Brewers Are Already Trippin Because Of This Premature Success
Today, the Brewers traded for left handed reliever Tyler Webb of the New York Yankees in exchange for Triple-A first baseman Garrett Cooper. Regardless of what happens in the long-term, the Brewers have lost this trade, and they can never win it. Here are the many different levels on why this trade is already an "L".
1) Cooper is the best first baseman in the Brewers' system, even at the Major League level
Garrett Cooper made the All-Triple-A team, or whatever, because he hit .366 with 17 home runs and 82 RBI's with a 1.080 OPS in under 300 at bats! UNDER 300! I bet if he were up in Milwaukee, he'd be at least as good as what Jesus Aguilar is doing, and he'd be better than Thames for most weeks.
About Thames, that ride in April when we had seven games in ten against the Reds was fun, but he's only hit 12 throughout the rest of the season. Remember, he was leading baseball in batting average in April, and now is under .250. Cooper is more valuable than Thames, no he doesn't hit homers as much, but his average and run production is way better (or at least it would be the same, and cheaper, in the majors).
2) Webb is going to Triple-A
"So, since Tyler Webb is so valuable to have in the Majors, let's trade away are best minor league hitter!" It makes slightly more sense that way, but the Brewers are optioning him to Colorado Springs!?!?! Yeah, he'll probably see the confines of Miller Park at some point in 2017, but this trade doesn't seem equal to me if we're giving up a Major Leaguer for a Minor Leaguer, because...
3) Cooper will be starting at first in New York soon, if not right away
I guarantee it. Ji-Man Choi, Chris Carter and Rob Refsnyder are not the answer in New York. Greg Bird and Matt Holliday are hurt. Sure, Cooper probably won't hit in the mid-300's and drive in 80+ runs, but I bet he can do what Chase Headley is doing in New York. So, at this point, we traded away Major League talent for a minor league reliever. Great job.
There are probably more reasons why this trade isn't all that, and another one is that we could use a crappy starter that could eat some innings instead of bullpen help, but so far Stearns has done a decent job. My biggest criticism of Stearns are his one-hit wonders at acquiring borderline Major League talent (Jonathan Villar, Junior Guerra, Tyler Thornburg, Keon Broxton, maybe Thames & Aguilar will be one) have fallen off more often than not. The good news is, though, he is using minimal resources to make it happen.
I'm not looking forward to the day when people wonder how Garrett Cooper escaped our grasp, and I'm going to have to say it's because of a players named Eric Thames and Tyler Webb. Then I'll get a "who?", and then I'll struggle to remember until looking them up. Seriously, I feel this is a bigger mistake than we realize, because most people don't tear up Triple-A like that without becoming stars in the Majors. I'm just saying.
