In the next big domino to fall, the Milwaukee Brewers just traded ace Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels, according to multiple reports. Greinke, free agent at the end of this year, nets the Brewers shortstop prospect Jean Segura and a couple AA pitchers. Segura, 22, is solidly a top 100 prospect, so, depending on the identity of the two pitching prospects, this could be a huge haul for the Brewers.
The Angels were never seriously involved with either of Ryan Dempster or Matt Garza, so the market for them is not hurt by this move. Indeed, many of the suitors for those pitchers *were* interested in Greinke – most notably, the Braves, and possibly the Dodgers – so the move is actually good news for the Cubs (foreign feeling, I know).
Adding in the fact that the Brewers may have gotten a ton for a two-month rental of Greinke, and things once again look modestly brighter for the Cubs – assuming they can actually trade anybody.
UPDATE: Wow. The two pitchers in the deal are Johnny Hellweg, 23, and Ariel Pena, 23, each of whom was a top 10 prospect in the system (according to both BA and BP) going into 2012, and each has pitched fairly well at AA this year. That’s just a huge, huge haul for the Brewers.
Ah perhaps Dempster can now make up for his previous indiscretion. (fingers crossed).
not as important bright side—> greinke is out of the NL central
for a couple months at least. I’d wait until he signs before getting too excited about that one.
Its “OK” for the Cubs , the Brewers are rebuilding faster than the Cubs at this point .
But Its good that the Dodgers , Braves, Rangers , Orioles, Blue Jays and Others still need pitching.
P.s. Ryan Dempster is still an asshole until proven otherwise…
That came together awfully quick. I think they could have gotten more from him from another team though. That will be a sick rotation.
Sounds like something Theo would say
Good news? What’s that? Brett do you think his will increase he Rangers need for a pitcher?
Yes, but I’m not sure they’re interested in either of the Cubs’ available guys (and they aren’t in on Maholm).
Wouldn’t they at least want to consider Garza? He has AL experience and he’s likely to be cheaper than Shields or Johnson. I know the injury is a sticking point, but I have to imagine he’s still attractive to a contender.
[...] UPDATE 3 (at 6:31pm CT): Zack Greinke was just traded to the Angels, which is almost certainly good news for the Cubs. Among other reasons, the Braves were interested in Greinke, so that’s one more option off the table for them. Full reaction and implications to the Greinke deal here. [...]
This is excellent news. I definitely think with that haul, Dempster is still well worth Delgado or similar. And Garza, even with the injury, should be worth a top prospect and more pieces.
I don’t see anyone offering much of anything for Garza with him not being able to pitch until after the deadline. I certainly hope Jedstein doesn’t begin trading guys for less than market value just to make moves. This whole Dempster fiasco has really painted them into a corner though.
I agree. I think the Cubs can get more for Garza in the offseason, or even next year’s deadline if he’s healthy than they can now, when he’s a question mark. While we’d all like to see moves, you know, because this year isn’t a lot of fun, the truth is, we don’t need the prospects now any more than we’ll need them in December.
Even somebody like Turner (obviously not any more) or Delgado. Sure we’d like to see them come over now and start playing, but as long as the return is good, it doesn’t matter if it’s now or any time in the next year as far as a Garza trade is concerned. I think the extra benefit of having a year and a half control has been more than cancelled out by the injury, so they might as well wait.
Dempster is another story, obviously. It looks like the bridge is burned, so they can either get something now, roll the dice for a sammich pick next year, or give him the finger and say it’s not worth the bother to trade you for the next to nothing the Dodgers want to give up.
Great news. The Braves could have easily gotten Greinke from the Brewers if they wished, but as it stands right now a Dempster trade to Atlanta remains a possibility.
Tom Brokaw just held up a ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ sign during the Olympic coverage, I think he is talking to us.
Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Confirmed: Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg are two #Angels Double A pitchers heading to #Brewers along with Segura for Greinke.
This is awesome news! YES!!!! I am temporarily happy! (The permanent will come once we get rid of Demp)
Well the Angels just fleeced the Brewer’s, but as I said yesterday that if Garza was healthy he had more value.The Brewer’s gave up a lot to get Grienke and just as soon he arrived in Milwaukee he was a problem .Blasting teamates and being the problem child he was with the Royals and in the end he did to the Brewer’s what Sabathia did left for a chance at more money …the only thing is he is half the pitcher CC is and don’t get me started on his performance on the road last year o sure this year he is better why???? because it’s a contract year for the flake.
Angels fleeced the Brewers? Three top 10 prospects, including one in the top 50/60 in all of baseball, for two months of Greinke?
^^^This.
I’m excited about the market precedent.
Yeah I see that …Jumped the gun I just don’t care for Grienke.The pitching prospects names hadn’t been released yet, could you imagine the haul the Cubs would have got for Garza if was able to take the ball before trade deadline.
Cocktails?
I have no idea how the Brewers got “fleeced”? They got more than I thought they would get for a two month Grienke rental. Maybe I’m missing something? I’d be very excited if I were the Brewers.
I jumped the gun on the return….should just copy and paste.
Wow, you made several points there, and I don’t think I agree with a single one.
I will take the flack for jumping the gun on the return they got,but I wont debate his performance or clubhouse run ins with the Brewers he is a known flake period and do you want to look at what the Brewers gave up to get his pathetic ass and he continues to go to the press and says I just want to win .Well Mr. Grienke shut you mouth do your job and stay on your meds.In the end they were prepared to offer him 5 years 112 million Brett would know best .He was a sure thing at Miller Park this year and last year on the road last year he was awe full and this year he is respectable why??? again because its a contract year .
Hopefully, this will set off a chain of trades for the Cubs. I can’t believe they were in full sell mode from a long time ago and they still haven’t traded ONE player. Please trade SOMEBODY, just so I can get some relief.
