"There Was A Shock Factor": Brewers Pitcher Rips Front Office For Josh Hader Trade

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Eric Lauer has opened up about the shocking trade deadline deal that saw the Brewers ship out their All-Star closer Josh Hader to San Diego. And he wasn't holding anything back. 

“There was a shock factor to it,” Lauer said. “Everybody was taken aback by it a little bit... The only thing I can think of was, from the top down it seemed like there was a weird behind-the-scenes message that was sent that a lot of people didn’t jive with."

Very interesting from Eric Lauer about the Brewers trade deadline...

“It didn’t send us the right message from the upstairs...It seemed more of a, ‘We’re trying to develop for the future.’”

"There’s this weird hovering thing over us right now...We just have to get past it.” https://t.co/n20B02FSjI

— Hunter Baumgardt (@hunterbonair) August 22, 2022

“It didn’t send us the right message from the upstairs people trying to say, like, ‘We’re doing this and we’re trying to put you guys in the best position and we’re trying to win right now with you guys.’ It seemed more of a, ‘We’re trying to develop for the future.’”

And even regardless of what the front office's motives were, Lauer and many of his teammates were disappointed in the lack of transparency by management. 

“Afterward, there was no communication to the clubhouse [about] what changed in the clubhouse. It’s kind of like it was shrugged off,” Lauer said. “I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the way they described it to the public." 

"There’s this weird hovering thing over us right now...We just have to get past it.”

The Brewers have fallen out of the playoff picture, 1.5 games back in the Wild Card chase, and a full five games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for top spot in the NL Central division.

Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/ USA Today Network, MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL / USA TODAY NETWORK