The Brewers announced on Thursday that they have acquired outfielder Rymer Liriano from the Padres in exchange for minor league left-hander Trevor Seidenberger. In order to clear a spot for Liriano on the team’s 40-man roster, the Brewers designated fellow outfielder Shane Peterson for assignment.
Liriano, formerly one of the Padres’ most highly regarded prospects, was designated for assignment himself last Friday to clear a spot for shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who signed a one-year deal with the Padres.. Still just 24 years old, Liriano struggled in his lone glimpse of Major League action, batting just .220/.289/.266 in 121 plate appearances back in 2014. He is, however, a highly accomplished hitter in the minors, having batted a combined .311/.399/.483 to go along with 14 homers and 21 steals in 620 Triple-A plate appearances. Liriano has played more corner outfield throughout his minor league career, but he also saw 168 innings in center field this past season and 349 innings there in 2014. That, it would seem, is his best path to the Brewers’ Major League roster, as Milwaukee is already flush right-handed-hitting corner outfield options, including Khris Davis, Ryan Braun and Domingo Santana.
Prior to the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Liriano made an appearance on a number of league-wide Top 100 prospects, including those from Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus, where he ranged anywhere from 39th overall (B-Pro, pre-2013) to 60th overall (MLB.com, pre-2012). Baseball America credited him with the best outfield arm in San Diego’s system for three consecutive seasons, and prior to the 2012 campaign BA also tabbed him as the best power-hitting prospect in the Padres’ minor league ranks.
Liriano underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him the entirety of his 2013 season, but he’s always produced at the minor league level when on the field. Scouting reports have, in the past, praised him for his ability to hit to all fields with power, even though there’s a general expectation that he’ll lose some of the speed he displayed earlier in the minors as he continues to fill out his frame.
Seidenberger, 23, was Milwaukee’s 12th-round pick in the 2013 draft and advanced to the Double-A level last season, though he struggled in a short time there after excelling at Class-A Advanced. He’s worked exclusively as a reliever — said by Baseball America at the time he was drafted to be his best role — and pitched to a collective 4.38 ERA as a professional thus far. After struggling initially in 2013 following the draft, Seidenberger has stepped up his game, averaging better than a strikeout per inning and working to a 3.77 ERA. He’ll likely head to Double-A to begin the 2016 campaign in the Padres organization, though he is, of course, not on the 40-man roster.
Peterson, 27, batted .259/.324/.353 with a pair of homers in 226 plate appearances for Milwaukee last season, spending time in all three outfield spots. He’s a career .297/.383/.461 hitter in parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level but never received much of a look in the outfield with the Athletics, who originally acquired him from the Cardinals as part of the 2009 Matt Holliday trade. This past season was Peterson’s first in the Milwaukee organization, and he’ll hope now to be claimed by a new club looking for some outfield depth with a fair bit of success in the minor leagues.
Jon Morosi of FOX Sports first reported that the Brewers were nearing a deal for Liriano (on Twitter).
Damn. I really wanted the Braves to be in on him.
I wanted my team to get him too.
They should have. And they probably could have given us something better than the Brewers did…
Wow! Surprised the Phillies & Reds passed on Liriano. Don’t see the fit in Milwaukee, curious to see who San Diego gets in return?
The Phillies and Reds may have both claimed him, but if the Padres accept a trade, it doesn’t matter. Guessing the Brewers didn’t give up anything significant considering he doesn’t have any options remaining.
LHP Trevor Seidenberger is the return, not a top 30 prospect. Probably a bullpen arm, the Padres could use lefty relief. MLB.com is quick Rymer Liriano listed no. 20 for the Brew Crew.
Nope. He is not even good enough to someday be a bullpen arm. Has never been good in the minors and had his first taste of AA last season and was awful. The only benefit to the Padres is a 25 man roster spot.
Can’t say never, he’s a big lefty and he’s only 23. His ERA may not be impressive, but he has a decent K rate and opposing batters only hit ,203 against him last year (.220 at AA). Unfortunately he has trouble getting the ball down which resulted in more walks that wanted and also has made him prone to the log ball, thus the high ERA. If he figures out how to keep the ball down he could be a big league lefty bullpen arm.
