The Diamondbacks have acquired shortstop Jean Segura and reliever Tyler Wagner from the Brewers in exchange for starting pitcher Chase Anderson, second baseman Aaron Hill, and prospect Isan Diaz, tweets Keith Law of ESPN. The Brewers will also receive $5.5MM to partially cover the $12MM owed to Hill, hears Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (tweet). The Diamondbacks and Brewers have confirmed the deal.
Segura, soon-to-be 26, was an oft-rumored trade candidate for the rebuilding Brewers. He broke out in 2013 as a 23-year-old with a 3.5 WAR season. He hit a solid .294/.329/.423 with 12 home runs, 44 stolen bases, and league average defense. However, he slumped steeply in the second half of that season, foreshadowing his struggles over the next two campaigns. Since his first full season, Segura has offered replacement level production in 1,141 plate appearances.
In Arizona, Segura will join the defensively-minded Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings. Ahmed is coming off a solid 1.7 WAR season, but his .226/.275/.359 leaves a lot to be desired at the plate. Owings spent most of 2015 at second base where he was expected to return this year. The addition of Segura not only gives the club more depth up the middle, it will give them the opportunity to mix and match offensive and defensive skill sets as needed.
Interestingly, the Angels once included Segura in a package for Zack Greinke (h/t Bill Shaiken of the LA Times). He’ll now have an opportunity to play alongside the ace. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (tweet), Segura will start for the DBacks – probably at second base. However, GM Dave Stewart told reporters including Nick Piecoro of Arizona Central Sports (tweet) that Segura would compete for the shortstop job. Segura has three more seasons of club control. He avoided arbitration with Milwaukee earlier this offseason, signing for $2.6MM. He’s a future non-tender candidate if he does not rebound this season.
The trade creates an opportunity for the Brewers to fully evaluate Jonathan Villar before top prospect Orlando Arcia is ready to join the club. GM David Stearns confirmed that Arcia will begin the year in Triple-A. Villar, who the Brewers acquired from the Astros earlier in the offseason for Cy Sneed, has played in parts of three major league seasons. He’s offered replacement level production to date, but he features an intriguing combination of power and speed for a middle infielder.
Wagner, 25, is a starting pitcher prospect. The righty averaged roughly 90 mph with his fastball in a three start debut last season. In the minors, he was said to top out at 95 mph with his sinker. He has a solid command and control profile but lacks big swing-and-miss stuff. The DBacks have plenty of pitching depth so Wagner will likely report to Triple-A or revert to the bullpen – he was a college closer.
On the Brewers end of the haul, Anderson is the jewel of the trade. The 28-year-old is a reliable changeup specialist. In 267 career innings, he has a 4.18 ERA (4.17 FIP) with 7.28 K/9 and 2.70 BB/9. His stuff performed slightly better in 2014 than 2015 as evidenced by superior strikeout and swinging strike rates. As a slightly homer prone fly ball pitcher, he’s not a great fit for power happy Miller Park (the same was true at Chase Field). Anderson comes with five seasons of club control and will be a member of the rotation.
Hill, the veteran of the trade, has declined steadily since a peak season in 2012. Injuries and playing time battles held him to 353 plate appearances last season. He hit just .230/.295/.345. Entering his age 34 season, he’s owed $12MM in the final year of his contract. Per Haudricourt (tweet), Stearns envisions an active role for Hill mentoring the club’s many young middle infielders. He’s an obvious fit as a platoon mate for Scooter Gennett who rarely plays against left-handed pitching.
The Brewers also acquired a high quality prospect in the form of Diaz. Baseball America rated Diaz the ninth best prospect in the Arizona system. 20 in May, Diaz is coming off a strong season in rookie ball in which he was dubbed the MVP of the Pioneer League. He hit .360/.436/.640 with 13 home runs and 12 stolen bases in 312 plate appearances. The former second round pick will remain at shortstop for the time being, although his future home may be farther down the defensive spectrum.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And I was starting to think today was a boring day…
DBacks shouldn’t have done this deal. Anderson was ok last year, but Diaz has the makings of someone who would be a top 50 prospect by midseason. Great trade for Brewers. Does this mean Arcia will be opening day SS?
I think Segura will be good for the dbacks, I wonder if he will be at shortstop or second.
Segura will probably play second. They have Ahmed for SS so he’ll probably stay there.
This worked out good for the dbacks, they got a good player instead of signing kendrick, I think this could put them in great position to win the nl west
I think a wild card is more realistic but they had a huge hole at 2B and Seggy will help that situation.
