Division rivals do business in this hypothetical MLB trade

Proposed Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals trade sends outfielder Tyler O’Neill to the Brew Crew in exchange for two top-30 prospects.

Proposed trade from Mark Powell:

Milwaukee Brewers receive:

• OF Tyler O’Neill

St. Louis Cardinals receive: 

• RHP Abner Uribe
• C Matthew Wood

On the Baseball Trade Values trade simulator this deal has the Brewers received value at 6.90 and the Cardinals at 5.30.

A further dive into the proposed trade has Milwaukee getting a veteran outfielder with one-and-a-half years of control remaining, but also one who has struggled with injuries the past two seasons and currently resides on the 60-day injured list.  When healthy he provides excellent defense and power at the plate.

The Cardinals return has them receiving the Brewers ninth-ranked prospect Abner Uribe and 24th-ranked prospect Matthew Wood. Uribe is an up-and-coming flamethrower who consistently hits triple digits.  Matthew Wood was drafted in the fourth round last year and currently holds a .801 OPS at the High-A level.

This trade proposal feels like an appropriate package for O’Neill.  Outside the fact that divisional trades hardly ever happen, the biggest questions involved would be whether Milwaukee is willing to take a gamble on an often-injured outfielder who would crowd their current group even further.  They also would have to be willing to part ways with two promising prospects who could potentially play against them or several years to come.