Grade That Trade! Angels Get Stronger. Brewers Get Young Again.
It doesn’t come as a surprise to most of Brewer Nation that their acquired pitching ace, Zack Greinke, wasn’t going to be around forever. Having not lost at Miller Park in almost a year and a half, it was almost too good to be true. Alas, every good thing in Milwaukee (except Ryan Braun) comes to an end. (Read: CC Sabathia, Prince Fielder). And just like that, Greinke was shipped off to his first large market team in the form of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not without cost however, as the Brewers acquired three strong prospects from the Angels’ organization. Let us recap:
Angels Acquired:
SP – Zack Greinke
Brewers Acquired:
SS – Jean Segura
RHP – John Hellweg
RHP – Ariel Pena
An outside observer might think that this would be unbalanced, and for the time being, it is. It will help an Angels team that is currently 5 games back of their division and surging as of late behind the AL Rookie of the Year leader, Mike Trout, and the big man on campus, Albert Pujols. If they catch the Rangers by seasons end, that would be a big plus, but with the moves that are being made, a Wild Card spot may be all LAA needs to make a strong run to the World Series.
The Angels aren’t at that point yet. They got a 9-4 would be All Star who had countless blown saves behind him, who also posted a 3.39 ERA with a K/9 of exactly 1.00. Now when you put it like that, the Angels padded their already stellar rotation with one more right handed mastermind. I’m not worried about him not performing in Los Angeles, he will. It’s the people behind him and possibly the spotlight that would make him flinch, but I don’t see the stone faced Greinke flinching anytime in the near future. After posting a solid first outing for them, I think they’ll be glad with their trade. Now can they resign him? That’s a question we’ll have to see after the season.
Over in the Midwest, the Brewers are collapsing behind their bullpen who has managed to ruin win after win for their starters. With the current state of affairs in Milwaukee, this was a great rebuilding trade for a team that probably wasn’t going to resign Greinke at the end of the 2012 season anyway. Plus, being 16 games back never helped anyone. They acquired three top prospects from the LAA farm system and will be looking to make a lot of noise in 2013 or possibly when the rosters expand to 40 at the end of the season.
Jean Segura, the 22 year old Dominican and a career .311 hitter in the minors, was one of the Angels top prospects. He’s certainly going to battle for Alex Gonzalez’s spot in 2013 as Segura has the power and speed to make a difference right away. His base stealing alone will bring an aspect that the Brewers have focused on under Ron Roenicke. On top of that, he can swing a quick bat, and will strive for 15 home runs and around 30 doubles a season. Segura is pretty sure handed with the glove as well, posting a .971 fielding percentage over 6 seasons.
Let’s head to the pitchers. It would be hard to miss John Hellweg in the halls of Miller Park as he stands a tall 6’9″. He packs a fastball that tops out at just under 100 mph on some days, but usually hovers around the mid to upper 90s. Locating that fastball however has been the problem. Hellweg’s pitching arsenal and control aren’t quite mature enough to be a prolific starter just yet. With some crafting at AA-Huntsville, he could lower the 1.378 WHIP, strike out more batters, and depending on how his stamina develops, we could see John make a debut in the majors sooner rather than later.
Ariel Pena has the potential to make an impact in the Brewers’ organization as he has improved his statistics each year and his pitches have matured quite well. As with any young pitcher, he does have control issues, but his BB/9 has gone down every season and his ERA/WHIP have both trended downward. Pena also needs to change his “miss” pitch, as it tends to float up in the zone, which at Miller Park, is never good. We’ll keep an eye on him as he has yet to make his first start for AA-Huntsville.
Side Note: The Brewers also traded C George Kottaras to Oakland for RP Fautino De Los Santos. Two mainly backup players for both teams. Kottaras is best known for catching Randy Wolf every fifth day while also tallying one of the Brewer’s elusive cycles. De Los Santos has always been seen as a potential closer for Oakland, but didn’t pan out early this season and has spent his time in Sacramento. Keep an eye on Kottaras as he’ll be Suzuki’s backup in Oakland, but De Los Santos will start in the minors.
So? What do you think? Who came out on top? That kind of depends if you live in the present or the future. Feel free to let me know in the comments or on Twitter – @FalconKP
Three Up, Three Down 
How bout the shortstops of the future the Brewers already gave up on. Escobar to KC (for Greinke, now both gone) and Hardy to Minny. If this kid is the ss of the future it will be someplace else.
True, but we traded Escobar for Greinke 1.5 years ago, and got a SS back for two months of service for Greinke in LA. Brewer’s fans can only sit back and wait until 2013.
If the Brewers hadn’t traded Escobar to KC they would have never won the Division last year, making more money for the organization, and in the end having more money to spend to keep players like Braun, Hart, etc.