Well I don’t see the dodgers winning the west, they look like a third place team, It’s going to be between the giants and dbacks for the west
Says an Angels fan. Shocker
That’s a pretty unique opinion but a lot has to go right for Arizona and a lot has to go wrong for LA.
Their bullpen is still bad outside of jansen, and they are going to realize losing greinke is going to hurt a lot. Kershaw is great, Kazmir can be solid, but after that it’s a lot of question marks, will ryu come back healthy, how will maeda transition in the mlb.
Really?? Segura offense numbers have gone down each year since his rookie season. His glove is ok nothing great. DBacks now have three SS that aren’t good all around players. They all have offensive flaws.
So Segura is a “good” player and Kendrick is not? Wow…
The dodgers have depth at every position, including something like 10 starting pitchers. The bullpen wasn’t that bad last year, middle of the pack. They have more money than God, apparently, and are using it to acquire depth everywhere. It’s not a bad strategy if you can afford it. They probably won’t win 92 games again, but should win the division. Diamondbacks have no depth, Segura isn’t any good, the offense outside of Pollock and Goldschmidt is questionable at best. I don’t care for the Dodgers at all (I’m a Padres fan) but they seem to be assembling a team built for a long season.
LMAO. In what world is Segura a “good player?” Let alone better than Kendrick. Segura has a COMBINED .2 WAR the last two seasons.
He’s bad.
Brewers have made some fantastic moves since July. Completely rebuilt their farm system through a couple trades. Really like their future outlook.
Villar will probably be Opening Day SS. Milwaukee won’t want to have Arcia in the bigs all year and he’s never played in AAA but that won’t matter as much.
Arcia definitely not opening day SS, Brewers will wait to postpone his arbitration eligibility by a year by keeping him in the minors. Should expect a quick call up though
I can’t see Arcia getting the call until after June 1st.
From Tom Hardicourt
#Brewers GM David Stearns confirms that SS Orlando Arcia will open 2016 season in AAA Colorado Springs.
Stearns says Jonathan Villar is primary SS option but also mentions Yadiel Rivera, Jake Elmore, Hernan Perez.
I’d love to see Yadi Rivera get his shot in the bigs. He looks like he’ll be a solid utility option.
I’d say Villar will be there opening day, but its just a matter of time before Arcia is up.
fleeced again … Chase Anderson didn’t have much of a chance to make the rotation, and the D-Backs certainly needed to dump Hill’s salary. But Stewart should never have included Isan Diaz in the deal. Does he honestly think the D-Backs can get a better player with the 39th pick in next year’s draft? He wasn’t willing to part with that draft pick and so, missed out on Howie Kendrick, a piece that could have made a real difference. Then he turns around and gives up another of our top ten prospects after having already “spent” three of our top ten earlier. Sign Kendrick and give up Hill and Anderson for Segura. Throw in another piece if you have to. Don’t continue to strip the farm and pretend you must hang on to draft choices!
what about the 14 million saved over your approach.
lol RIP to the D-Backs in 3 years.
Why?
No farm system. Open your eyes.
But the talent is in the majors now. World Series aren’t won in the minor leagues. plus they have time to restock.
What’s the talent the major league team has – Greinke, Goldschmidt and Pollock are stars, Miller is slightly above average but is gonna get murdered in that ballpark. Lamb is an average player. Tomas isn’t any good, Segura is awful, Owings and Ahmed aren’t good hitters, the rotation lacks depth and the outfielders besides AJ are nothing special. The bullpen is average, maybe a tick below. Teams can win with a “stars-and-scrubs” approach, but it is the exception, not the norm. I can’t think of a World Series winner in the last, say, decade that’s won with that kind of roster construction.
Why does saving almost $10 million hurt the Dbacks in 3 years?
In 3 years, Pollock, Castillo, Corbin, Miller, and Tomas are all FAs, and Goldschmidt will only have 1 year left.
Not a huge fan of this from a Brewers perspective
Same and I’m a Brewers fan. I thought Wagner looked good (in the minors) and we don’t need a major league ready arm like Anderson. Hill is worthless IMO but Seggy was gonna get traded anyways.
Lucroy will be next, I see him a perfect fit for the rangers or rays
I wouldn’t say perfect for Tampa and I don’t even see them as buyers at the deadline. Luc needs to show he’s healthy before Stearns should move him. The Rays have seemed hesitant to trade away Blake Snell and him plus another would be best case scenario for Milwaukee as a return but I doubt that will happen. Texas has interesting pieces too however a lot of their minor league depth is in the outfield just like the Brewers’ minor league system. Brewers will be looking for pitching and probably another catcher if Lucroy is moved.
the rays could use another bat in the line up like lucroy , but I am sure the brewers would be asking for snell
Yeah for Luc it’s gonna be Snell (or Honeywell) plus probably another pitching prospect or 2.to pry away Lucroy.
