The first few weeks of the baseball season have proven to be interesting. What’s more surprising?
The fact that the perennial powerhouse and defending champion Red Sox are last place in the AL East with a record of 6-12, or the fact that the Rays are leading the same division by 5.5 games at a record of 13-4? Probably the former, considering if the Rays had been in a different division last season, they would’ve had a shot at the playoffs with a 90-72 record.
Christian Yelich hasn’t missed a beat since his 2018 MVP campaign came to end, as he is currently the best player in baseball. Yes, he’s even better than Mike Trout. I can prove it by saying his 1.224 OPS is best in the MLB since the 2018 All-Star Break.
Oh, and let’s not forget that he isn’t just a one-dimensional player—he won a Gold Glove in 2014 for his defensive work in center field.
On a side note, another NL Central outfielder, Marcell Ozuna, is 9-20 with five home runs, 10 RBIs and two doubles in his last five games with the Cardinals. Yelich isn’t the only guy making some noise out of the batter’s box over the past week. What else is similar between these two guys? They were both on the Miami Marlins just a couple seasons ago. Oh, and they shared the outfield with some guy named Giancarlo Stanton (who’s on the Yankees now). Imagine a team with Ozuna, Yelich and Stanton making up their outfield corps: that team is now 4-14 and in last place.
But let’s go back to Yelich. The common baseball fan would rightfully assume that Yelich was traded for a hefty package and a chunk of substantial coin—he was not. Yelich only makes about $7 million a year with the Brew Crew, and that’s actually a contract that was initiated by the Marlins before his departure.
Yelich was given to the Brewers for essentially some pocket lint and a pack of gum. The Brewers got Yelich and the Marlins received Lewis Brinson, Isan Díaz, Monte Harrison and Jordan Yamamoto. Have you heard of any of those guys? Me neither.
The Brewers are currently basking in the riches of their goldmine in Christian Yelich while the Marlins scrape the barrel bottom even after attempting to rebuild by trading all of their studs in Ozuna, Yelich, Stanton and all-star catcher J.T. Realmuto.
I would argue that the Yelich trade is quite possibly the most one-sided trade of all-time. Smile if you’re a Brewers fan…because that guy can take you to the promised land.