So, as rumored, the Milwaukee Brewers are indeed going to trade $10 million second baseman Kolten Wong, but the return is not at all what I would’ve pictured.
The Brewers are actually going to ADD salary in this deal, because they are SENDING cash to the Mariners:
Winker is making $8.25 million this year, and Toro is projected to make $1.4 million in arbitration. Add in the $1.75 million going to the Mariners, and this is a net increase in payroll for the Brewers. I did not see that being the mechanism by which they would trade Wong.
As for the return to the Brewers, Winker is a 29-year-old outfielder in his final year before free agency, who is likely to hit very well against righties, but who rates extremely poorly on defense. He mostly plays left field, where the Brewers already have a terrible defender in Christian Yelich, so I guess they’ll … rotate there and DH? Maybe they try Winker in right field? It’s a weird add. Good bat, though he was down in 2022.
Toro, 25, was looking like a nice non-shortstop-utility player in 2021 when the Astros sent him to the Mariners, but he was absolutely brutal at the plate this past season.
Just kind of a really weird trade all around. Gonna take a minute to digest, but the upshot is that I’m not sure the Brewers actually improved OR saved money in this deal.