Overbay Traded to Toronto!
To Trade or Not To Trade
Will the Brewers be dealing at the deadline?
Eric Sacharski
Ahh ... the All-Star break.
The annual mid-summer classic gives baseball fans everywhere the perfect moment to reflect upon their favorite team's first half. In our case, the Brewers somewhat disappointing 42-46 record after the first 88 games.
The optimist in me really wants to believe the Brewers could make a run at above .500 baseball the rest of the way, and maybe climb within a few games of the NL Central lead. After all, Geoff Jenkins and Damian Miller are finally starting to hit, a little. With Ben Sheets healthy, the pitching staff is strong thanks in part to solid performances from Chris Capuano and Victor Santos, why can't the Brewers make a run at it?
But then reality makes you realize that the Brewers first 8 games after the All-Star break are against Washington and St. Louis. Plus, they're already over a dozen games out of first.
There's no doubt that Brewers GM Doug Melvin has already pondered these thoughts, so this whole scenario brings us to the ultimate second-half question: are the Brewers going to be active before the trading deadline at the end of July?
By active I mean, sellers, because the Brewers don't appear to be a one-player-away type of ballclub. One guy, be it a player or pitcher, won't make the Brewers a pennent contender so it may be in our best interest to trade away some depth. With players like Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Nelson Cruz all close enough to bring to the big leagues, the Brewers are in a great position to wheel-n-deal.
The best candidates to move are Bill Hall and Lyle Overbay.
Hall was never really in the Brewers plans anyway, so his suprisingly strong first-half could be parleyed into a dealine trade. He's an attrictive player for a team looking to add another bat, he plays multiple positions, has great speed for late-game pinch running duties...it just becomes a matter of what you can get in return.
Overbay is also great trade bait, but it's not really a secret to the other GM's in the league that Prince Fielder is ready to play firstbase, so getting equal value becomes a problem. Plus, Overbay is pretty much only a firstbaseman. Name me a contender that needs to trade for a firstbaseman? Maybe the Mets, Padres or Boston, but the rest of the potential suitors (Cards, Cubs, Nationals, Orioles, Rangers, Angels, etc.) are already well stocked at the position.
In a perfect world, Melvin would find someone willing to take Geoff Jenkins off our hands (and payroll). We could then bring up Hart or Cruz and take our chances, at about 7.5 million less per year I might add.
And the bullpen will probably remain untouched at the deadline. Ricky Bottallico was a candidate to move to a contender, but his rough last two weeks may have scared away the advanced scouts. The rest of the pen is cheap and worth keeping.
I don't know about you, but I have complete trust in Doug Melvin to make the right decision. He's been pretty darn good so far, so he's earned that right. I'd love to see Overbay moved on to someone, but he's worth a major-league player. Don't trade him for too little in return. Something Melvin seems to understand already.