Robbie Ray is one of the more popular pitchers on the trading block. It is clear that Arizona will likely be sellers considering they’re right around .500, and it doesn’t seem like they’re getting any better. Miami took three of four from Arizona this weekend, and that probably sealed the fate of what Arizona might do at the deadline. This means Ray is one of the more intriguing names that could be on the block. Brewers’ name keeps getting floated around with him, and he would be a guy that would immediately make Milwaukee better.

The things to like about Ray are strikeouts and ground ball rate. He strikes out a ton of guys as a left-handed pitcher. He can easily rack up eight or nine strikeouts in five innings. The other thing to like about Ray is the ground balls. He has a great ground ball rate at 38.4 percent. The ground balls aren’t at the top of the list in baseball, but it seems like he is a Wade Miley prototype with a better fastball. With him being signed until 2021, this could be a guy that is engrained with your staff for two and a half years.

There is a drawback for him like anybody else. He walks a lot of batters. That’s always been his problem in the big leagues. He ends up pulling a Yovani Gallardo and can only make it five innings because he walked too batters. That worries me a little bit in the NL Central. Both the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are patient teams. It feels like with both teams you have to grind for every out. Cubs rank eighth in walks while St. Louis is 16th yet it would be foolish to not think of St. Louis as a less than patient.

Ray will be expensive with two years and a half years left on his deal. Houston Astros are also in on Ray which makes things more difficult considering that they have a loaded farm system, and the Brewers do not. Part of me worries that Brice Turang, their former first-round pick, would have to be included in this trade for anything to happen. He seems like the most valuable chip in the delepeted Brewers system.

We’ll see if the Brewers can get their left-hander.

Charlie.