I continue to believe the Dodgers probably have a better chance given the condition of Garza’s health to trade Lee and Reed for Garza than they would have before. They didn’t have to juice to trade for Greinke and Garza has a year left on his deal. I think shortly Dempster and other players will be shipped to Atlanta in slightly broader or maybe more if the Cubs are willing to expand to players like Barney and some of the lounger bp people.
There’s already a run on Zanax in L.A.
Crud. Xanax
Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing rumors linking Texas and Dempster. If Dempster is serious about considering other contenders now, that may prompt Texas to pick up the phone. Dempster may not be of the same quality as Greinke, but he is having a career season.
Don’t forget, we wouldn’t be in this position if we didn’t have a cheap owner. If Cuban (or others) had bought the team we could have:
SP – Darvish
SP – Dempster
SP – Garza
SP – Maholm
SP – Shark
RP: Russell
Marshall
Camp
Corpas
Cashner (maybe doesn’t get hurt as a reliever)
Could have traded for or bought a closer….maybe Clippard from WAS
SS – Castro
3B – Headley (could have been had for Lake + Sczcur)
1B – Fielder
CF – Cespedes
LF – Soriano
RF – Colvin
C – John Jaso (Sea would have given him up for a bucket of balls)
2B – Barney (but you could have treated for Utley right now just by picking up his contract)
That’s easily the best staff and lineup in the division. Come on guys…PIT might win this division and we are bitching about Randall Delgado. I’m amazed that Ricketts has been able to keep everyones eye off the ball. And none of the above would have kept us from Soler or Almora…
Yeah, and I should have drafted Drew Brees for fantasy football last year.
Well, if in your league all you have to do is spend money to get him then I guess so. What’s unrealistic about what I listed above? The common denominator is spending money. Everyone here says that got us in the mess we’re in, but you can do both that and build for the future. When we spent money 2007-8 we won. We are the gorillaof this division and should act like it, but we have a fanboy owner thatdoesnt have nearlyas much money as he used to
Lake+Sczcr for Headley is a joke. Darvish had nothing to do with money–it was a blind bid.
Hypotheticals are a waste of time. And complaining about an owner being “cheap” is played out.
You have alot of IFs in your magic “if we only had a 200 million payroll” scenerio. You also have Darvish AND Fielder AND Cespedes all coming to the same team in one year AND us able to trade Headley for scraps (which is another huuuuge reach).
His hypothetical team with hypothetical assumptions and a fairy tale payroll is insane, but I do appreciate the time and effort he put into it.
lol, not me. It was just insane moron stupid meathead crap. Nothing more. It’s an insult to intelligence, and it makes you stupider just reading it. I award him no points and all that.
Stop the insanity needs to stop the insanity
Dempster should be on the phone with Theo & Jed.
Cubs FO should be on the phone with the Braves FO.
Get it done and save face already.
The Angels are turning into the Yankees of the West—but will it be enough?
Those two pitchers are projected to be middle relievers and I am sorry but guys like that I don’t consider to be a steal. Still the deal helps the cubs so hopefully all works out well in the end
I’m curious as to what the Angels thinking in this trade is. I mean giving up 3 prospects for a 10 week rental alone is kinda stupid to put it mildly, so maybe they really expect to extend him, now that he’s in Anaheim? Maybe something has already been discussed “informally”?
I like that. Using “discussed informally” in place of “tampering”.
Gives them 2 months to convince Greinke to that he loves LA and playing for the Angels.
They won’t sign haren or Santana and Abreu so big time money off the books
With the way our system looks with no front end pitching at all. I rather we extend Garza unless we get blown away and that’s probably isn’t going to happen as it stands. He is only 28, 2-3 years we expect to compete he’ll still be in his prime. Z. Lee and Reed wouldn’t be enough for Garza in my opinion.
Brett,
Why isn’t garza still worth trading? He has proven to be mostly durable. This seems to be a fluky and minor injury. Most importantly he is not a rental so I’m sure his injury did hurt a little but everyone is acting like its impossible to trade him now.
I think the question isn’t whether or not you CAN trade him, it’s can you get enough out of him in his current state to make trading him worth it. He isn’t going to bring full price with an injury, too much risk.
Nominate Doug Melvin of Brewers for this outstanding trade–John Hellwig alone would be worth the rental. Six foot-nine with a 100 mph fastball and right on track to be a starter.
Now if the Dodgers can get Josh Johnson, maybe Texas will want Garza.
They will extend him, or they do not give that much.
Wow seems like a hefty price tag I like it for both teams though. The Angels really did add a nice piece in Greinke that rotation is stacked. In giving up Segura all though there highest ranked prospect I don’t see him putting up better offensive numbers the Aybar or Kendrick who both just signed recent extensions and play solid defensively. The pitchers on the other hand are what makes this deal interesting Pena’s numbers look very solid especially this season he seems like a guy who should be able to step in to a starting role quickly. While Hellweg is a guy who maybe best suited for the bullpen. He has major control issues but is still young enough to straighten them out. It really seems win win to me but I don’t know enough about the Angels system as a hole to know how good this deal really is. I just hope its enough to increase the price tag on our guys.
Can we still trade Garza before the deadline ? I thoight for sure bewteen arza and Demp we wopuld get 3 good pitching prospects and a good 3B prospect, Now I dont know we beter not take the middle relievr from LA.
Los Angeles paid a “significant” price for Greinke, especially given that he’s only under contract through the rest of this season, writes ESPN’s Keith Law (Insider subscription required). As for the minor league package going to Milwaukee, “it’s only marginally less than the Brewers initially gave up for two years of Greinke, but has a lot more risk, as all three of the prospects involved have fairly low floors,” says Law.