The Brewers are known to be in the market for outfield help — specifically in center field — and they’ve had recent talks with the Athletics about a potential trade involving Oakland outfielder Ramon Laureano, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes.
The 28-year-old Laureano is just one of several Athletics players who could change hands in the coming days. He missed the first month-plus of the season while finishing out an 80-game PED ban and has turned in a .224/.305/.396 batting line with 10 homers, 14 doubles and nine stolen bases in 285 plate appearances since returning.
Those numbers certainly don’t stand out as overly impressive, but when factoring in Laureano’s cavernous home park, wRC+ pegs his overall offensive output at about five percent above that of a league-average hitter. Laureano has been average or better each season of his career, by measure of wRC+, and carries a lifetime .256/.330/.452 batting line in 1542 trips to the plate.
Cristian Pache’s presence on the A’s roster — at least, prior to his demotion to Triple-A — pushed Laureano from center field to right field upon his return from the restricted list. He’s drawn quality marks for his glovework in right (+4 Defensive Runs Saved, 2.7 Ultimate Zone Rating) but curiously posted dismal numbers through 169 innings in center this season (-7 Defensive Runs Saved, -3 UZR, -3 Outs Above Average).
Laureano has a solid overall track record in center, however, and the Brewers are understandably on the hunt for options there after parting ways with Lorenzo Cain earlier this season. Twenty-eight-year-old Tyrone Taylor has stepped up as a frequent option in center, but his bat has wilted after a hot showing in May. Since June 1, Taylor is hitting just .198/.234/.358 with a 29.7% strikeout rate. Jonathan Davis has also seen time in center, providing good defense and also drawing some walks out of the nine-spot in the order, but he also has just one extra-base hit (a double) in 75 plate appearances.
Circling back to Laureano’s PED suspension, while it understandably will lead to some skepticism regarding Laureano’s prior performance, it should also be noted that the suspension effectively extended the Athletics’ club control over the outfielder. Laureano did not receive pay or service time while on the restricted list and entered the season with three years, 14 days of MLB service time. As such, he needed 158 days of service to reach four years and remain on track for free agency following the 2024 season. By the time Laureano was reinstated from that suspension, however, only 151 days of the current season remained.
As such, Laureano should be controllable for three more years beyond the current season, as opposed to the previously scheduled two. He’ll be eligible for arbitration raises in each of the three coming campaigns, building upon this year’s modest $2MM salary. That’s plenty affordable for any team but may hold particular appeal to a Brewers club with a massive arbitration class (headlined by Josh Hader, Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Willy Adames).
The extended club control, however, also lessens the Athletics’ urgency to sell Laureano at all — particularly at a time when his offensive production is down a tick from prior seasons. If teams aren’t willing to put forth a compelling offer, the A’s can just hang onto Laureano into the offseason and revisit talks then, when he’d still have three full seasons of club control remaining.
In addition to the Brewers, the Marlins are also known to have interest in Laureano, and the Phillies, too, have been in search of center field upgrades.
.224 avg? He would fit right in in Milwaukee
Agreed. Another player that can’t hit his weight. Just what the Brewers need
If they’re concerned about players hitting their weight, they should have re-acquired Vogelbach.
The B-Ref link lists his weight as 203, so it seems he can hit it. Of course, citing only batting average…
He hits in a large ballpark, has absolutely no protection in the order, and is still on pace for around 22 HR in a full season. It’s not very likely he would have the same stats in the Brewers ballpark and batting order.
You guys don’t get it. Part of trading is picking up an undervalued talent. He’s having a down year but it just might be a situation of playing for a bad team in front of no fans.
He’s normally a good player and a pennant race might galvanize a guy like him.
DragBunt gets it, while the rest of us are dumb, apparently.
Great just what the Brewers need. Another player that can’t head his wage
It’s beer thirty for me too! I can’t imagine that I can’t head his wage…
Imagine being a fan of baseball in 2022 and thinking batting average is important.
Right, Benintendi should purposely go on a month long 0-for slump to get that silly .320 ba down where real player live..in the .200-225 range.
Silly mlb players with their high batting averages. Batting averages are for kids!
Right because a 104 OPS+ and 0.7 WAR through 2/3 of a season is just fantastic
Dirty cheater.
