It wasn’t long ago third baseman Travis Shaw was one of the Brewers’ most valuable players. He combined for 7.1 fWAR during his first two years with the club from 2017-18, and the Brew Crew surely expected similar results this past season. Instead, Shaw endured a nightmarish campaign, leading the Brewers to non-tender him in advance of the deadline on Monday.
Had the Brewers kept Shaw, they’d have been in line to pay him a projected $4.7MM for his penultimate year of arbitration. It turns out that the Brewers did make an effort to keep Shaw before cutting him, according to president of baseball operations/general manager David Stearns (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). However, the two sides couldn’t reach an arbitration-avoiding agreement.
With the losses of Shaw and Mike Moustakas, who agreed to sign with the division-rival Reds on Monday, the Brewers are now in a state of flux at third base. But they’d have been hard-pressed to consider Shaw their solution at the hot corner even if they’d have kept him. After all, the 29-year-old did slump to a horrific .157/.281/.270 line with seven home runs and a measly a .113 ISO in 270 plate appearances this season – some of which he spent in the minors.
It’s anyone’s guess where the small-market Brewers will go from here at third, but in regards to Shaw, Stearns said (via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): “We did our best, looked at Travis’ prior performance, his performance this year. We talked with Travis and his representation about his beliefs and how he thinks everything is going.”
Meantime, Shaw’s agent told Haudricourt that “we think Travis needs a change of scenery. No hard feelings about it. We’re sorry it didn’t work out. It’s a risk Travis is willing to take.” Shaw has already drawn interest from elsewhere, per Haudricourt.
Where’s the early interest from?
Mrs. Shaw?
Could be a few places. He’s still a good defender at 3B
Oakland loves low risk potentially high reward guys like Shaw. Tampa Bay too is always good for reclamation projects. The Marlins could take a shot at plugging him in as their 3B and trade him if for more prospects if he does well.
Aren’t all of those teams spoken for at 3B though?
Oakland definitely is set at 3B, but the Rays and Marlins sure aren’t.
@ doug.daniel . . . Mike Brosseau and Joey Wendle both play 2B & 3B for Tampa and both are super utility guys, neither would block Shaw if he starting producing again.
Chapman has 3B locked down for Oakland but Shaw could be certainly be considered for 2B plus he’d offer flexibility as a back up to Matt Olson at 1B too.
The Marlins picked up Jesus Aguilar presumably for 1B which should put Garrett Cooper in RF and presumably shifts Brian Anderson to 3B, now with just signed Johnathon Villar at 2B it’s looking like Shaw might not be as good a fit as I first thought, even for the value conscious south Florida fish.
@ Ry Stunner – Oakland isnt set at 2B though Travis Shaw might be best suited for 3B more so than 2B.
Yeah I understood who was there before I made that comment (sorry not trying to be aggressive just stating my pov) but I just don’t think Shaw is better than anyone those teams could throw out there. I definitely agree with the Marlins not being a fit at all but it’s hard for me to say that guy is a perfect, or even good, fit for any contender to plug in and waste ABs hoping he will find his stride again. I’m also not totally sold on him at 2B full time either because the only time he played it in professional ball period was down the stretch for the brewers in 2018. I have the feeling there was a reason they wanted to shift Moose to 2B and Shaw back to 3B in Milwaukee. Ideally for Shaw he goes to a non contender with a hole at 3B where he can work out his kinks and get traded at the deadline.
Marlins would be extremely strange, but pretty cool if it happens.
1B Aguilar
2B Diaz
SS Villar
3B Shaw
That was Milwaukee’s infield of the future a few seasons ago.
Don’t forget the Royals — that’s another club looking for bargains
They probably won’t take ABs away from hunter dozier though.
Dozier can slide over to 1B.
Not going to happen. Dozier has made it very clear he doesn’t want to play 1B and he hit horribly when he was playing it every day, which he vocally attributed to being distracted by learning a new position.
We need to focus ol pitching. Unless a corner outfield buy-low opportunity (Souza?) comes up, especially if Gordo decides to hang it up.
Probably a savings account.
Pirates?
Texas is looking at potential short term players for third. I think he also played second.
@ antibelt . . . . Todd Frazier
With what he did last year I would think Japan and try to reestablish himself.
Philadelphia could be a good place to turn his career around—especially with the non tendering of Franco and Hernandez.
He’s going to the Yankees
Why? I’m not saying I have a reason he’s not going to the Yankees but I really don’t see a fit there — they already have 2 3B with Andujar coming back and Urshela being stated as their starter — why would bringing in Shaw be of value t them? And from Shaw’s perspective I’m sure he wants to put himself in the best possible scenario to start and rebuild his value to what it was before his abysmal 2019 so from that perspective NY makes 0 sense.
Andujar has interest on the market, move him, even if you don’t get his rookie year value. Let shaw be a 3B and 1B back up for a year on the cheap. Be could build his value up in a homer friendly park right before he hits free agency. Yankees do a good job of keeping players injured and rotating if they’re somehow healthy. Goes to a contender and gets revenge on the Red Sox
@ Pingleja . . . . not happening
at yankee stadium his offensive output jumps!
In terms of counting numbers sure, but teams do more digging into the underlying numbers. So cheap jumps in certain categories doesn’t change much when ballpark factors are entered unless he actually hits. Plus he hit in a hitters haven in Miller.
Red Sox would be nice. If he can bounce back he would look good at 2B.
Or 1b. Let’s not pretend we still have Jimmie Foxx over there…
Agree 100% on Red Sox or White Sox if Nick Madrigal not ready.
