MILWAUKEE — After making arguably the biggest splash of the trade deadline on Friday, trading ace pitcher Zack Greinke to the Angels for a package of three prospects, the Brewers didn’t make a single wave on the actual day of the deadline, as general manager Doug Melvin and the rest of the organization chose to stand pat.
"There wasn’t anything out there that was desirable for us," Melvin said. "Most of the deals were prospect deals for teams that were in a different position than what we are this year. I didn’t have any calls from a general manager all day."
Milwaukee likely would’ve been much more active at the deadline, considering how many assets the team had that are likely to leave in the upcoming offseason. But as it’s been all season, luck wasn’t on the Brewers’ side.
Pitchers Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf, along with reliever Francisco Rodriguez, were expected to be made available, but Marcum’s elbow injury — which will have held him out for two months by the time he’s available on August 14 — kept him from being a useful trade chip. Meanwhile, the performances of Wolf and Rodriguez have left much to be desired and likely nixed any remaining value they had on the market.
However, the Brewers will still be able to make moves via waivers in the next month. Usually, that trade period is reserved for players with contracts that are too large for any other major league team to consider signing them off of waivers.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke did mention that first baseman Corey Hart and third baseman Aramis Ramirez were both brought up in trade discussions, but they were never seriously considered for any trades.
"They were brought up," Roenicke said, "but not by us. … It’s nice to have those guys here."
Overall though, the Brewers emerged with three of the Angels’ top 10 prospects in the Greinke trade—shortstop Jean Segura and right-handers Ariel Pena and John Hellweg—and a strong-armed reliever in Fautino De Los Santos, who Milwaukee acquired by trading backup catcher George Kottaras to Oakland.
For Roenicke, it seemed to be a relief that the deadline had passed with much more action on the Brewers’ end, especially considering the massive change Greinke’s trade had in regards to the outlook for the next two months.
"For us, I think we still have certainly enough guys here that we need to start playing better baseball," Roenicke said. "I think the Zack thing, we felt we knew that was going to happen. I know a couple other names were brought up. I’m certainly glad these guys are here for the rest of the season."
Roenicke also said that the passing of the trade deadline meant a sigh of relief for players who remained paranoid of a possible departure from Milwaukee, despite the fact that management made it clear that nothing was really in the works after the Greinke and Kottaras deals.
And on Tuesday, that indication was proven true, as the Brewers calmly allowed the deadline to pass, still very much adjusting from their weekend blockbuster and now looking toward the future.
Follow Ryan Kartje on Twitter.
