Brewers Trade Rumors: Player to be Named from Texas will be “Significant Piece”

The moves orchestrated by Slingin’ David Stearns and the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the non-waiver trade deadline were generally well-received by those around the game. Not all the reviews were positive, however, including one national writer who gave our local nine a “D” when he graded the moves of all 30 teams. His reservations stemmed from the Lucroy-Jeffress trade to Texas, in which the Brewers received Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz. A portion of the fans around Milwaukee were dismayed by the deal as well, with many feeling that the return was rather light.

According to Ken Rosenthal, however, fans and analysts shouldn’t be so quick to judge the Brewers’ return, especially since it has to be completely determined. Milwaukee will receive a player to be named later in the deal as well, and in a video from earlier today on Fox Sports, Rosenthal reported that said player would be “a significant piece.”

Rosenthal adds that the player could be “perhaps along the lines” of Ortiz and Brinson, who both rank among the top 75 prospects in the game according to MLB Pipeline. He notes that the reason that the clubs didn’t agree on a third player was because they “ran out of time” before Monday’s 3 PM CST deadline.

The player to be named later may not be one of the Rangers’ picks from the 2016 draft, nor may it be someone who appears on the 25 man roster between when the trade was announced and when it’s completed. So right away that’ll knock Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo out of consideration. The Rangers do have several strong prospects remaining in their farm system, however, including top-100 prospect LHP Yohander Mendez.

Also worth noting from the video is Rosenthal confirming an earlier report that the Braves had interest in Ryan Braun before dealing for Matt Kemp from the Padres. He reports that the Braves were one of the teams on Braun’s no-trade list, which prevented talks from really getting off the ground.