Honeywell could be had.
I’m gonna go ahead and say Snell isn’t touchable at this point.
The guy had a 1.41 ERA in 134 IP last year.
Honeywell is a top 50 guy from mlb.com but I’d even prefer him over Snell. Especially with his screwball.
It could also be looked as an opportunity to sell high on Snell if management is convinced that he is not the real deal.
I see a more likely package of odorizzi since he was drafted by the brewers
Kind of sold low right? If they’re gna do that why take on even a part of hills ugly contract
Segura had to go and I’m not sure this is a huge low sell as his value has completely fallen off the table. He’s steadily digressed every year. They get back an intriguing young arm and a decent prospect, I think that’s about as good as they were going to do, depending on how much of Hill’s contract the D-Backs are actually picking up.
Digressed? I think you mean regressed.
Yes I do. Thought that’s what I typed, but at work and on my phone I’m gonna go ahead and blame that on either auto-correct or straight up brain fart.
Worth noting that Segura was just 26 last season and had his son pass away in July of 2014, so if anyone could benefit from a change of scenery, it’s him.
I forgot about his kid. Great point there.
Love this trade. Chase Anderson has shown a ton of potential, especially in 2014, but we have no room with the acquisitions acquired this off season for him in the rotation. Solid pickup for the Diamondbacks with Segura.
In the last three seasons Segura produced exactly half a good year (the first half of 2013). The rest of the time he’s been merely league average offensively. And now he’s going to start getting expensive. Good trade for the Brewers.
I agree it’s a good trade for the Brewers, but calling Segura’s offense league average is being extremely kind. His OPS+ in the second half of 2013 was 65, followed by 70 in 2014 and 68 in 2015. I think the Brewers have had an excellent offseason so far. I like that even though they’re not expected to compete in 2016, they’re not going to waste another season on Segura.
Segura back to the Angels makes sense to me?? Can play some second base
Great trade for the Brewers. Segura wasn’t worth much at all and Wagner is a bullpen arm in the future. Isan Diaz is a solid get and would have traded Segura for him alone, so getting Anderson and taking on Hill just for adding Wagner makes me love it even more.
The more I read about Diaz the more I like this trade
Brewers def got the better end (w. Diaz). Segura has really dropped off, as I remember the Brewers asking a lot for him a couples years back.
In summary, this trade helps both teams. I don’t see this as a win/loss trader. It betters both teams.
Brewers: Gamble-If Aaron Hill has any resemblance of a comeback season, he will likely be traded by the deadline. If Hill does’t come back, he’s still better than Jean Segura at 2B. The Brewers also get a starter in Anderson (for now) and a good prospect in Isan Diaz. This is a good trade for Milwaukee.
D-Backs: Gamble-If Jean Segura hits like he did the 1st half of his rookie season then this is a good pickup for AZ. However, when I saw him since, he appeared to be physically all around slow. I don’t now how else to describe it. If he has a comeback season, the D-Backs can trade him by the deadline or if he doesn’t, waive him. Tyler Wagner has good control which is not easy to come by and is MLB ready. This is also a good trade for Arizona.
Segura to Angels makes sense to me?? Can play some second
Segura is worth negative value offensively and defensively so it’s nothing more than a salary dump and trade of future value for now value between the other pieces,
Dbacks have players to play second and short..Segura to the Angels makes sense to me? Angels could use a second baseman
I think Isan Diaz will eventually be the best MLB player in this trade.
I like Diaz a lot too. He hit for some power and is still young. I’m not sure he’ll be better than Seggy on D but I’ll support this claim.
Segura is not great defensively, that why they were talking of moving him to 2B.
I didn’t say he was great but he’s above average.
If he stays at SS I’m not sure I’d even give him above average. Good range but way too many errant throws.
I see him being flipped to play second base for an AL team…Angels maybe??
No they were talking of moving him there because Gennett can only hit righties and to make room for Arcia
Even before Arcia is ready they were talking of moving him in favor of Villar or Rivera.
I see salary relief + excess MI for excess pitching + MI prospect. There’s worse ways to buy good talent.
I agree, and pretty sure that’s what Stearns was looking at. He likes to grab talent regardless of position even though the Brewers are pretty deep in middle infield prospects.
Yeah, now it’s Villar, Yadi, Arcia, Isan Diaz, Betancourt, Lara, Hernan Perez. Great group.
