It was a big day in Washington and Chicago, but there was a move elsewhere in the NL Central, with the Milwaukee Brewers dealing starter Yovani Gallardo to the Texas Rangers for a trio of prospects: infielder Luis Sardinas and righties Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan. The Brewers also ate $4 million of the $14 million Gallardo is owed in 2015, his last year before free agency. Kind of strange that the Rangers preferred that cash over keeping a prospect.
I’m pretty lukewarm on Gallardo, so I don’t feel like the Brewers hurt themselves too badly for 2015 with the deal. Sure, they lose some depth, but youngster Jimmy Nelson could easily outperform Gallardo this year. Instead, I see them saving a little money here to add elsewhere, and picking up three interesting prospects. It looks like a good deal for the Brewers to me, even if not a needle-mover.
What could move the needle is if the Brewers used the savings (and the money expected to fall off the books next year) to pursue a big arm like, for example, James Shields. Tom Haudricort cautions, however, that the Brewers are more likely to add a back-end starter type, and a bullpen arm.
I’ll be very interested to see what the Brewers do next, as you’d obviously like to see them fall back in 2015, given that Cubs will already be competing in a division with two very tough teams – the Cardinals and Pirates – at the top.
I also wonder if we’ll see any movement on the Cubs’ depth starters from here (Travis Wood and Edwin Jackson, for example), being that the pitching market continues to thin.