Canha brings versatility, offense to Crew's outfield

WASHINGTON -- Pitching and defense has been the name of the game for the Brewers this season, but trading for Mets outfielder Mark Canha in the run-up to Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline appears engineered around putting a more offense-oriented team on the field.

And the 5-3 loss to the Nationals on Monday night at Nationals Park showed why that’s a priority.

“Look, we talked about this when we were winning games,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, whose club slipped 1 1/2 games behind the Reds in the National League Central. “We were putting a lot of pressure on [the pitchers] to be perfect. On nights that they’re not and some balls find grass, it hurts us bad.”

TRADE DETAILS
Brewers get: OF Mark Canha, cash
Mets get: RHP Justin Jarvis (Milwaukee's No. 30 prospect)

Monday was one of those nights. Corbin Burnes delivered his sixth quality start in as many outings in July and Joey Wiemer hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the seventh, only to see the advantage slip away from reliever Elvis Peguero in the bottom of the inning when Joey Meneses’ broken-bat two-run single decided the game.

Six times in the first four games of this trip, the Brewers have taken a lead. All six times, they have lost the lead in the bottom of the same inning. The margin of those leads: Two runs, then one, one, one, one and one.

So after picking up switch-hitting first baseman Carlos Santana on Thursday, the Brewers made another move with run production in mind just before Monday’s first pitch, sending right-handed pitching prospect Justin Jarvis to the Mets for 34-year-old Canha and cash, adding a nine-year veteran who bats right-handed and has a knack for getting on base.

Canha, who is expected in uniform for Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals, is due about $3.5 million for the remainder of this season, but a source confirmed to MLB.com that the Mets are sending cash to cover all but a prorated portion of the league minimum. The Brewers will then be on the hook for Canha’s $11.5 million club option for 2024, which has a $2 million buyout.

While Santana is regarded for his defense in addition to his power bat, Canha is a hitter first. He slashed .245/.343/.381 in 303 plate appearances with a 104 wRC+ for the Mets this season, slightly down from recent seasons. One factor Milwaukee surely considered is his .279 batting average on balls in play, which indicates a degree of bad luck in those numbers.

From 2018-22 as a regular for the A’s and then the Mets after signing a two-year, $26.5 million deal, Canha had a 127 wRC+ -- meaning he was 27 percent above league average offensively. He's played in four postseasons, which Brewers general manager Matt Arnold called "a big factor."

"He's a guy that we're excited to have," Arnold said. "He's somebody that's been a productive big league player now for a long time, and he still is a versatile guy as well. ... He's somebody that we think can help us here down the stretch."

Canha has played all three outfield positions, first base and some third base in his career, but for the Brewers “he’s probably going to play right field, and that’s going to move Sal [Frelick] to some center field,” Counsell said. “We’ll have to kind of mix and match with the outfielders.”

With the DH in play for Christian Yelich and Canha, Counsell still sees a role for Wiemer, who has impressed defensively (his 12 fielding runs leads MLB, per Statcast), but hasn’t hit much. Including his 13th home run on Monday night, Wiemer has a .678 OPS and an 83 wRC+.

Jarvis, Milwaukee’s fifth-round pick in 2018, ranked 30th on MLB Pipeline’s top Brewers prospects list, and he is 6-6 with a 4.33 ERA in 17 starts between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville this season, including a 12.34 ERA in his first three starts at the higher level. Milwaukee skipped his last start in an effort to give Jarvis a bit of extra rest.

The Brewers have been actively working the phones as the Trade Deadline nears in an effort to improve an offense that finished the weekend tied for 24th of 30 MLB teams with 4.16 runs per game.

"I think as the market is beginning to loosen up a little bit as we get closer to the Deadline, there could be potentially some more activity," Arnold said. "Certainly, we're going to be involved.”

Canha will aim to help starting Tuesday night.

“He should help us quite a bit,” Burnes said. “I don’t know what’s coming [before Tuesday’s Deadline], but we’ll see what happens. … They’ve always got moves in their pocket.”