Brewer's trade another dude

[Little Slide Rooter]

Athletics Acquire Khris Davis, Designate Sean Nolin

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/athletics-acquire-khris-davis-designate-sean-nolin.html

 

I don't get why they're not aggressively shopping Braun. Warts and all, he put together a 3.8 WAR last year, and it was all with the bat (0.8dWAR). And at 32, he should be able to put together another 3-4 more like it, especially if primarily DHing where he can avoid those nagging injuries.

 

If the Brewers are willing to eat most of his contract, I could see the Blue Jays, Orioles, Mariners, Angels, Tigers, and Red Sox (assuming Papi plans on hanging it up after the season,) offering up substantial prospect packages. And if not picking up much salary, there's the A's, Astros, and Rays.

[SouthSideRyan]

Athletics Acquire Khris Davis, Designate Sean Nolin

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/athletics-acquire-khris-davis-designate-sean-nolin.html

 

I don't get why they're not aggressively shopping Braun. Warts and all, he put together a 3.8 WAR last year, and it was all with the bat (0.8dWAR). And at 32, he should be able to put together another 3-4 more like it, especially if primarily DHing where he can avoid those nagging injuries.

 

If the Brewers are willing to eat most of his contract, I could see the Blue Jays, Orioles, Mariners, Angels, Tigers, and Red Sox (assuming Papi plans on hanging it up after the season,) offering up substantial prospect packages. And if not picking up much salary, there's the A's, Astros, and Rays.

 

Umm, think you have the teams reversed there.

[toonsterwu]

I thought this was a quietly fascinating trade. Davis isn't great, but he hits for power, is cost-controlled. Sort of reminds me of a slightly better version of Rob Deer. There's value there, particularly for small market teams searching for power. Nottingham could end up being better, but he's further away, and he's not guaranteed to stick at catcher. Hell, he could turn out to be Khris Davis in a few years. Derby's a lottery ticket far away. A bit surprised they designated Nolin.

 

Feels like Forst and Co. searching for value that they thought was reasonable, even if they are rebuilding a bit. Feels like Stearns thought he was selling high on a guy and getting a prospect he knows. Bolsters the Brewers already solid system, and potentially gives them a long term replacement for Lucroy.

 

As for Braun, at his age, with his history, and with that contract (5 years and a team option for the 6th), I don't see many teams even considering it unless the Brewers swallowed almost all of it or they took a bad contract back. There simply aren't that many teams that seem likely to go down that route. About the only thing I could even remotely see is some sort of Hanley Ramirez/Ryan Braun swap, but I doubt the Brewers would want that.

 

I guess, if a team is close and really desperate for an offensive addition, it's possible they could consider it a bit more, but it would seem to need to be another year or two further down. Just so much money for an aging guy.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Does Nolin have an option left? I'd throw something to the A's to have him in reserve in Iowa and add a little more youth to the SP depth.

[toonsterwu]

I thought I read that he had options left, but I could be off.

 

I'd like to add him as depth, but wouldn't surprise me if they managed to get him through waivers. This feels like a calculated gamble on their part, with rosters filled, to sneak a guy through. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine why they would move on from Nolin so soon. He was never as good as some of the hype he got in the Blue Jays system, but he's a usable depth arm who might profile better in the pen than your run of the mill, end of the rotation guy. To be fair, I don't think he's substantially better than say, your Eric Jokisch's of the world, but adding young lefty depth is never a bad thing.

 

If the Cubs tossed something reasonable to them, I'd be fine with it. If they decided against it, okay.