The rumors keep on churnin’ today (did you see that the Dodgers are trying to trade for Bryce Harper?), and some of them have even turned into actual moves:
#Phillies acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera from #Mets for Double A RHP Franklyn Kilomé, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2018
At first blush, this deal might not seem particularly important to Cubs fans, but it is. In the most obvious sense, the first-place Phillies could very well end up playing the Cubs in October, so just like the attention we give to Dodgers’ moves (or that we used to give to the Nationals (lol)), the Phillies are now squarely on the Cubs’ radar.
But more to the point, when Asdrubal Cabrera went from the Mets to the Phillies, he didn’t go to Milwaukee.
As recently as this morning, rumors had the Brewers trying to land both Asdrubal Cabrera and Zack Wheeler from the Mets in a single deal – a move that would’ve undoubtedly been a game-changer for the Brewers – instead, like Manny Machado earlier this season, they missed out on yet another infield target. That’s probably good news.
Oh, also, they missed out on Eduardo Escobar, another infielder to whom they’d been connected by rumors earlier this trade season:
Sources: The Twins are getting RHP Jhoan Duran, OF Ernie De La Trinidad and OF Gabriel Maciel from the Diamondbacks for Eduardo Escobar. All three are at Class A Kane County.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 27, 2018
To be clear, the Brewers are still likely to add someone to the infield picture (Brian Dozier and Daniel Murphy are among the remaining, rumored targets), but the fewer there are, the pricier they’ll become. Perhaps, as more options come off the board, the Brewers will decide to sit out the infield market altogether. That would probably be a mistake for them, but who knows? They’ve already whiffed three times …
Brett Taylor contributed to this post.