Yesterday afternoon, I talked about the potential trade destinations for Kansas City Royals’ ace Zack Greinke. One of the teams that I thought could be a possibility for Greinke were the Milwaukee Brewers.
My logic for putting the Brewers on the list of potential trade destinations was because I felt the Brewers are a win-now team, and putting Greinke in a rotation with Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, and Randy Wolf would give the Brewers a rotation that could compete with anyone in the National League. I guess Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin felt the same way.
Less than 48 hours after asking to be traded from the Royals, Greinke was traded to the Brewers for four players. The Royals will receive OF Lorenzo Cain, SS Alcides Escobar, and pitchers Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi. The Brewers will also receive the ever-so-popular Player To Be Named Later and $2 million in cash from the Royals. The PTBNL has been rumored to be SS Yuniesky Betancourt, but there is no confirmation on that.
With this trade, please welcome the Brewers to the 2011 National League pennant race.
Now the Brewers are on the map again. Now the Brewers, in my opinion, are right there with the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central.
In this offseason, the Brewers went from having a rotation that featured the very average Randy Wolf as their number two starter, to having a guy in Greinke, who won the AL Cy Young just a year ago. Marcum becomes their number three starter, and Wolf moves down to the number four.
In the National League, that is one rock solid rotation.
With the additions of Marcum and Greinke and with their offense, the Brewers are legit contenders in the National League. Many people overlook the fact that the Brewers scored the fourth-most runs in the NL last season. With Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, and Corey Hart, the offense is still there.
I still think the Brewers need one more horse in that bullpen. I am not sold on John Axford at the end of games and I think they could use another guy to help him out late in games.
Now for the Royals side to this deal.
The Royals will be by far and away the worst team in baseball in 2011. I am going to venture to say they will be hard-pressed to win 50 games.
But sometimes in life, you have to reach rock bottom before you can reach the top, and the Royals will reach rock bottom in 2011. I believe the Royals are smart for deploying this strategy.
The Royals aren’t going to win this year and they aren’t going to win next year either. So why not try to get a top-five pick in the draft instead of halfheartedly trying to finish .500 and get the 15th pick in the draft?
The Royals made this trade with 2013 in mind. That is their year. Their farm system is absolutely stacked, and that’s when we will find out if all this building the Royals have done has paid off.
The players the Royals got are a combination of prospects that can help them this year and in the future. Here is a look at the four players the Royals received from the Brewers:
Lorenzo Cain: Cain sounds more like a linebacker from a football movie like “The Program” than a Major League center fielder. But the Royals’ organization is in need of a guy who can player center and Cain will get his shot in Kansas City.
Cain hit .308/.346/.415 with one HR and seven SBs in 158 plate appearances with the big club last season. Cain will be 25 when the season starts next year and throughout his minor league career, he has shown great discipline, as his .366 career minor league OBP indicates.
Alcides Escobar: Escobar was once a super prospect, but had a down rookie year and now everyone is down on him. Funny how that works.
Escobar hit just .235/.288/.326 with four HRs, 10 triples, and 10 SBs in 552 PAs in 2010. He struggled offensively last season, and in turn it affected his defense.
Escobar has never been a big power guy, but I can certainly see him rounding into a guy who hits .280 with 10 triples, 40 steals, and plays a solid short every year. For the Royal fans out there wondering how the acquisition of Escobar affects first round pick Christian Colon? It doesn’t. Colon will be most likely moved to second or third in the future.
Jake Odorizzi: Since I don’t know much about Odorizzi, I am going to let the great Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus handle this one. Here is his scouting report of Odorizzi:
“
Odorizzi has few weaknesses. He’s highly athletic with silky-smooth mechanics, and he pounds the strike zone with a low-90s fastball that consistently touches 94-95 when he rears back for something extra. He’s refined his power breaking ball into a true swing-and-miss offering, and with the combination of above-average command and two plus pitches, he had more strikeouts than innings in 15 of 23 outings.
Odorizzi’s changeup continues to improve, but it still lags behind the rest of his arsenal. He doesn’t have the size or projection of an elite-level starter, and some believe he has already maxed out physically.
Odorizzi has the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the Brewers system, and could turn into a borderline second starter if everything works out.”
Jeremy Jefress: Jefress is the real wild card in this deal. Jeffress has been suspended twice for marijuana usage and is a couple of years behind his overall development.
He did have a cup of coffee with the Brewers last season and struck out eight in 10 innings of work. He did, however, walk six in those 10 innings. Jeffress, when right, can reach up to the high-90s on his fastball and has just an okay curve.
If Jeffress has his head on straight, he is a guy that really can help the Royals in the future either as a starter or a reliever. I say he becomes a reliever, and Joakim Soria’s replacement in KC.
The Royals have a farm system that is absolutely stacked. Now it’s time for that talent to develop and progress at the Major League level. This trade will only help the Royals get to where they want to be in 2013 and ’14.
As for the Brewers—game on!!!
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