Milwaukee Brewers did not make a move for a starting pitcher. But the Milwaukee Brewers did add another bat to their lineup. Jonathan Schoop is now a member of the Milwaukee Brewers as they did a deal with the Orioles. Yes, Milwaukee added another second baseman. People are wondering how the Brewers are going to make this all work, and I’m personally here for it. Defense might be an issue, but Milwaukee have themselves a team who could easily put up five to seven runs per night in a hitter friendly home ballpark.

The offense went from having Tyler Saladino as their fifth hitter over the weekend to having a player of Ryan Braun or Eric Thames caliber hitting seventh for the team on some nights. That’s pretty damn good and tough for any lineup. Schoop is red hot in the month of July hitting .360 with nine home runs. Brewers could getting a bat that’s just starting to catch fire for the latter part of the season. The fireworks that this offense could provide is exciting to think about and should scare the rest of the National League.

There’s the issue of defense, and I get that but let me help you out a bit. Schoop played a bunch of shortstop in the minors. He was a plus second-base defender, so, the transition might not be that difficult. Further, the team can use Orlando Arica as a super sub in the later stages of the game likely kicking out Travis Shaw from second base. With the day and ages of shifts and lack of groundballs, it might not be an issue for Schoop to be at shortstop. Brewers General Manager David Stearns knows something that we do not, and it’s always a Stearns I trust mindset.

Orioles receive Jonathan Villar, Jean Carmona and Luis Ortiz in the deal. Ortiz seems to be the one arm that Milwaukee was okay to part ways with. He has some nasty stuff but his weight has been an issue this past year. Brewers might have been concerned that’s a much larger issue and didn’t want to deal with it. Carmona is a lottery ticket at age 18. Sad to see Villar go, but it’s good that he’ll get to play every day with Baltimore. You have to wonder what he’s thinking about today as he turned down a $23 million dollar extension a spring ago.

More to come on the Brewers not getting a pitcher and the Pirates getting Chris Archer on tonight’s Tapping The Keg podcast.

Charlie.