Jeff Passan is reporting that the San Francisco Giants have acquired LHP Will Smith from the Brewers. As of right now the return has not been revealed. We'll update as more information becomes available. I for one am very interested to see what the Brewers can get. Smith, when healthy, is a Top 30 reliever. Arguably, when he's on his game, he could be a Top 20 reliever. However a knee injury cost him part of the season and he hasn't quite returned to his elite level just yet. It's possible that has impacted his value...
See now, I need to get ready for work and I was trying to get something out quick. But here I see this on Twitter:
Bickford and Susac for Will Smith. Deal is done.
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) August 1, 2016
Normally I would just erase what I had written above, but I think I'm going to leave it. Because now I get to tell you that no, the injury did not appear to negatively impact Smith's value at all. Getting a catcher of Andrew Susac's caliber and an intriguing, if a bit flawed, pitching prospect the caliber of Phil Bickford is a pretty huge coup for the Brewers.
Andrew Susac will be under team control through the 2020 season. He was blocked in SF by Buster Posey so he hasn't had much playing time. Still, in 87 major league games he's accrued 1.0 fWAR. He's hit well in the minors and gets good marks for his defense. He projects as an average backstop with some offensive potential.
Phil Bickford was the Giants top selection in the 2015 draft (18th overall) and MLB Pipeline rates him as their No. 1 prospect (65 on their global Top 100). He has a big time fastball that can hit the upper 90's. There appears to be some disagreement on where his forever home will be: the rotation or the bullpen. But even as a reliever he could be quite valuable.
As a first salvo of the day, this was an exciting one. Now I'm drooling at what the Brewers could get for Jeremy Jeffress! Assuming they can find a taker, the price of relief this year is totally bonkers. And then there's still the potential Lucroy trade (Rangers please!). Have fun, I'll be at work when the next one goes down, unfortunately...
UPDATE:
The Brewers have officially announced the deal.
LHP Will Smith traded to San Francisco in exchange for RHP Phil Bickford and C Andrew Susac.
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 1, 2016