The Milwaukee Brewers, both under the leadership of David Stearns and Matt Arnold, have been aggressive in the trade department. Some deals end up working well while others do not. Here we take a look at an example of both.
Which two former Milwaukee Brewers trades are we taking a look at?
The first trade we are going to look at occurred back in March of 2022. This was a David Stearns deal that sent David Fry to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for J.C. Mejia. Secondly we will look at a Matt Arnold trade from this past off-season when he parted ways with Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser.
A former Milwaukee Brewers trade with the Cleveland Guardians is not working out in the Brew Crews favor.
Since Milwaukee acquired J.C. Mejia he has had two separate suspensions from Major League Baseball due to violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by testing positive for a drug called Stanozolol. His first suspension was 82 games long and his second a full season. Overall he has thrown just 13.2 innings for the Brewers with a 8.56 ERA and is no longer with the team.
On the other hand David Fry is showing great flashes with the Cleveland Guardians. While not an excellent defender he is versatile and has appearances at catcher, corner infield, and both corner outfield positions in 2024. At the plate this year he currently has a 1.076 OPS across 109 plate appearances. In 2023 he had a .735 OPS over 58 games played.
One former Milwaukee Brewers trade with the New York Mets that early on is working out in their favor.
Prior to the start of the 2024 season the Brewers traded away Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor in exchange for minor league player Coleman Crow. Both Houser and Taylor are out of minor league options and are struggling early on with the Mets. Houser has a 7.78 ERA across nine games (seven starts) and Taylor has not consistently produced as he has a -0.1 fWAR and 84 wRC+.
In regard to Crow the pitcher did undergo Tommy John surgery in 2023. Milwaukee traded for him knowing that pitching in 2024 is not a guarantee, but they liked his upside. Even with Crow having not thrown a pitch in the Brewers organization the combination of Houser and Taylor’s lack luster performances and the $7.00 million that Milwaukee saved in this deal gives them the upper hand early on.
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