How the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers Could Be Irresistibly Perfect Trade Partners

[Matthew Trueblood]

Given their proximity, their division rival status, and what happened last November, there might not be any two teams less likely to strike a deal than the Cubs and their northern neighbors. But there might be a trade fit between them too perfect to be ignored.

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett, Brian Flaherty - USA Today Sports

An injury to Christian Yelich has left the division-leading Brewers short a left-handed bat as they head into the trade deadline. The team doesn't want to pour a lot of resources into that breach, because they're in the process of reinforcing their injury-ravaged pitching staff, and that needs to be their primary focus. Still, it's a problem. Leadoff hitter Brice Turang has given Milwaukee a .305 OBP in his last 249 plate appearances, dating to mid-May.

The Cubs, as it happens, have a trade candidate who bats left-handed and gets on base. Mike Tauchman had two hits Saturday night, doubling his total since returning from the injured list a week ago. It's been an ugly stretch in terms of results, but he continues to work counts and make contact. He's only struck out once in 29 plate appearances since coming back from the groin strain that sidelined him in mid-June. On the year, he's batting .247/.344/.356. The dearth of power deeply dents his trade value, but it's not zero, because his on-base skills are so good and he's a fine extra outfielder, to boot.

Meanwhile, the Brewers have a player on their 26-man roster whom they're unlikely to be able to carry for long. They signed Eric Haase to a bargain-basement deal back in December, then effectively relegated him to Triple-A depth status by signing Gary Sánchez in the endgame of the offseason. Haase, 31, has spent over a decade in professional baseball, but more of it has been in the minors than in the majors. Like Tauchman, 33, he's a journeyman and a veteran, but not an impending free agent. In fact, both players are under team control (if any one team wants them for that long) through the 2026 season.

Two of my Cubs Twitter favorites, Cooper Rushing and Brett Taylor, casually mentioned something in the wake of Saturday's trade bringing fireballer Nate Pearson into the organization: it would be nice to make a similar move for a catcher before the trade deadline.

The parallel is superficially imperfect, because Haase is half a decade Pearson's senior, but this is what a Pearson-like catching addition could look like. His success in the big leagues has only been intermittent, but Haase is widely respected for his professionalism and preparation, and he improved dramatically as a framer last season, even as his offense cratered. This year, while waiting for his chance to return to the majors, he posted an .870 OPS at Triple-A Nashville. That's not especially impressive, on its own, but Haase also raked throughout the spring, and he's mashed three home runs among 10 hits in 25 plate appearances for the parent club this month.

Ordinarily, intradivisional rivals--especially those whose fan bases attach extra significance to every encounter with one another--don't transact together, especially with players under control beyond a given season as the pieces. In this case, though, it's hard to imagine either team feeling especially worried about being burned. Neither Tauchman nor Haase is going to alter the future of this rivalry in a meaningful way. What could happen, though? Tauchman, an adept leadoff man, could spark the Milwaukee batting order down the stretch, sliding Turang to the bottom of the lineup, where his bat really belongs. The Crew could make a deep October run, even if it's with Yelich restored to the lineup and Tauchman available mostly as a pinch-hit option.

The Cubs, in the meantime, could get the next version of Yan Gomes: a journeyman backstop with a late-blooming bat and the perfect combination of utility and expendability They might decide to keep him for the next two or three years, or not, but he'd be the perfect post-hype guy to grab and take a chance on, with an eye toward figuring out the 2025 catching corps. Both teams could benefit substantially, without much downside. Each player could end up cut before season's end, but the Cubs are almost sure to trade Tauchman, anyway, and they're not going to get a prospect with any real ceiling. Milwaukee, meanwhile, figures to let Haase go within a few days, too. Had it not been for Yelich's injury, they would have had to designate Haase for assignment when Sánchez returned from the injured list this week.

There might be no better realistic use for either player in their current organization than to be swapped into the other. There might also not be any better way for the front offices to spend their limited time and energy on these two than by swapping them, to keep themselves flexible and focused on bigger moves.

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[Guest234]

Gotta write sumthin' 

[Matthew Trueblood]

2 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Have you gone mad, man?! Haase’s age starts with a 3 *and* he is arb eligible. The man should be tried in the highest courts for thievery, not traded to a proud and storied business like the Cubs. Surely you mean the Phillies and Marchan or Braves with Baldwin and not this tomfoolery. They are young-er, they are cheap, and teams have proper control of their Future. That’s the vast majority of the way to becoming an Inner Circle Contender, and they check tickets so if you’re not its a problem 

Am *I* mad? You think the Phillies are going to trade their still-optionable third catcher, when they just had a prolonged absence for their star starter? 🤣 That team's trying to win a World Series. 

And Yan Gomes's age when he signed with the Cubs was higher than Haase's right now. Didn't stop him from being a valuable and valued member of the catching corps for two years, before he fell apart this year. 🤷‍♂️

[Matthew Trueblood]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

The Cubs didn’t have to trade for Gomes! They picked him up for a $1.50 in free agency! Blake Sabol’s another I’d be more interested in (Edit: MJ Melendez intrigues me some too now that I think abt it) 

Trading Mike Tauchman's age-34 and -35 seasons is the equivalent of paying $1.50 in free agency on a guy. Who cares what the specific vehicle of acquisition is?

I'm a long-time booster of Melendez, but it was as a Brewers target. Only if Counsell successfully pulls some of those catching coaches over to him this fall do I trust that the team will do with a catcher as bad as MJ what needs to be done to make him playable back there. (Really will be interesting to see if he can raid his old coaching staff. I know he wanted to.)

[Matthew Trueblood]

35 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Totally disagree with the point being made by that first line. Paying nothing in FA for Gomes, a player nobody else wants, is not the situation the Cubs are in with Tauchmann

Yeah I think Melendez is very talented and would like to see an org move him back behind the plate. He spent the whole time with a glove first rep and the second he starts hitting they move him, odd 

Mmm. Always nebulous and hard to know for sure, but from the folks I have talked to about Melendez for years, he NEVER had a glove-first reputation. The people who liked him a lot liked him for the upside in the stick, and gave him some bonus points for being more athletic than an average catcher. The real catching skills and competencies only briefly showed up, kind of in the middle of his MiLB journey, and never in MLB. Again, teachable if the player is coachable, but I wouldn't say most teams think of him as someone the Royals have derailed or anything.