Brewers' lost weekend could hasten departure of Greinke, others

With the Milwauke Brewers getting swept over the weekend in Cincinnati and falling 10 1/2 games out in the NL Central race, speculation about possible trades is certain to pick up.

The Brewers had told interested parties they wanted to wait to see how things went in the first nine games coming out of the All-Star break, but after going 2-1 against both the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals, the team took a dive against the Reds.

"Sure, that's a possible distraction," manager Ron Roenicke said. "Guys talk all the time. They watch ESPN and MLB (Network). The talks are going on every day. You can't not think about those things. They get used to so much talk going on. Some things do happen. Most things don't happen.

"They realize it's a lot of speculation. They realize they still have a job to do. Sometimes, guys look forward to maybe having that opportunity to go somewhere else."

Despite that speculation, Roenicke said it's the up to the players to stay focused and go about their job with more than two months remaining in the season.

"I know we try to stay focused on what we're doing and see where we're going to be at," he said. "You never know when your team is going to click and how late in the season (that might happen).

"You look at last year with St. Louis and what they did. You can take it to the last month of the season and be out of it basically, and the next thing you know, you do what they ended up doing last year."

The top name on the trade market is expected to be right-hander Zack Greinke, who has yet to accept the club's offer of a contract extension for five years and more than $100 million. Several clubs have been scouting Greinke, who had his last start skipped to give him extra rest and get him back on his routine.