With the non-waiver trade deadline nearly upon us, the Brewers have finally pulled off a deal, trading reliever Dave Duncan, who was demoted to AAA earlier in the summer, along with right fielder Troy bin Nadeem to Oklahoma City for left handed reliever Eric Marino.
The Brewers scouting staff sees Marino as having the potential to be a dominant closer in the WPK. He's a sinker/slider ground ball pitcher, which fits well in the Brewers philosophy. Lack of control could be an issue but he projects to develop elite or at least near elite stuff along with plus movement. Being a lefty he is unsurprisingly good at holding runners on and has the stamina for multi-inning appearances.
Duncan is a more fully developed pitcher than Marino and it seems the Diamond Kings were willing to trade away potential for a more established bullpen arm, even if Duncan's performance for the Brewers this year was pretty abysmal (after a very strong 1972.) In Troy bin Nadeem the Diamond Kings get an outfielder with a limited ceiling but one who has consistently over-achieved in the minors for the Brewers (although it was not reported here, bin Nadeem had a 23 game hitting streak at AAA Chester earlier this summer) and who is a decent defensive right fielder with a very fine arm.
(I wasn't really looking to trade for another reliever, but this guy was too tempting not to take. I felt a little concerned that I was cheating the Diamond Kings/AI, though Duncan is currently a better big league reliever, so even though the deal was considered acceptable by the opposing GM and my assistant GM as a straight up Duncan for Marino trade, I threw in bin Nadeem so that I wouldn't feel as guilty about it. Plus, bin Nadeem has no path to the bigs in the Brewers organization but deserves a chance to show if he deserve a role in the WPK, given his minor league success.)