The Athletic puts the Brewers in the losers category

[ImissDougMelvin]

It's really hard to argue with this imo

Milwaukee Brewers

When you enter a trade deadline rumored to be in on Tarik Skubal, the top name on the trade market, and come away with Dustin May and JoJo Romero, it’s bound to be disappointing. The Brewers were in on trade talks all over the map, but little materialized. The Brewers are the same team they were on the other side of the deadline. That just so happens to be the team with the best win-loss record in baseball. So, maybe they’re on to something.

The additions of May, Romero and Antonio Senzatela fortify an already formidable pitching staff. Bo Naylor provides catching depth. But when the Dodgers land Skubal and the Cubs reshape their entire rotation, all of these smaller moves leave you wanting a bit more. — SN

[long ball]

Ya if your expectation was Skubal, this is certainly disappointing. 
 

im disappointed we didn’t get Skubal, but I do think the moves we made today will help weather the rest of the regular season and there’s a decent chance the 3 pitchers we got all make the playoff roster. 

[Bulldogboy]

This is accurate take. More importantly it's probably how the clubhouse feels.

[yfinn6]

Shocker

[StearnsFTW]

Fair assessment.

 

But I still prefer it to including Henderson (or Pena) in a Skubal trade.

 

The offense looks not-great right now but there didn’t seem to be any great bats available. 

[adambr2]

I find it very, very suspicious that the Dodgers always seem to land the big fish at the deadline. I’m not going all tinfoil hat here, but their deals with the Tigers are particularly suspicious. Remember them getting Jack Flaherty at the 2024 deadline for peanuts?

I’ve never come away with a Dodgers deadline deal thinking “wow, they gave up a lot.”

This isn’t an area that they should have a competitive advantage in, as long as any team is willing to eat the salary. I understand their system is loaded - if anything, you’d think that would mean they’d be paying premiums. Nope.

Not one of their top 5 prospects for Skubal. That’s insane.

[Turning2]

2 hours ago, StearnsFTW said:

Fair assessment.

 

But I still prefer it to including Henderson (or Pena) in a Skubal trade.

 

The offense looks not-great right now but there didn’t seem to be any great bats available. 

They should have been looking for bats 5-6 weeks ago IMO. Should have pressed the Twins for Brooks Lee a month+ ago, kept Lara in Nash, and hunted for a bigger RF bat, None of that matters if top of the order guys don’t get going though. 

[Matt]

Are the Brewers really losers if the Tigers were only ever going to deal with the Dodgers? Why aren't the Braves, Yankees, or Cubs losers for missing out on Skubal? 

[Thurston Fluff]

The Brewers went into the deadline needing bullpen help and an innings eating starter. It would have been nice to get a front line starter and/or a power bat. They got what they needed but are considered losers because they didn't get the cherry on top. 

[TURBO]

1 minute ago, Thurston Fluff said:

The Brewers went into the deadline needing bullpen help and an innings eating starter. It would have been nice to get a front line starter and/or a power bat. They got what they needed but are considered losers because they didn't get the cherry on top. 

also losers because they OVERpaid for what they ended up getting in May...

[adambr2]

6 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

The Brewers went into the deadline needing bullpen help and an innings eating starter. It would have been nice to get a front line starter and/or a power bat. They got what they needed but are considered losers because they didn't get the cherry on top. 

Is it absolutely crazy to consider just moving Fischer or Burke to the 40 on September 1st, bringing them up, and letting them DH against RHP every single day in September and see if you can find inject some pop into your lineup? Is there really anything to lose?

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Are the Brewers really losers if the Tigers were only ever going to deal with the Dodgers? Why aren't the Braves, Yankees, or Cubs losers for missing out on Skubal? 

They are. So are we. 
 

We are all losers besides the Dodgers until baseball gets fixed.

[Matt]

4 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Is it absolutely crazy to consider just moving Fischer or Burke to the 40 on September 1st, bringing them up, and letting them DH against RHP every single day in September and see if you can find inject some pop into your lineup? Is there really anything to lose?

I think it's crazy when you remember that a prolonged lockout is arriving next spring. I want Burke, Made, Fischer, and Adamczewski playing every day in AAA. 

[wibadgers23]

7 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Is it absolutely crazy to consider just moving Fischer or Burke to the 40 on September 1st, bringing them up, and letting them DH against RHP every single day in September and see if you can find inject some pop into your lineup? Is there really anything to lose?

Do they lose service time? That's the only thing I can think of but I don't fully understand how that all works.

[titanrick]

1 minute ago, wibadgers23 said:

Do they lose service time? That's the only thing I can think of but I don't fully understand how that all works.

I'm not the expert on this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.  But I've read that players on the 40-man next spring, when a presumably long lockout will occur, are unable to train or play at team facilities. Players not yet on the 40-man can continue with a minor league season.

If that's true, the risk is a long interruption for our top prospects' progression.  I think it's easier to ignore that risk if the player is Jett or Hardin or someone very close to getting promoted already.  But if it's somebody in AA who is not as "seasoned" yet, it's a bigger risk.

[gregmag]

I would be very grateful if the mods would stop this troll from starting a new thread every time a media outlet validates his numbingly repeated opinion.

[MrTPlush]

Feels like being a draft ‘loser’

We would have been a winner had we acquired Skubal. Which sounds good, but when we likely failed to make the World Series, how cool is being a deadline ‘winner’? 
 

Do we hang a banner?

