in several trade rumors last summer since Milwaukee fell out of the pennant race so soon, though the Crew reportedly had no interest in dealing the catcher. New GM David Stearns could have a different perspective, however. In his recent Brewers Offseason Outlook piece, MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth speculated about a possibly Lucroy trade, and also suggested that the club might wait for a midseason deal to allow Lucroy to rebuild some value after an injury-plagued and subpar 2015 campaign.
Here’s some more from the NL Central…
- Also from Olney’s post, he reports that the Pirates are in “informal discussions” with Ben Cherington about a possible front office job. Since stepping down as Boston’s general manager last summer, Cherington reportedly declined opportunities to interview for both the Mariners and Phillies GM jobs out of a desire to take some time away from the game. It’s fair to speculate that a position working under his friend Neal Huntington could be more attractive to Cherington than a return to the full-time grind of a GM position.
- Could the Cubs shop Kyle Schwarber this offseason? Grantland’s Ben Lindbergh explores the possibility, noting that the defensively-challenged Schwarber would be a good fit as an American League DH. The Rays and Indians are two clubs with a hole at DH and the young arms to offer the Cubs, who are openly looking to add pitching. While scouts are mixed at best about Schwarber’s ability to play catcher or left field over the long term, a trade may be unlikely given Schwarber’s already-impressive hitting potential. “He’s not attainable now,” one AL scout tells Lindbergh. “He still has a chance to hit .285 with 40 bombs. They’d be insane to trade that.” I tend to agree with the AL scout; Chicago would need a massive return to even consider moving Schwarber’s bat.
- Jason McLeod, Cubs senior VP of player development and amateur scouting, spoke to Fangraphs’ David Laurila about a couple of Cardinals players who were well-liked by the Cubs and Red Sox when McLeod was running the drafts for those clubs in 2012 and 2008, respectively. “A lot of the teams that passed up on Michael Wacha, us included, probably kicked themselves,” McLeod said. St. Louis took Wacha with the 19th overall pick of the first round, while the Cubs (picking sixth) instead chose Albert Almora, who is a well-regarded 21-year-old prospect but has yet to play beyond the Double-A level. For Boston in 2008, Lance Lynn was “a guy we liked quite a bit; he was high up on our board.” The Sox instead took Casey Kelly with the 30th overall pick, leaving Lynn to be drafted by the Cards 39th overall.
- Also from Laurila’s piece, he cites the Reds’ trade of Mat Latos to the Marlins for Anthony DeSclafani (and minor league Chad Wallach) as perhaps “the best under-the-radar trade of last offseason.” DeSclafani posted a 4.05 ERA, 2.75 K/BB rate and 7.4 K/9 over 184 2/3 innings in his rookie season, and looks to have solidly earned himself a spot in Cincinnati rotation.
You could almost say Schwarber for Sonny Gray straight up makes sense for both teams. A’s could afford to try him as a C for a year before they contend again, or even jump into the FA market and grab a bargain or two and contend without Gray.
No
A’s don’t do that. I’m not entirely sure Schwarber is worth as much as people think. There’s an element of him being the most interesting, exciting piece on a really exciting team that’s going on, but the truth may be somewhat less. Besides the defensive issue, he struck out nearly a third of his PA’s this year and, most alarmingly, OPS’ed under 500 against lefties. Small sample, and he didn’t have those issues in the minors, but still, until he proves otherwise there’s a chance he ends up as a DH platoon guy. I wouldn’t trade one of the best values in ML pitching for him.
Real question: what do you think Gray is worth in a trade? I think Gray+CJ Edwards probably gets done. Was curious to see how light it was.
I don’t think it would, might take Almora too, but I’d still do that.
There are several experts who believe that Schwarber will end up being a better pure hitter than Kris Bryant.
Also, his strikeout rate was closer to 1 in 4 than 1 in 3, which is pretty good for a pure power hitter.
Schwarber being this advanced while only having been facing professional pitching for a little over a year is downright amazing. He is either going to be a once in a generation hitter or once pitchers have adjusted to him he could become another all or nothing hitter. Next year will be when we find out. Regardless, as good as Gray I wouldn’t make that trade. Schwarber currently is the type of bat that can affect any game he is in. Gray as good as he is can only help every 5th day. It is a pretty fair trade value wise but I prefer the young middle of the order power bat over the elite starter. I won’t knock anyone that views it the opposite way though.
So far the over 75% of balls he hit for Homers have been on the Fastball, Next season he Schwarber won’t see 20% fastball, Pitchers adjust and so will he if he going stay in Majors.
As a Cubs fan, I say NO, on trading Schwarber. They’ve got others they can trade to get a valuable starting pitcher. Plus they also have resources to go out and another top line starter. Put him behind the plate, and trade Montero as a throw in on a trade.
I could play a passable catch. Ohh you mean he could play catcher long term. Sorry, the bad grammar caught me again.
I honestly don’t see the poor grammar in that sentence. It says “… to play a passable left field or catch…”. It is referring to the part of the diamond he would be able to play adequately and not necessarily the position itself. The grammar is definitely accurate. Instead it could say “… to play as a passable left fielder or catcher…”, but both are accurate ways to describe the same thing. You really need to stop worrying about this stuff, especially when the grammar isn’t even bad.
Let’s make both Chicago teams better. Schwarber & Baez to White Sox for Sale and Robertson. With Quintana, Rodon, Fulmer coming up , Sox could do this ad try Schwarber behind the plate, If it doesn’t work out, then he could DH.
Cubs fan? Sale on his contract is worth more.
Sale has a ton more value than Schwarber right now, and Baez might be able to land Robertson. It doesn’t make sense for the White Sox at all. Perhaps for Quintana. Maybe.
Cherington wasn’t fired. He resigned when Dombrowski was hired as the new president.
Cherington was fired as the GM and offered a position at a lower level. He resigned rather than accept a demotion. You’re both right.
No, he was offered to stay as GM when Dombrowski was hired as Head of Baseball Operations and instead, he resigned. His salary would’ve likely had stayed the same. His job would’ve been the same, but he would have less power because of Dombrowski’s role.
Schearber is DH in waiting, Question is How many games win Cubs Lose because of inept Defensive play before they trade him. Trade wait his Value is High !