Had the MLB Network game between Houston and the Dodgers on mute while I was on the phone tonight and saw on their scroll that the Brewers had traded Jason Tyner to the Detroit farm system "for considerations" in order to make room for Cole Gillespie at the AAA level.
This struck me as odd because, well, we've only been playing for three weeks - why were we trading and moving a guy up to AAA? Why didn't he start there?
I'm admittedly not up on my prospects, but Gillespie's name sounded familiar, so some quick googling took me to this article, which I think says a lot without saying much - about players and the classiness of Brewers management.
And hidden in it is a, I think, very telling piece of information about Tony Gwynn, Jr.
Turns out Gillespie had elbow soreness as Spring Training broke, so they sent him down to single-A to test the elbow. He performed well in the opening weeks, hitting .349, so they decided they wanted him back at the higher level - but they needed roster room.
Here's the interesting part - Gord Ash admits that no one thought Tony Gwynn would end up in Nashville when he was put on waivers - they thought he'd get claimed. Of course, he didn't, and now the Sounds have a plethora of identical outfielders.
The classy part is that they traded Tyner to an organization that can use him to allow him a shot at keeping his career going instead of out-right dropping him.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
But getting back to the TGJ bit - am I the only one that reads that and realizes that NO ONE WANTS TONY GWYNN JR?
I mean, if we were willing to lose him on waivers, I've got to believe he was dangled all winter long and no one nibbled. A bag of balls and some prospects would have been better than losing him off of waivers and getting the wapping $20,000 claim fee, right?
And yet, that didn't happen, leading me to believe there are no offers for TGJ forthcoming...
The catch to this is that if TGJ were to be claimed, he would have had to have been placed on the 25-man roster, so maybe it's not as big a slap as we think - but it still leaves me wondering if everyone out there (management and fans) has been overestimating TGJ's potential.
