Orlando Arcia, the first potential customer of the Milwaukee Brewers, is once again on the move.
Although this time the change is much bigger than him sliding from shortstop to third base, with the team switching Arcia to Atlanta Braves for the right-handed appeasers Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel.
“We are excited to add two big, powerful arms to our organization,” said baseball operations president David Stearns in the statement announcing the deal. “They both have experience in the major league and give us additional quality options throughout the season.”
Both Sobotka and Weigel will report to the Brewers’ alternative training location in Appleton.
Right-handed Brad Boxberger will be called up before tonight’s game against the Chicago Cubs, taking Arcia’s place on the 26-man roster. Justin Topa will be transferred to the list of 60 players to make way for Arcia on the list of 40 players.
26-year-old Arcia is batting just 0.091 in four games this season, although he played an important role in the team’s only win on opening day, leading in the winning streak in the tenth entry with the choice of a defender.
The writing seemed to be on the wall for Arcia already in the off-season of 2019, when Milwaukee exchanged four players with the San Diego Padres who brought Luis Urías to the Brewers.
In this off-season, Arcia was told that he and Urías, 23, would share the shortstop job, after Arcia had been the unquestioned holder of the team since his debut in the major leagues in August 2016.
Two of Arcia’s three games this season were on third base.
Arcia was actually the most consistent hitter for the Brewers in 2020, leading the team with an average of 0.260, but he is a 0.244 hitter with a 0.293 percentage based on his career.
Defensively, Arcia has tremendous reach – a big advantage for all the changes the Brewers have made – and a strong throwing arm. But in 2019, in 2020 and in his only start as a shortstop this season, he was responsible for 6 fewer defensive runs saved in the position.
His best overall season came in 2017, when he hit 0.277 with 15 home runs and 53 runs driven during a game in 153 games, his career record.
Arcia avoided arbitration in this off-season, signing a one-year, $ 2 million contract with the Brewers on December 2. But it is believed that he has been in the commercial block since last season.
“On behalf of the entire organization, I want to thank Orlando for his contributions to our team and community,” said Stearns. “Orlando contributed to some of the greatest moments in Brewers history, including his memorable four-stroke performance at Game 163 in 2018 .
“We wish Orlando and his family the best as they move on to the next chapter in baseball.”
Arcia’s adjustment with the Braves seems to be more of a movement in search of depth, since they already have a fixed point in Dansby Swanson.
Swanson has been dealing with a calf injury and, like Arcia, had a difficult start on the plate with an average of 0.100.
Sobotka, who turns 28 on July 10, was chosen in the fourth round of the Braves in 2014. He has played 50 major league games since 2018 and is 1-0 with an average run of 5.36 and 61 eliminations in 47 Appetizer .
Weigel, who turns 27 on July 8, made his major league debut for Braves last season, with 2/3 of an entry. A pick from Atlanta’s seventh round in 2015, he missed most of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John’s surgery.
In an interesting twist, the Brewers actually pulled Weigel from Oxnard College in the 22nd round in 2014, but were unable to sign him.
This story is developing and will be updated.