MLB trade grades: Brewers keep Frankie Montas in the NL Central with Reds trade

The Cincinnati Reds have been on the fence all season long with what they would do at the trade deadline. On one hand, the Reds have the young talent that it takes to compete with anybody. Elly De La Cruz is a star and their three-headed monster of Nick Lodolo, Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott can compete with any trio in the league. But they have also looked out of sorts at times. Even uncompetitive at times.

It looks as though the Reds are going to be more of sellers than buyers as they have agreed to a deal that would send their starting pitcher, Frankie Montas, to their division rival Milwaukee Brewers.

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MLB trade grades: Brewers upgrade their rotation with NL Central rival starter

Here's the full deal that sends Montas to the Brewers:

Montas, 31, has a mutual option in 2025 that isn't likely to be picked up, which leaves him as more of a rental option. The right hander holds a 4-8 record with a 5.01 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and a 4.91 FIP in 93.1 innings. He's struck out 78 hitters and walked 41. His fastball has been lively, up into the high nineties, but it's gotten hit hard. He's certainly a project for the Brewers to turn back around.

Wiemer, 25, has a career slash line of .201/.277/.349 across 151 MLB games. He has an issue with strikeouts, but he has legit power when he can put the bat to ball. His 2024 season has been quite disastrous though. It's too early to give up on him, but the outlook on him is quite bleak at the moment. Cincinnati has him under team control for the next half decade, so they will get their chance to try to get him to his sky high potential.

Junis, 31, has put together quite the solid season this year for Milwaukee. He holds a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings while working mainly out of the bullpen. The veteran righty will work out of the Cincinnati bullpen, maybe receiving a high leverage role is Cincinnati deals from the bullpen options they currently have.

The Reds move a rental pitcher to the Brewers and are able to land a solid reliever and a high potential outfielder that graded out as one of Baseball America’s top prospects in 2023. The Brewers will need to completely turn Montas around if they want to justify this trade to the fan base. If he stays a 5.00 ERA pitcher, it seems as though the Reds just got a steal of a deal from their rivals

Reds trade grade: A-

Brewers trade grade: B-