Milwaukee Brewers: 4 Possible Third Base trade targets

The trade deadline is right around the corner and there are four guys that could improve the third base situation for the Milwaukee Brewers if traded for.

The third base position has been a revolving door for the Milwaukee Brewers this season and the production has not been there from anyone who’s played the position.

Brock Holt was recently designated for assignment, Eric Sogard is hitting under .200 with a lowly OPS of .506 and Jedd Gyorko has been good, but only against left-handed pitchers, with a fantastic OPS of 1.074 against lefties, but a horrible .364 against righties. He’s also been spending time at first base.

One of the main questions with the Brewers is whether they’ll even be buyers at the deadline with a current record of 13-15. Even with this record, they are right in the thick of the playoff race, just 1.5 games back of the Cardinals for second place in the division and essentially running even with the Giants who are 14-16 for the second Wild Card spot. With how they have performed this season, it is not the time to go all-in on a huge superstar, but upgrades can be made.

Not going all-in also means getting players that can help in future years as well. This means getting players that are under team control for the next few seasons after this one that are hopefully fairly cheap too.

Often, trades will be made for a guy in the last season of his contract, so if he doesn’t work out the team doesn’t have to pay him the next season. But the Milwaukee Brewers can’t afford to give up what few minor league assets they have for a half-year rental in a season where they haven’t yet even proven to be contenders.

They’ll, instead, need to make a couple of savvy moves for guys who have relatively cheap contracts, multiple years left on their contract, a somewhat low trade price, and can upgrade the position. That’s a tough list of criteria to make, but maybe at least three of the four would be enough.

With what Gyorko has done against left-handed pitching, they will likely look for a left-handed bat to platoon with him. They could get a righty and have Gyorko play at first base or designated hitter against lefties, but the most likely scenario is a lefty, so three of the four options for a trade that I have chosen are left-handed batters.

Also, no teams that have a winning record are likely going to sell a good third baseman for prospects at the deadline, so these guys will all be from sub-.500 teams.