[Thurston Fluff]

44 minutes ago, TURBO said:

also losers because they OVERpaid for what they ended up getting in May...

In a vacuum yes. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Prospects have a different value based on circumstances. Just like some teams prospects are more valuable as trade chips -the Dodgers for example- some prospects on a team have more value as a trade chip that other lesser rated prospects on that same team.

I don't think the Brewers were interested in trading any of their blue chip prospects so I'll take the top 10 out of the equation. The Brewers outfield prospects are not as valauble to the Brewers as future players as their pitching or catching prospects. If the choice was to give up Dubanewicz and Dorchies or Ragsdale and Frias it would look like an easy choice to give up the former. But we'd also be giving up our number 4 and 5 pitching prospects. Both of whom will probably have are larger role on the 2028 tams and beyond than either Ragsdale or Frias would have. 

If you want to argue they could have got more for them fine. To do that you'd have to argue there was more out there that could have been had for those two. If you want to argue other teams paid less for more fine. But you'd have to argue there were better players available for the specific players the Brewers were willing to give up. If you want to argue we could have got more for them in the off season fine. But you'd also have to say they should have just not have tried to upgrade the rotation or get a left handed reliever at all. What you can't say is the Brewers left better options on the table for the players they were willing to give up. That would require them being entirely incompetent. I think we can all agree they are not.

[adambr2]

41 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think it's crazy when you remember that a prolonged lockout is arriving next spring. I want Burke, Made, Fischer, and Adamczewski playing every day in AAA. 

I understand this take as it’s not ideal for them, nor is it ideal for Chourio, Pratt, Lara and Miz.

I also don’t want them to make or not make moves that could influence the 2026 season and playoffs based on hypotheticals that may or may not happen in 2027.

[Brewcrew82]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this one of the many outlets that has pegged us to be much worse than we have been the last several years? 

If so, why should particularly we care what they say about us now? 

[kestrel79]

18 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this one of the many outlets that has pegged us to be much worse than we have been the last several years? 

If so, why should particularly we care what they say about us now? 

This. Remember all the preseason rankings and standings? We were last in our division in many of them. No respect. And now they call us losers? Who cares. 

 

[Jopal78]

On 8/4/2026 at 9:50 AM, adambr2 said:

I find it very, very suspicious that the Dodgers always seem to land the big fish at the deadline. I’m not going all tinfoil hat here, but their deals with the Tigers are particularly suspicious. Remember them getting Jack Flaherty at the 2024 deadline for peanuts?

I’ve never come away with a Dodgers deadline deal thinking “wow, they gave up a lot.”

This isn’t an area that they should have a competitive advantage in, as long as any team is willing to eat the salary. I understand their system is loaded - if anything, you’d think that would mean they’d be paying premiums. Nope.

Not one of their top 5 prospects for Skubal. That’s insane.

I don’t think a tinfoil hat is needed to understand why Detroit did what they did. 
 

They’ve been in the ALDS the last two seasons, They had a $200M+ payroll on opening day. 
 

They have Dingler (27), McGonigle (21) Colt Keith (25), Riley Green (25), and Torkelson (26), Max Clark (21).

It’s fair to assume with that core of hitters they’re not rebuilding, they were interested in adding young pitching to pair with Valdez, Jobe, and Melton in order to compete in the immediacy. 

A ball and AA Hitters from Milwaukee (no matter how talented) simply weren’t that valuable to Detroit because of their organizational need for pitching is much greater than that of young bats given the make up of their big league roster.

[Joseph Zarr]

We won the Trade Deadline! Yeli is now pushed to 7th in the batting order. Woot woot! No wait. He's hitting 5th now. No wait,  actually we need to remember what he was and how important he is to the organization every time he tops a dribbler to 2nd base or pops up weakly to 3rd. That's the ticket.

#BenchJoey

 

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

We won the Trade Deadline! Yeli is now pushed to 7th in the batting order. Woot woot! No wait. He's hitting 5th now. No wait,  actually we need to remember what he was and how important he is to the organization every time he tops a dribbler to 2nd base or pops up weakly to 3rd. That's the ticket.

#BenchJoey

 

I was actually a little encouraged that Murphy was talking about his history and what he meant to this club, but he added “that doesn’t give him the grace … if he’s in the lineup, he has got to perform”.

So there’s a limit there even with Murphy. I don’t know what it is and it’s going to be a longer leash than any of us would like but there is not going to be a permanent hall pass here.

[Joseph Zarr]

4 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I was actually a little encouraged that Murphy was talking about his history and what he meant to this club, but he added “that doesn’t give him the grace … if he’s in the lineup, he has got to perform”.

So there’s a limit there even with Murphy. I don’t know what it is and it’s going to be a longer leash than any of us would like but there is not going to be a permanent hall pass here.

To my chiseled vet ears, that certainly comes off as a buffer of coach speak. I remember the Elvis Peguero RISP innings. I remember the year plus long Joey O conversation (the fact he is benching him now is high comedy). Murphy is a fantastic leader, but he is also very stubborn and very much has his guys. There is not much favorable rationale in demanding Yeli work this out in games. He 'should' have to earn the opportunity to perform just like every other player. And given his injury history, the manager should be even more keenly aware that a break may be necessary to get the body/timing/mechanics right. This is just painful right now and it certainly feels unnecessary. Am I wrong? All above cheekiness aside, I certainly admit I could be wrong n how I view this situation.