The Milwaukee Brewers are in the thick of the playoff race, will recent trades be enough?
At 76-60, the Milwaukee Brewers have a chance at the NL Central and hold the second Wild Card spot. In recent days, the club has fired off move after move, but will that be enough? The Brew Crew have acquired pieces to augment their playoff club and shore up holes. Those names include lefty Gio Gonzalez, Curtis Granderson, and southpaw reliever Xavier Cedeno.
The Brewers have a tough hill to climb to overcome the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in the division, so the WC is the most realistic postseason reality. The club is only a half game out of the first WC spot, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are 2.5 back of the second. Milwaukee is a team that could get hot in a hurry because of their offense, as to their 7-3 record in the last 10 games.
This club’s rotation needed an upgrade at the July 31st trade deadline, which didn’t happen. Instead, the Brewers have traded for a starting pitcher a month later in Gio Gonzalez. It’s puzzling that they didn’t trade for righty Kevin Gausman before he went to Atlanta, considering the team didn’t give up much for him.
Since the beginning of the season, the Brewers’ pitching has improved to with a 3.94 ERA. They’ve had two big blows in the rotation with young right-handers Jimmy Nelson and Brent Suter out for the rest of the season. With that, the depth has been thinned and Milwaukee needed an arm or two.
Gonzalez has had one of the worst year’s of his career, sporting a 4.57 ERA in 145.2 innings. He has one of the lowest K/9 rates of his MLB tenure as well with a 7.78. Maybe he’ll have a turnaround with a new team, although he’s in a hitter’s ballpark half the time. With that said, this could turn out to be a shrewd move for a club that was in need of a starter. His velocity isn’t what it once was, but he knows how to pitch in the playoff and has a nasty curveball.
The Milwaukee Brewers shored up their bench when they acquired outfield bat Curtis Granderson yesterday. At 37, the Grandy man is still a decent power source, hitting 11 homers with 35 RBI in 349 plate appearances. The Brewers gave up a legit prospect in Demi Orimoloye, so Granderson should get regular starts against lefties. A platoon with Ryan Braun in left/right field isn’t out of the question.
Last but not least, bullpen option Xavier Cedeno. He will be a nice change from the heavily right-handed mix the Brewers have already. The southpaw has been consistently reliable throughout his career and this year is no different with a 2.84 ERA in 25.1 innings. He won’t gas you with the fastball, as he can barely hit 92 MPH. But, Cedeno comes at you with several off speed pitches to keep hitters off balance.
Overall, the Milwaukee Brewers have what it takes to go deep into the postseason if they’re offense plays to their potential. If the front office thought it could win more with the pitching side of things, they probably would’ve traded for Chris Archer or Noah Syndergaard. Instead, they traded for Mike Moustakas and Jonathan Schoop. I will give the club credit for trying to upgrade and provide depth at they’re weaknesses at the end of August.