“Great”
Segura to Angels??
Isan Diaz is the real get for the brewers here. Not that need another SS in the system behind Arcia and lara.
Diaz looks like he’ll profile better at second than at short IMO.
Lara is 17 years old…how close to the majors do you think he is? Educate yourself with baseball knowledge and you will become someone whose comments hold more merit.
Segura to Angels makes sense to me
What an irrelevant trade. Segura had one fluke year and Hill is a dud. The pitchers won’t make a difference either way.
Segura to Angels
Great trade for the D-Backs. They move Hill’s contract & don’t give up a top prospect. Diaz is more a mid-level type prospect. They lose Anderson, but could upgrade the pitching. Gallardo is still available ( I don’t buy Stewart’s quote of not giving a pick up). Greinke, Miller, Gallardo, De La Rosa, Ray/Bradley looks good. Infield is solid, defense wins championships. Segura has more range at SS, Ahmed should hit better in year 2 moves to 3B, Drury is ready play, move him to 2B for rare pop at that position. Move Owings to utility role speed & D on the bench.
With Simmons in the AL, Ahmed might be the best defensive SS in the NL.
2.8 dWAR falls only short to Brandon Crawford.
He sticks at SS while Segura plays 2B and Lamb plays 3B.
Addison Russell says ………….. PFFFF
You spelled Adeiny Hechavarria wrong I’ll give you a pass since its hard to spell
You’re probably right, I was just thinking cause Segura only played SS in the majors with the Brewers. I looked at his minors fielding & he actually played more 2B, so Segura can play the position.
you forgot Corbin in that rotation. Who will the 2nd best pitcher in that group. don’t need gallardo
Corbin is not better than Shelby Miller.
They’re pretty close. Both are high-end #3s/decent #2s..
Thought i forgot someone, you’re right they have Corbin. Whose a solid #2, with Miller #3, so D-Backs should be ok in the rotation.
Agree, good move! Don’t forget Patrick Corbin in the rotation–> Greinke, Corbin, Miller, Gallardo, and Ray/Bradley/De la Rosa
Night and day difference for the D’Backs. Recall Collmenter was their opening day starter last year :-O
I could see Dbacks flipping Segura..maybe to the Angels? They need a second baseman?
Don’t let the MLB names muddy the story. This trade is all about Isan Diaz.
Isan Diaz for Hills’ contract is the fine print
I believe Milwaukee is getting money in this deal to help with Hill’s contract.
Except Arizona is paying most or all of Hills contract.
Funny how everyone swoons over a 19 year old kid who hit well in his second run through rookie league season.. Diaz is at least 4 years away from even sniffing MLB and his BABIP is not sustainable. He is a really good low level prospect but hardly the center piece of the trade.
What about Dbacks flipping Segura?? Angels maybe?
So the D Backs trade for a below average SS that they will move to 2B to make him even more worthless. Then they traded a ok starter for a guy who MAYBE has the ceiling of the pitcher they traded away. All that to trade a SS/2B prospect on the rise to sweeten the pot. Thanks Dave Stewert glad we could get in on the sale while the gettin was still good!
I suspect they are hoping he bounces back and becomes more than OK
Huh. Wasn’t expecting this.
My trade rumors app isn’t working…. It just goes into the app if I go from the notifications, but if I try to go in from the app it won’t show anything… How can I fix t ? I come in and read the blog everyday but I have to go into the website now which is annoying lol… Thanks in advance.
It is really misleading to say they got $12mil to cover Hill’s contract. It sounds like they are only paying the league minimum for him. However, Haudricourt sounds like it is only a part of his contract.
Sounds like AZ will take on 6.5 mill of the salary owed to Hill
Other way around I guess AZ will save 6.5
Segura costs $2mil so only $4.5mil saved.
Arizona’s pitching is the only reason they’re being considered as favorites at all. While pitching can be a great factor to a team’s success (see Giants), will their shaky offense get them enough runs to get wins for those great pitchers? I don’t think they will, but perhaps I’m wrong.
This trade seems to work for both teams. The Brewers get long-term value for taking on roughly $10m extra this year. Anderson and Wagner are both solid pitchers. The Brewers needed innings at low cost. Wagner should be a good bullpen piece for the DBacks.
Hill was the price for Diaz. Diaz could be a star, too soon to tell.
As a DBacks fan, I like not signing Kendrick and adding Segura instead. He’s cheaper, provides average skills (roughly what Kendrick would have provided) but at a discounted rate. Also, being rid of Aaron Hill’s contract and logjam works well.
