The Milwaukee Brewers have reportedly submitted an offer to Yu Darvish, the top pitcher on the free-agent market, and on Tuesday it was also reported the Brewers have formed a trade offer for disgruntled Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich.
The Brewers are clearly ahead of the Pirates in the National League Central pecking order, with the Cardinals also bulking up, jockeying for position behind the Cubs. Should either of these moves materialize for the Brewers, it would push them that much further ahead.
What’s particularly notable in this circle is the relative similarities in the Pirates’ and Brewers’ situations, at times. While the Pirates are towards the bottom of their cycle (let’s hope), the Brewers are building up. Perhaps it’s instructive, though, that this is how Milwaukee is acting in its upswing. In the same offseason, the Pirates’ trades of Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen, and their current position on the win curve that led them there, have a lot to do with their failure to add enough when the team was good.
The Brewers already have well-stocked outfield. A move for Yelich could pave the way for them to move an outfielder, like, say, Domingo Santana (as Karp62 and others discussed), and Milwaukee is known to have interest in Josh Harrison.