Cornerstone of Miami's Rebuild

Lewis Brinson was the centerpiece of the four prospect package the Marlins received for Christian Yelich. The highly touted five-tool player impressed at Triple A Colorado Springs -- but the talent didn't translate on the big league level.
He hit just .106 in 21 games last summer with Brewers. To be fair, breaking in during a pennant race isn't easy. And with Milwaukee in contention -- such as the July 27th game when I saw him in Washington -- there wasn't going to be as much patience, or room for error, as the Marlins are likely to provide.
If you're a Brew Crew fan, you've got to be excited -- by compaison, Yelich is a sure thing. Same for the club's other big acquisition, Lorenzo Cain. Three years from now, if Milwaukee has been to the playoffs a couple of times, maybe reached the World Series -- I KNOW, that's a huge IF -- Brinson turning into a star on a cellar-dwelling Miami club won't bother you. And you know the Cardinals under GM Mike Girsch feel the same way about their deal for Marcel Ozuna.
The beauty of this website is that posts are permanent. We can come back in a year or two and re-evaluate these deals. We'll know if Yelich helped put the Brewers over the top, or if Brinson has become the heart and soul of a newly powerful Miami team.
That's why deals like these are always gambles -- we don't know the future, but like the player trying to beat a "17" in blackjack, the fun is seeing if the strategy pays off.

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