We knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any less sad - the Brewers announced less than an hour before last night's game that they had traded Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels for shortstop Jean Segura and AA pitchers John Hellweg and Ariel Pena.
Segura had been in the majors with LA for just about a week covering for some injuries, but he will be headed back to AA with the Brewers. With AA Arkansas he was hitting .294/.346/.404 this season. He is Baseball America's #43 overall prospect.
Hellweg is a big boy at 6'9" and while folks say he's got some electric stuff, there are also command issues. This season he has a 3.38 ERA with 6.6K/9 and 4.5BB/9
Ariel Pena has a 2.99 ERA over 114.1 AA innings, walking 3.3 and striking out 8.7 per nine innings.
Rankings vary, but Secura is considered the Angels #1 prospect, Hellweg is in their top 10 and Pena is around #15.
Since the trade news broke, we've started to hear a bit about what teams like the Rangers were offering the Brewers for Greinke - the Rangers' package did not include one of their top 10 guys.
For the most part, folks on the web are saying the Brewers got a great haul for Greinke and some are saying the Angels paid a pretty high price for a two-month rental of Greinke.
When the Brewers traded for Greinke, they gave up SS Alcides Escobar, pitcher Jake Odorizzi and OF Lorenzo Cain. They are essentially receiving a similar haul of players in return for trading him to the Angels for just two months.
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That's a great move by Melvin to maximize the return.
All three players will start out at AA Huntsville, but don't be surprised if Secura joins the major league club when rosters expand in September. All three new acquisitions were added to the 40-man roster. One spot was open and Edwin Maysonet and Brock Kjelgaard were DFA'd to open up two more spots.
Maysonet has likely run his course in our system, now that Secura has been acquired. But I'm a fan of Kjelgaard, likely because he's the best power hitter we've seen come through Appleton so far. He was strong last season, but has spent most of this one injured. He'd be a loss, imo.
Greinke was scheduled to pitch on Sunday, so the Brewers have called up Mark Rogers from Nashville to fill his spot in the rotation. Rogers was once a top prospect, but his numbers at AAA this season are a somewhat anemic 4.72 ERA over 95.1 innings with 4.6BB/9.