Next move? I would love if the DBacks traded Owings, Bradley and Castillo for Lucroy. Or if they used some of the money saved from the “Hill trade-not signing Kendrick” deal to sign Ian Desmond? Both moves would make me happy.
Howie Kendrick is way better than Jean Segura.
Kendrick had 2.0 fWar last year. Segura had .08. That’s not even close to roughly the same.
*.8
Gotta love all these clueless ass D-Backs fans thinking they’ve had a great offseason and that this is a great trade lol unless you stockpile draft picks and prospects for the next 4 years your organization will be completely depleted by then.
Well they did get the guy who should’ve won the cy young and a guy who had one of the biggest breakouts last year. It’s just they gave up to much to get them
This trade to me looks like the Dbacks said take a little more than half of Hills salary and we’ll give you a good prospect in return.
Hill has no value, so Diaz has to come with him, but honestly those two for Segura makes sense to me, I think Anderson by himself could have gotten a decent return on his own, more than Wagner that’s for sure.
Hill however does have 4 homers and a 1.251 OPS in 10 career games at Miller Park, so if I was in a deep fantasy league I’d take a flyer on him. He looks like he could pull out a nice comeback season, and if he cant, the Brewers are rebuilding and don’t care.
Dave Stewart seems to be content getting totally housed in trades for his bad contracts, its an interesting take on how to run a front office. Diaz was AZs 2014 2nd rd pick and put up video game numbers at 19 in rookie ball all last year, AZ is gutting its farm this offseason for really underwhelming returns (for the quality of packages they are giving away).
Yeah, Stewart has basically gotten hosed on every trade he’s made so far…he’s doing the Preller thing of trading away the farm for minimal return. Segura is an awful player. Hill might have more value than him at this point.
Desmond could just sign with Brewers for one year. Owings could know be on the block to a team like let’s say Angels for Wilson then Angels can sign like Fowler.
Desmond to the Brewers doesn’t really make any sense. They are rebuilding and need all the draft picks they can get. Giving up their 2nd round pick for Desmond would be pretty dumb.
Obviously this is not the most farm system depleting move they have done but as a dback fan I am tired of these nonsensical moves. I think it’s clear they fly by the seat of their plans and the way they view assets. If they don’t win, the entire upper management team needs to go.
Not trying to pick on the Dbacks, but what have they been doing? Not only do they trade away top prospects, but they do so for talent that’s inadequate compared to the players they ship away.
I mean I understand if they want to try to compete quicker, but teams like the Padres and Marlins show you can’t just acquire players in a 3-month period, and hope it works out. Between this trade, the Shelby Miller one, and the one they literally sent Touki Toussiant away to shed payroll, they’ve obliterated their farm. And if these ‘Win Now’ moves don’t actually help them win now, they traded a ton of future pitching and/or positional starters, setting them years back.
The Diamondbacks aren’t a bad team, in fact, they we’re pretty good last year considering what they we’re like the previous one. But they aren’t good enough that a few high-profile moves will catapult them to win the NL West. They better be close enough to contention as they think they are, or it won’t be fun being TLR/Stewart.
Yikes, the DBacks aren’t going to have a farm system left after it graduates Shipley and Bradley
The Brewers needed to sell Segura/Gennett to open up room for Villar/Arcia. Dbacks fill there hole at 2b with a hope that Segura can bounce back with a change of scenery. The Brewers get a pitcher they can swing for prospects at the deadline and a chance at swinging Hill if he produces at least average numbers with a little better than higher average power numbers. Stearns is going to to keep stockpiling talent throughout the year, and don’t be surprised if Lucroy, Davis, Gennett, and even Braun are gone within the next 2 seasons.
The way I view this trade, it’s a replacement-level middle infielder, a high potential lottery ticket, and a back of the rotation arm for a replacement-level middle infielder, a guy who someday might be a back of the rotation arm and gobbling up a big chunk of contract.
I can see Segura bouncing back in the dbacks lineup. The focus will not be on him like it was in Milwaukee and he can just go out there and play.
I find it unlikely that in a line up with Braun,Gomez,Lucroy,Davis and Lind last year that the focus was on segura.
Agreed.
Well I hope the D’Backs at least use these extra funds to sign a free agent or two otherwise they’re decimating their farm system for nothing.
I like this a lot for the Brewers. Hill could still be worth something for a year if he’s platooned correctly, Diaz is a very nice looking prospect, and Nelson/Garza/Peralta/Jungmann/Anderson is a nice selection of mid-level pitchers that could keep Milwaukee competing for most of the year. Especially if Nelson or Jungmann take steps forward. Good depth too with Davies and Lopez ready to breakout.