While the Dodgers and Reds were getting together on a monster trade with terrifying implications, Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto must have felt left out. The trading-est GM in baseball made sure to put a deal together, and it sends post-hype outfielder Mat Gamel and pitching prospect Noah Zavolas to the Brewers for outfielder Domingo Santana:
The Brewers have acquired OF Ben Gamel and RHP Noah Zavolas from Seattle in exchange for OF Domingo Santana. pic.twitter.com/VIt8RIEvtm
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) December 22, 2018
Santana had trouble permanently cracking the Brewers’ outfield mix, and with Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Ryan Braun locked in for the near-term, it made sense for the Brewers to make a swap outfielders and pick up an arm in the process.
To be sure, Santana is the better upside outfielder in this deal, especially at the plate. He’s got starting-caliber ability, and with a semi-rebuilding Seattle club, he’ll have a chance to show it. Gamel, by contrast, feels more like a really solid 4th/5th outfielder type – with a little better defense – which may be a better fit on the Brewers anyway, especially when you consider that he’s still pre-arbitration, and Santana is set to make about $2 million in his first year of arbitration.
The arm the Brewers picked up, Zavolas, was an 18th round pick this year out of college, so that’d be a pure scouting play by the Brewers.