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The Brewers stayed hot over the weekend and continue to find themselves in unprecedented territory in franchise history, and they’re doing so at least partially due to the contributions of a couple of players many had written off.
On Nov. 27, 2019, the Brewers pulled off a relatively early offseason trade, sending outfielder Trent Grisham and pitcher Zach Davies to the Padres for infielder Luis Urias and pitcher Eric Lauer. Davies was 26 years old and coming off his best MLB season, having worked around a relatively low strikeout rate (5.7 per nine innings) to post a 3.55 ERA in 2019. Grisham, a former first round pick, was coming off a breakout season where he had been the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year and emerged as a viable MLB outfielder.
It didn’t take long for the trade to start paying off for the Padres: Davies improved his strikeout rate and posted a 2.73 ERA in the abbreviated 2020 season in San Diego, then was eventually packaged in the deal that netted pitcher Yu Darvish from the Cubs. Grisham also blossomed in full-time playing time on the West Coast, appearing in 59 of San Diego’s 60 games, batting .251 with a .352 on-base and .456 slugging, hitting 10 home runs and winning a National League Gold Glove. His offensive performance has since cooled a bit but Baseball Reference still estimates he’s been worth 5.4 Wins Above Replacement across the abbreviated 2020 and partial 2021 season, a remarkable value for a player who has yet to become eligible for arbitration.
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Struggling with Injuries
The players the Brewers acquired, meanwhile, were largely non-factors in the team’s 2020 postseason chase. Urias suffered a hand injury playing winter ball in January of 2020 and was hampered by it during spring training, then missed much of the Brewers’ summer camp while recovering from COVID-19 and never found much offensive success after returning. He collected nine hits in his first six games as a Brewer but just 17 in the 35 that followed, batting .189/.270/.233 in his final 100 plate appearances. Lauer’s Brewers debut was even less successful: He got into just four games and allowed 16 earned runs in eleven innings. He later revealed that he was struggling to recover from a shoulder injury.
As recently as late May this transaction looked like one of the Brewers’ biggest missteps in recent memory. They traded Orlando Arcia to clear the way for Urias to play every day in the infield but he had struggled both offensively and defensively, prompting the Brewers to trade for Willy Adames to take his place in that role. Lauer, meanwhile, did not make the Opening Day roster and pitched in just four of the Brewers’ first 48 games.
Since that point, however, the Brewers’ patience with their acquisitions has been rewarded. On Friday Urias hit his 20th home run of the season, and his batting line has rebounded to .273/.357/.487 across his last 348 plate appearances. He’s gone from losing his everyday job in May to being one of the Brewers’ most valuable regulars in September.
Lauer, meanwhile, is experiencing another notable turnaround. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in Cleveland on Sunday and has allowed just two runs across 19 1/3 innings this month, working seven innings in back-to-back starts against the Giants and Phillies. He has a 1.84 ERA across his last 12 appearances (11 starts) and has allowed three runs in just one of those games. His performance is a big part of the reason the Brewers have been able to give extra rest to their young aces, a move they’re hoping will pay dividends for years to come.
It’s hard to “win” a trade with another MLB front office, and it’s fair to wonder what might have happened if the Brewers had been able to hold onto Trent Grisham and see him develop into a star in Milwaukee. A deal that has long been written off as one of David Stearns and company’s biggest mistakes, however, is paying significant dividends as the Brewers chase a championship in 2021.