Madrigal will be ready May 1 along with Robert.
If Boston can get him inexpensively, they could play him in a platoon at 1B with Chavis
He should join Moose in Cincinnati. His dad had a lot of success there, and he’s pretty much a local. Thom Brenneman would eat that up. Shaw would make a great bench piece, subbing in at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
I was hoping he’d get a look at 2B and they went and signed moose lol. If he’s willing to do a utility/PH role I’d love to see him here near his hometown, it would create a buzz for sure
This has Phillies written all over it.
Especially since they no tendered Franco and Hernandez.
Would be great to add another left handed bat.
Cubs
Looks like Milwaukee needs a 3b JD Davis for Hader. DO IT
lol
I mentioned just yesterday that it would be a fair trade to send J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo or Dominic Smith along with Robert Gsellman(who can be used as a spot SP & RP) as well as a couple of prospects like Shervyen Newton, Szapucki and David Peterson.
It’s a hefty package but I look at it as Davis doesn’t have an everyday spot on the team, Smith is not needed because of The Polar Bear, Nimmo is a solid OF, Gsellman is also a solid major league pitcher(nothing special) and some decent prospects with solid ceilings. The Mets get the BEST RP in the National League to pair with Edwin Diaz to potentially create the most dominant end of game combo.
Mets send: Nimmo, Familia, JD Davis and Dom Smith, plus an A ball prospect who isn’t top 5 and some cash
Brewers send: Hader and Cain
Nimmo plays OF (Yelich in CF), Davis and Smith in corner IF spots, Familia for a change of scenery to pen.
Cain gives Mets a glove CF with potential offense, and Hader is Hader. Hader and Lugo can tag team, covering each other’s off days.
As a Mets fan, I love this trade but it’s a bad one for the Brewers. Why would they want Familia and his $22 million contract for the next two seasons??? Answer, they wouldn’t. For all that money they would be taking back, they would be better off keeping Hader. I may be a Mets fan but I’m a realist.
no way, the Mets need to keep JD as their starting 3B
As good as J.D. was, it was just for one season and many can argue that he won’t be more valuable than he is right now. Also, the Mets have Jeff McNeil for 3B. Davis is really not needed and if he, along with other pieces, can bring back a player of Josh Hader’s caliber……..you have to jump on that opportunity.
Rangers
Theres more to the story here. His 2017 and 18 years were too good to suddenly become the slug his numbers portray in 2019. Hopefully someone will pick him up and he can turn the page.
Did he go blind during the 2018 off season?
Dude said he became a slug, so maybe someone poured salt on him?
He will be on the Indians radar for sure.
Brewers cut about 15 million dollars in payroll also talking about trading hadar what gives.
Probably cause they gotta pay Yelich the big bucks soon!
He’s still under contract for 3 more seasons
So we (Brewers) have no definite 1st base or 3rd baseman….and I would say our 2nd baseman has a GREAT bat but his defense is pretty bad….uugggg
Also have Urias and Arcia as possible options. With how much the brewers shift, the prototypical positions aren’t as important
It’s December 2nd… I don’t understand where your head’s at.
$4.7MM for a stat line like that? Dang, arbitration sure is a screwed up system if it rewards garbage like that that much $$$.
The process looks at the entirety of his MLB career, not just one season.
Sign Justin Smoak, Todd Frazier and Zack Wheeler.
Matt Duffy is also a FA.
What if Shaw signed with Cincinnati and they moved Suarez back to short. Votto, Moose, Suarez, and Shaw make up a pretty good infield. Maybe play Shaw in left.
Suarez is too big now for short
Minnesota bound
Shaw to Orioles
Honestly, him going to a rebuilding team for one year makes sense. He really isn’t going to cost that much and can be traded if he produces. If he stinks it up, the team is only out money.
Shaw to the Cardinals makes a lot of sense. The lefty bat would slide right in. With Carpenter slated as the starter at third, Shaw could shift to left and could be the strong side of a platoon.
Angels simple
The Angels have plenty of infielders. Shaw’s precipitous drop is too much to count on for regular play. I think he might have to settle for a Minor League contract. It is time for one of Thaiss or Walsh to step up and platoon with Pujols. Albert shouldn’t play more than three games a week.
Would be nice to see him go back home and man the hot corner in Cleveland.
May end up heading to Cincinnati. His father Jeff Shaw did well in Cincy. Can play LF, UTL role. We’ll see. Reds are just getting warmed up for a run at contending in 2020.
Are the Brewers still a contender if you sign Duffy for third. Trade maybe Taylor Williams, Freddy Peralta, and Tyrone Taylor to Mets for Davis and Smith. They could almost go ahead and spend the money on Strasburg and Wheeler.
Put down the bong
Cleveland Indians. Shaw plays 3B, Ramirez 2B.
Braves. Low-cost pickup in case Camargo doesn’t bounce back and Riley isn’t ready for a full season in prime time.
Pirates?
Cheap option. Can play both corners…
One year deal to keep Hayes down a little longer.
What a laugh. Shaw can’t hit left handed pitching but thinks a change of scenery is gonna change that? He’s a part-time player, if that, and is mentally weak.
Stop this player is human. He and his family are going through stuff with their young child that no one should face he is a class act
Brewers lose Moustakas and Grandal but sign Arcia and Fanel. Talk about disheartening to fans. They should have non tendered the whole group of losers. Brewers destined to go backwards in a big wa this season.
Gamel
Travis Shaw would be a solid pickup for the White Sox with the money they saved by non-tendering Yolmer Sanchez.