GM Stearns keeping Deadline options open

Considering the complexities facing all 30 general managers as the Trade Deadline fast approaches, the Brewers could have done David Stearns a favor by falling clearly on one side of “buy” or “sell.”

Alas, with eight days to go and almost every hitter on the roster performing well under career norms, Stearns finds himself in the middle. On one hand, the Brewers woke up Sunday with an 11-14 record and one of the National League’s worst offenses. On the other hand, they were one game out of a spot in this year’s expanded postseason.

“When you're in my position, you always want to add to your team,” Stearns said before his team’s series finale in Pittsburgh. “We want to add to competitive teams, and we've proven that over the time I've been here. We also have to be smart. And this is going to be a really unique Deadline, I think, in a variety of different ways.

“I don't know that anyone knows for sure how it's going to play out in terms of volume of transactions and what types of transactions. So we're going to go into it open-minded in a variety of different ways and see what transpires over the next week.”

This year’s Trade Deadline is at 3 p.m. CT on Aug. 31. Only players in teams’ 60-man player pools may be immediately traded, though Stearns pointed out a notable exception: There is no rule against players to be named later.

On paper, there are ample positions at which the Brewers could use a boost. Through the first 25 games, Brewers third basemen (Stearns signed Eric Sogard and Jedd Gyorko last winter to platoon there) were 29th of 30 Major League teams with a .526 OPS. Brewers first basemen (primarily Justin Smoak) were 26th with a .667 OPS. In center field, Lorenzo Cain’s decision not to play in 2020 means Avisaíl García is playing somewhat out of position.

But filling those needs is easier said than done in a year in which more than half of the teams in MLB will make the playoffs. Who is left to sell Major League talent? In a season in which teams are absorbing enormous financial losses, who is taking on payroll? And even in the case of a match, how much prospect capital is it worth to acquire a player for the second half of a 60-game season?

From the seller’s side, how do teams evaluate prospects when they are limited to video exchanges from some alternate training sites?

That list of questions adds up to the trickiest of trade seasons, though there are always exceptions. Just this weekend, the Red Sox sent relievers to the Phillies in a rather traditional “players for prospects” deal.

“There are very few teams right now that I think look in the mirror and say, 'We don't have a chance at making the playoffs.' So that is going to limit the type of conventional conversations that you can have,” Stearns said. “I think some of those deals will still take place. We saw one with Boston. But you may have to find deals -- if you want to make trades -- that are more Major League pieces for Major League pieces. Or [that] you're dealing from an area of surplus, the other team is dealing from an area of surplus and you find more overlap that way."

That’s what the Brewers and Padres did at Thanksgiving when Milwaukee sent outfielder Trent Grisham and right-hander Zach Davies to San Diego for infielder Luis Urías and pitcher Eric Lauer, a left-hander with additional club control compared to Davies.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, that is among the offseason transactions that has yet to pay dividends.

“We knew we were trading pretty talented players. We talked about that at the time,” Stearns said. “We also really believe in the players that we’ve gotten back, and that continues to be the case. We’re certainly not going to begin to re-evaluate a transaction we made after 25 games.”

Stearns will weigh more deals over the next week.

“We don't usually make decisions based on 30 plate appearances or 20 games,” he said. “That's contrary to how we generally do things. We also have to recognize that this is a very different season, and we don't have 162 games to play out.”

Perdomo demoted, Feyereisen returns
The Brewers optioned left-hander Angel Perdomo back to the alternate training site on Sunday and recalled right-hander J.P. Feyereisen. Perdomo possesses great stuff but has shown little control, issuing two more walks and hitting a batter in Saturday's loss to give him seven walks and five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings over his first three Major League appearances.

“We can't walk multiple guys in an inning, multiple appearances in a row,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It's just not going to work. It's just too hard. It requires perfection with putting the ball in play, so it's got to be better.”

Said Stearns, “We're still very bullish on Perdomo. We saw in short snippets a lot about what we like about him. He has an overpowering arsenal when he's able to consistently throw strikes -- and he was consistently throwing strikes in Appleton. That's why we brought him here. As can often happen, you get to a Major League situation for the first couple of times, the nerves jump up and some of those finer skills, like command, can disappear a little bit.”

This is Feyereisen’s second stint with the Brewers in 2020. He made one appearance in the opening series against the Cubs after making Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster.