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Brewers trade Jason Rogers to the Pirates

Jason Rogers we hardly knew ye.

By Derek Harvey
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

When Noah Jarosh was at the helm of Brew Crew Ball he had an irrational love--a beautiful but irrational love--for Khris Davis. I was all set to make my mark in 2016 with my irrational love--beautiful but irrational love--for Jason Rogers. Now I will never have that chance:

I feel...hollow.

But in all seriousness I did not see this one coming. The Brewers don't have a first baseman in their system ready for big league innings unless you count Garin Cecchini or Will Middlebrooks. But David Stearns recently said he views them both as third basemen. I am just guessing but I assume Cecchini is the team's starting third baseman right now. And either Middlebrooks is a bench/platoon player or the starting 3B at AAA Colorado Springs (with Nick Ramirez perhaps the starting 1B).

I have to wonder if this signals the Brewers are on the verge of signing a first baseman. They've been linked to a number of free agents at the position.

I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement in before next week, though that's just a guess. And since I'm guess I'll say it's Pedro Alvarez.

In return for Jason Rogers the Brewers got a pair of prospects. Keon Broxton is a 25 year old right-handed outfielder capable of playing all three outfield positions. Here's what FanGraphs had to say about him coming into the 2015 season:

Former toolshed projection guy in the Arizona system was a revelation at 24 in Double-A for Pittsburgh; he's 6'3/195 and can play all three outfield spots as a possible 4th outfielder that the Pirates were concerned they might lose him last winter in the Rule 5

Broxton split 2015 between AA and AAA with a cup of coffee at the MLB level. He hit 302/365/464 in AA and 256/352/423 at AAA. He combined to hit 10 home runs and steal 37 bases. With their hole in center field I'll be interested to see if this is their answer for the 2016 season.

You can read more about Broxton from this Minor League Ball post.

Coming into the 2015 season FanGraphs rated Trey Supak as the Pirates No. 15 prospect. Here's what Kiley McDaniel had to say about him:

The 6'5/210 Texas prep product got $1 million last summer as a 2nd round pick and is the projectable flip-side to Keller. Supak has a loose, swimmer-type body with good extension and a clean arm and delivery, but less now command and stuff than Keller. Supak sits 89-92 and hits 94 mph, with most expecting that number to creep up a few ticks in the coming years. His curveball is above average but he can have trouble locating it, while he's learning to used his changeup more and it's average.

Supak spent his season with the Pirates rookie league the Bristol Pirates. He pitched in 28.1 innings with an 18.1 K% and a very pretty 4.0 BB%. His ERA was an unsightly 6.67 ERA but his 3.55 FIP better reflected his peripherals. Though stats this earlier in his career shouldn't be given too much weight.

I'll be honest here, I considered myself the "high guy" on Jason Rogers. I thought he could maybe be a 2 win first baseman--I still do. But I didn't think--at his age now--he would be a contributor to the next competitive Brewers team. I also didn't think he had any trade value.

And there at least we know I was wrong. Because the two players the Brewers got back are legit prospects. They're not high-end caliber guys, but they're certainly not non-prospects. I'm actually a bit shocked. I certainly don't want to oversell these guys. Broxton might just be a fourth outfielder and Supak is a good 6 years away so who knows what he'll end up being. But all things considered I think this is a great trade by David Stearns.

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