The fit is probably in CF. They are still not convinced that Santana can play there full time so Liriano and Broxton may end up competing for playing time there. Still possible that they trade either Davis or Braun yet too, which would move Santana back to a corner where he belongs and open up CF til Phillips is ready.
You’re probably right, maybe Milwaukee might try to include Davis/Braun in a Lucroy trade. Liriano & Broxton split time in CF with Santana moving to a corner OF spot. I’m just fearful my Indians might claim Shane Peterson, they’re stockpiling OF’s.
The asking price for Lucroy is already scaring people off, to add Davis or Braun to the trade would take a pretty large return, although maybe packaging Lucroy and Braun would make it easier to convince someone to take on most of Braun’s salary.
You don’t want him in CF. He might have the wheels and the arm for it, but he takes awful routes and can make easy plays look tough. He really struggled during his call-up in 2014 and didn’t improve defensively or offensively in 2015. He won’t be a starting MLB OF unless he makes some progress with the glove and the bat. I’m thinking the Padres cut him loose because he wasn’t responding to the coaching they were giving him.
A solid roll of the dice by Milwaukee. They have nothing to lose with this move and it could pay off well. The Reds have Scott Schebler, Yorman Rodriguez, Kyle Waldrop and possibly Adam Duvall vying for the LF spot. Rule 5 pick Jake Cave, Juan Duran and Tyler Holt also are in the mix for OF spots as backups to Jay Bruce and/or Billy Hamilton.
Sometimes it is hard to be a Padres fan.
I feel you dog. That’s how I used to feel as a mets fan. But now we have Cespedes so we have a positive team to look forward to. You too will have a bright spot soon. Hang in there.
Yes, hopefully all the mediocrity will change someday.
Bye bye Rymer.
REALLY hard. No plan and no chance to win is hard to take.
I like this move for Milwaukee. Liriano has a higher ceiling than Peterson and a chance to be a regular in the outfield. Great move by Slinging Strearns.
right on.
another controllable asset acquisition by Stearns: Cecchini, Middlebrooks, Flores, Broxton, Villar, Liriano, couple of Rule 5 Picks. Smart, smart, smart. Low cost, low risk, almost pure upside.
Smart.
So many intriguing young outfielders up for grabs (Marte, Ceciliani, and Liriano) and the Phillies don’t even budge. Not that the Phillies really need outfielders so I guess I just want to see them keep adding younger guys to the team but hopefully they take ceciliani
No guarantee that Phils weren’t in on Liriano I’m sure multiple teams were interested, that’s why a trade happened before he hit waivers.
I understand that, it’s mostly just me wanting to see guys like this in philly, if they are young with upside id like to see the Phillies in on them but I guess they feel confident with what they have
Love this pickup for Milwaukee, still have no idea why SD couldn’t trade someone to keep him around. Liriano could be a decent regular if he’s allowed to develop playing everyday. Rootin for him bigtime this season.
Wow. Preller is just giving guys away. Seidenberger is pretty much nothing. 24 years old. Just had his first taste of AA and he stunk. Liriano will be 4th OF for Brewers.
For once we agree on something!
I don’t know why they didn’t give this guy another chance this year when they had guys like Melvin Upton on the roster.
I’ve always liked Rymer and thought he’s shown some flashes of being a solid starting OF. At the very least I thought he would be a fine 4th OF. I’m bummed it didn’t work out and that the return on Rymer was so little. I understand he’s out of options, but I thought he would have decent value still. Hopefully Blash, Dickerson and Renfroe step up this year and show us why Rhymer didn’t have a shot with the Pads.
I agree man, bummer that the kid didn’t get more of an opportunity. Keep an eye on Tampa Bay now that they have an extra outfielder word is they are shopping Desmond Jennings. He would be an upgrade over the couple options we have slated to battle for the job out there and he only costs 3.3 million this year. They are looking for bullpen help and maybe Quackenbush and a prospect could work for them.
Tampa and San Diego have made a trade the last 3-4 off seasons so they know each other’s Minor league systems pretty well. Boxberger and Forsythe have paid off for them so I think they like trading with us lol