Today, the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres made a trade that shook the entire baseball world.
Lefty Josh Hader, who has arguably been the most dominant reliever in all of baseball over the past several years, has been traded from Milwaukee to San Diego.
This news has shocked many around the game of baseball.
Why would the Brewers want to trade away a guy who has been one of the best relievers in the game for a long time?
On Twitter, several fans and MLB insiders expressed their shock and disbelief, while a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals thanked the Brewers for making such a Hader trade.
Baseball fans after hearing the Josh Hader news: pic.twitter.com/x3IgvQItZx
— Baseball Today (@dailymlbtweets) August 1, 2022
This Josh Hader for Taylor Rogers trade is the exact type of nonsense I’ve been waiting for. More, please
— SportsTalkATL Jake (@cantguardjake) August 1, 2022
GOODBYE JOSH HADER, THANK YOU BREWERS!!!
— Genesis off the Hennessy (Cardinals Rant) (@CardinalsRant_) August 1, 2022
The Brewers are in 1st place. Josh Hader was an All-Star this year.
The last time a first-place team traded a player who had been an All-Star for them that year was 2014, when the 1st-place A's traded All-Star Yoenis Céspedes to the Red Sox, for Jon Lester
h/t @EliasSports
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 1, 2022
A Total Shock
This is a shocker.
Sure, maybe we heard Hader’s name being floated around in some trade rumors.
We know that the Brewers have been listening to offers for him, at least on occasion.
But did anybody think that they would actually trade him?
The answer to that is definitely a hard “no.”
One would expect that the Brewers would be getting a hefty return for him.
After all, they’re in first place in the National League Central division, three games ahead of the Cardinals, which makes this trade even more surprising.
This gives the Cardinals a better chance to get back in the race and ultimately take home the NL Central crown, especially if they add an arm or two at the deadline.
Now would certainly be a good time for them to pounce if they want to chase down the Brewers.
But this is a trade that absolutely nobody saw coming.
It’s incredibly shocking to see perhaps the best reliever in all of baseball be traded away while his team is in first place.
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