The Milwaukee Brewers traded All-Star shortstop JJ Hardy to the Minnesota Twins all the way back in 2009 for future All-Star center fielder Carlos Gomez. Fast forward to 2022, and Hardy was on the Hall of Fame ballot, Gomez has retired as a Brewer and was added to the Wall of Honor, and the trade helped Milwaukee acquire another All-Star. On Monday afternoon, the Brewers announced that they had acquired All-Star catcher William Contreras and two pitchers for Esteuery Ruiz. Ruiz, Brewers fans may recall, was originally acquired by the Brewers in the infamous Josh Hader trade. Now, Josh Hader was originally acquired in… well, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. This is one interesting road.
Trading JJ Hardy
JJ Hardy was part of a group of exciting homegrown talent that the Milwaukee Brewers brought up almost at once. Hardy was one of the first, debuting with the Brewers in 2005. Along with Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun, and Prince Fielder, he helped bring an excitement about baseball to Milwaukee that the city had not seen in decades. Hardy was a fine player, too. During his time with the Brewers, he hit .262/.323/.428 with 75 home runs and 265 RBI.
However, 2009 was the final year that former Gold Glove center fielder Mike Cameron spent with Milwaukee. With his departure via free agency, the Brewers had a massive hole to fill in center field and no great options for his replacement. They did, however, have young Alcides Escobar waiting in the wings at shortstop. The decision was made, therefore, to trade the popular Hardy to Minnesota for centerfielder Carlos Gomez.
The Carlos Gomez Trade
Like JJ Hardy, Carlos Gomez spent a full five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was, however, traded midseason in his sixth season as opposed to during the offseason. During his time with the Brewers, Gomez hit .267/.325/.452 with 87 home runs, 288 RBI, and 152 stolen bases. He was an All-Star in 2013 and 2014 and won a Gold Glove in 2013.
As his years of team control came to an end, though, the Brewers made the decision to trade Gomez for something while they could still get it. Therefore, David Stearns made the decision to trade Gomez and pitcher Mike Fiers to the Houston Astros for Josh Hader, Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, and Adrian Houser.
Josh Hader Dealt Mid-Season
Of those players that the Brewers received for Gomez and Fiers, Josh Hader is by far the best. In five and a half seasons with the Brewers, Hader notched 125 saves and made four National League All-Star teams. He is, arguably, the greatest closer in team history. However, that greatness made him expensive and the Brewers are not known for spending big money.
Therefore, just as with Gomez, the Brewers made the decision to trade all-world closer Josh Hader while they could still get some value for him. So, with a year and a half of club control left, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for Taylor Rogers, Robert Gasser, Dinelson Lamet, and Esteury Ruiz. The trade was, of course, met with a flurry of negative reactions from both fans and Brewers players.
The Esteury Ruiz Trade
And that, Brewers fans, brings us to the here and now. Esteury Ruiz did not record a hit in eight at bats with the Brewers in 2022 and spent most of his time down in Triple-A Nashville. Also down in Triple-A were prospects Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, and Joey Wiemer. Further down the pipeline is Jackson Chourio, who some consider to be a top-two prospect in all of baseball. In other words, there is no room for him in Milwaukee.
What Milwaukee does (well… did) need was a catcher. Omar Narvaez woefully underperformed in 2022 and became a free agent when the season ended. The only other catchers on the team’s roster were Mario Feliciano, Victor Caratini, and Payton Henry. An upgrade was seriously needed.
Current Brewers general manager Matt Arnold took advantage of the trade market and was able to pry away All-Star catcher William Contreras from the Atlanta Braves. The thing is, Ruiz isn’t even going to the Braves. He is going to the Oakland A’s along with several other prospects (and former Brewers catcher Manny Pina) for Sean Murphy.
So there you have it, Brewers fans. We got our catcher, all thanks to JJ Hardy. Well, sort of.
Note
Twitter use @YelichWasRobbed posted a very intriguing tree of the players that have come to Milwaukee as a result of the JJ Hardy trade. There are some really memorable names on that list!
Updated JJ Hardy Trade Tree: pic.twitter.com/4pX6hFnSeK
— Jack (@YelichWasRobbed) December 12, 2022
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