Milwaukee Brewers are currently 54-50. They won yesterday afternoon, but they gained zero ground on anyone as the Cubs and Cardinals both won as well. Brewers do get a chance to bring themselves closer to Chicago with a weekend series against the Cubs. This might really decide what the Brewers do on the MLB Trade Deadline which is three days away after the Cubs series. The first Brewer player that a team showed some interested too was Jesus Aguilar by the Tampa Bay Rays. The news came out Tuesday then Robert Murray, Brewers beat writer for The Athletic, confirmed the story as well. Even with a bad year, the asking price for Aguilar should be significant.

There is an inherent risk trading Aguilar. He was an All-Star last season and every advanced metric would tell you that it wasn’t a fluke. He had a horrible start to the season, and who knows why he played so poorly. Now in the past month, he’s been better in limited opportunities. Aguilar lost his starting spot to Eric Thames whose having a great year at first base. The two have almost flip-flopped with last summer Thames being mentioned in trade talks to now Aguilar. This year, it is worth trusting Thames, but remember how bad he was last year. There is not an Aguilar waiting in the wings to replace him in the minor leagues plus Thames will be in the final year of his deal next season. Aguilar still has three years of arbitration after this season.

Rays have a deep farm system, and if they want Aguilar, they’re going to have to pony up a few prospects. David Stearns loves lottery tickets like Freddy Peralta was when they dealt Adam Lind to Seattle. I’m sure they’ll take one or two of those then asked for pitching. If the Brewers need anything right now from a prospect perspective, it is pitching. They’re not going to get one of the Rays’ top pitching prospects, but asking for an above-average one is not a bad option.

I’d be surprised if Aguilar gets dealt, but I’ve seen Stearns do some crazy things before.

Charlie.