Yankees Get First Base Possibility From Brewers For Tyler Webb

THE DEAL

The loss of Greg Bird to an ankle injury has impacted the Yankees to the point they rank next-to-last in OPS at first base. General manager Brian Cashman said in recent days that first base production from Bird, the recently-released Chris Carter, Tyler Austin and Ji-Man Choi was insufficient and that he would likely seek an outside solution. On Thursday, he made his first move, acquiring 26-year-old Garrett Cooper from the Brewers for 27-year-old lefthander Tyler Webb.

BREWERS ACQUIRE
Tyler Webb, lhp
Age: 27

Webb, a 10th-round pick in 2013 from South Carolina, made his major league debut this season after he was returned as a Rule 5 pick by the Pirates. He has fringe-average stuff—fastball that averaged 91 mph, a changeup and slider—but succeeded at Triple-A with command and control, especially against lefthanders, whom he held to a sub-.600 OPS in back-to-back seasons. He joins Josh Hader to give the Brewers another left-on-left matchup threat.

Club (League)	Class	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Scranton/W-B	AAA	3	1	3.24	21	0	0	1	33	33	12	12	3	3	47
New York (AL)	MAJ	0	0	4.50	7	0	0	0	6	3	3	3	1	4	5

YANKEES ACQUIRE
Garrett Cooper, 1b
Age: 26

The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Cooper was a sixth-round pick out of Auburn as a senior sign in 2013 and signed for just $30,000. The plus raw power he showed in college finally manifested at Triple-A this season, albeit at high-altitude Colorado Springs. After never hitting more than nine homers in a season, he hit 17 longballs in 75 games this year and earned a starting spot in the Triple-A All-Star Game.

Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that despite his age, the organization thought highly of Cooper.

“He’s more athletic than you see on paper,” Flanagan said. “He handles first base well defensively. He’s a good runner. So he’s not just a home run guy. He hits for average, doubles, hits to all fields.”

Cooper figures to at least get the chance to platoon with the lefthanded-hitting Choi, if not displace him entirely, although he’s been assigned to Triple-A.