Padres: Three big name trade targets AJ Preller could be eyeing

Padres: Christian Yelich might prove too costly for the Brewers to keep

I don’t make much of any player’s struggles last year. It was – as much as I’ve grown to hate the phrase – an unprecedented season where baseball was hardly top-of-mind for anyone, really.

Christian Yelich was one of those guys who really never got it going – at least if you’re looking at his traditional numbers. He batted just .205 on the year, although he did get on base at a .356 clip. But prior to 2020, he had just turned in back-to-back seasons where he tallied an OPS of at least 1.000.

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Heck, if not for a late-season knee injury that ended his 2019, he may very well have been the back-to-back recipient of the MVP award in the National League. So why, you ask, might the Brewers trade him? Because he’s in just the second season of a nine-year, $215 million deal – and Milwaukee is hardly a franchise that swims in cash.

The logic here? If Milwaukee might look to unload Hader as he gets more and more expensive, it stands to reason they might do the same with Yelich – especially as he’s still just 29 and likely has many productive years left (and, thus, higher trade value).

Like I said. This is a long shot. But, man, can you imagine one of the game’s best left-handed hitters added to a lineup that already showcases Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr.? Oh, and there’s a California tie here, too. Yelich grew up in Thousand Oaks, CA – a quick 2.5-hour drive up the coast from San Diego.