A’s Billy Beane won’t shop Ramon for a package less than Chourio, Turang, Feliciano at al. No rush. Oakland can wait for the créame of the créame in return…
Brewers minor league doesn’t have much past their top 8. players. Turang might be the player the A’s want with a young AA OF in their top 5.
Depends if he’s still capable of playing CF well. With those numbers he’d be a pretty good offensive CF but a pretty weak corner OF.
Yall think you’re trading an All-star lmao. This dude is barely above average and has below average defensive metrics in CF
For less than half a season, otherwise the metrics have been good?
He’s a solid player. But he profiles better as a corner OF. He’s not worth a T50 prospect at this point. Maybe in 2019, but he’s been above average for 1.5 years and 0.5 year of league average.
Defense is important though, metrics are pretty big on OF’s that can stop runners from taking extra bases and get the occasional free out when they’re tested. I don’t see a T50 prospect going for a number 7 type hitter but he’s probably worth a package including a lot of mid grade prospects.
I agree, I said Small, Garcia, Avina probably gets it done
I wouldn’t give an old shoe for him. Can’t hit without the juice. Defense in center not great so all he has is a strong arm.
Yea, except without the juice he’s still on pace for around 22 HR (minus time missed) in a large ballpark with no batting order protection. If your management was really excited about singles they probably would have gone harder for Benintendi.
Good luck with that. Oakland can’t really wait, production continues to decline with poor defense in CF and rising salary.
He’s a .225 hitter. Lol
Lmao if you think Chourio is dealt for a .224 corner OF. More likely a deal centered around Small and Garcia
Probably between them and Phillies with Michael A Taylor as a backup for both squads.
No sense in bringing in a guy that’s gonna “show up” the rest of the team and their putrid average. Come on Stearns, all in or nothing…
Can someone help me understand, how is Laureano still good for playoff play but not Severino
Laureano was ineligible during 2021 as that is when he started his suspension. Severino was first suspended during the 2022 season.
What happened to christian yelich? Mvp to overrated in a flash
Yet it took you 2 years to realize this? We’re past it now, and he’s actually been pretty solid lately though worth nowhere near his contract.
Well, he never got caught cheating so was he just lucky to get away with it? Begs the question.
Add Bellinger to this equation. Both had crazy suspicious drop-offs after 2019…inb4 people say “injuries”…
Neon, Bellinger hurt his shoulder in the playoffs a few years ago, and his performance dropped immediately afterwards. No need to insinuate PED usage.
And yelich wrecked his knee plus had (has) a back injury).
I’m not necessarily defending Yelich, but if we’re going to excuse Bellinger’s drop-off with injuries, the same can be done with Yelich.
Everyone who had a dropoff in performance was on PEDs!
My insinuation was that both players were stealing signs…
Stealing signs? I doubt that accounts for Bellinger’s serious loss of bad speed.
What’s wrong? Nothing. He got paid
Pretty excited about the OF over the next year or two with Frelick, Wiemer and Mitchell. The latter is crushing it in Biloxi.
Oakland would probably be happy to move him.
Trade for the next kris Bryant
Please don’t trade him, I’m sure his value is minimal at the moment cause he’s having a down year but he’s still a stud
A’s will get a really good return if they do. They’ll sell him off as a stud. Turang and a couple of teenagers ranked in top 30 is a good haul.
A’s need to bottom out too for a couple seasons. Somehow they pulled off a rebuild without having to do that last time but doubtful they do that again. Loureno gets in the way of that
Please,My Brewers have enough marginal starters! We also have one previously suspended PED player. Only if we give them Severino!
We all know how the Brewers don’t mind PED offenders! I guess their lack of sporting ethics allows them to buy low, knowing that most clubs wouldn’t even look at a guy like this.
You think any MLB club cares about a prior PED suspension? Lmao so naive
Did the cubs boot Sosa when his cheating came to light? Cards boot McGuire? Giants can Bonds? Clemens from any of the teams he was on after his stuff became known?
A-Rod?
These guys were celebrated by fans and mlb after proof of actual steroids/HGH use was known.
Nobody stood and cheered for Braun outside of MKE. And Severino..was taking fertility something or other. Stop pretending Milwaukee is somehow worse than any team who thinks a player can help win games.
Do we need to discuss trash cans, spy cams and other forms of sign stealing..?
Perfect fit. Brewers system is weak so if they are gonna trade out of it – better get a player with a lot of control.
Brewers system is not that weak. Its not T10, but they have a solid farm