Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said Thursday that the team is not actively shopping the club's two best players, Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy.
"Much ado about nothing so far," Attanasio told reporters about speculation that Braun or Lucroy, or both, would be traded before the Aug. 1 deadline.
"Ryan and Luc are performing at an All-Star level. If you look at the stream of players that third parties decide are tradable, either because of where their teams are or because of the stated intention to rebuild, frankly they're probably the best two players on whatever stream you want to come up. So, their names get mentioned a lot."
Lucroy, who missed 59 games because of injury in 2015, leads the team with a .310 batting average. Braun, a six-time All-Star, is batting .306.
In what was expected to be a rebuilding year, Milwaukee is 30-36, with young players like Jonathan Villar and Domingo Santana assuming regular roles, and more young talent in the pipeline,
Attanasio said general manager David Stearns would consider all options in an effort to strengthen the club's talent level.
"We have a lot of things we have to consider in our calculus. You have an experienced, veteran catcher, batting cleanup, who's handling a young pitching staff. You have a left fielder who is performing at an All-Star level who is a true five-tool player.
"We don't have to make that decision now. We'll see where we are at that point [the trade deadline]. There are a lot of things we're looking for this year from our team. It's not as simple as just saying, 'Point to a date in the future and how do we get there?'"
When asked how much trade talk the Brewers have actually engaged in, Attanasio said, "Very little, actually, for whatever reason."