After Missing Out on Tarik Skubal, Brewers Still Got What They Needed Most at Trade Deadline

[Daubs]

14 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

They traded for Favre in 1992 he wasn't a free agent.

Desmond Howard was the MVP for Super Bowl XXXI.

[LouisEly]

Back to the Brewers, what some are focusing on is who will be a starter in the playoffs.  When we talk about what the Brewers "needed" per the thread title, I think it could be argued that they "needed" quality innings just to get to the playoffs in one piece without turning their pitching staff into the 2025 Cubs. 

They have an inconsistent at best starter in Sproat, and they need to manage innings with others.  They got one starter, and one reliever who can go multiple innings.  We know the Brewers don't necessarily focus on who starts as much as who gets as many outs as they can as efficiently as possible.

So, I think it can be argued that they got most of what they need, within the context of who was realistically available.

[Bulldogboy]

The article mentioned replacing Yelich would have negative impact in clubhouse? How!! Taking a guy who hasn't produced out for someone who can is going to be a problem? If so forfeit the season they are done. Play the best players. This isn't lifetime achievement. 

[TURBO]

4 hours ago, Trax said:

I hate giving up prospects and I really like Ragsdale but both trades on the final day made total sense.

 

We without a doubt improved our team as we ease into the post season without burning a present top 10 prospect.   

Instead, we burnt what, #11 AND #13?

Just feaking crazy...

[TURBO]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Losing to the eventual World Series champion?

What have you seen that says that isn't going to happen again?

Is this what we have to hang our hats on, losing to the eventual WS Champion?

We can have the best record in MLB every single regular season for the next decade, but that means jack squat when it comes to the playoffs.  Beating the Cubs last season in the playoffs was our World Series.  If it happens again this year, it will also be our World Series because I just can't see this team, this offense knocking out the evil empire.

[Brewcrew82]

3 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

While this may be true, as myself and a few others have repeatedly had to point out to posters on this board: Frias is a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball and this community has been behind in understanding how good he is and could become for quite awhile. Many outlets believe he is already a Top 50 prospect in all of baseball for crying out loud. I spoke with people in the industry late last summer and then again with folks in Arizona in and around the Brewers and MLB baseball in early July. The glowing words and overwhelmingly excited projection opinions were astounding. I know folks here will find reasons to devalue prospects but I can tell you the opinions and sentiments shared were absolutely on the same level as Made when he was moving through the Comex. It was absolutely eye opening.

He's not an up the middle player like Made and hasn't been as good in A ball as Made or Chourio before him at that age. I don't see it. And is probably why the Brewers were willing to deal him. 

His value is dependent on his bat, which would likely need to develop to Caminero/Soto level to truly hurt us given our organizational depth. Non-zero chance obviously given his power tool, but not especially likely either. 

[Brewcrew82]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

Back to the Brewers, what some are focusing on is who will be a starter in the playoffs.  When we talk about what the Brewers "needed" per the thread title, I think it could be argued that they "needed" quality innings just to get to the playoffs in one piece without turning their pitching staff into the 2025 Cubs. 

They have an inconsistent at best starter in Sproat, and they need to manage innings with others.  They got one starter, and one reliever who can go multiple innings.  We know the Brewers don't necessarily focus on who starts as much as who gets as many outs as they can as efficiently as possible.

So, I think it can be argued that they got most of what they need, within the context of who was realistically available.

Yep. The improvement from Sproat to May cannot be overstated. It's a big move to get your pitching staff to the postseason in good shape. And then May can definitely be a big part of the postseason pitching staff. 

Best hitter traded at the deadline was Luis Garcia, who is a 1B/DH. Brewers are stuck with Yelich and cannot then roster three first baseman/DH guys in Bauers, Vaughn, and Garcia. Was an incredibly weak deadline for impact bats unfortunately, and none really at positions where we could realistically use them. 

[Thurston Fluff]

34 minutes ago, TURBO said:

What have you seen that says that isn't going to happen again?

Is this what we have to hang our hats on, losing to the eventual WS Champion?

We can have the best record in MLB every single regular season for the next decade, but that means jack squat when it comes to the playoffs.  Beating the Cubs last season in the playoffs was our World Series.  If it happens again this year, it will also be our World Series because I just can't see this team, this offense knocking out the evil empire.

Miz, Harrison and Henderson as your starting three with a more than capable Drohan, Gasser ready if necessary. Much more depth in the pitching staff as a whole. Coming into this playoff run having gotten the losing in the first round monkey off their back. I felt the team had a let down after finally winning a playoff series that partially contributed to their dismal showing. There's also the experience of knowing what it takes during the season to be ready for a longer playoff run. Which is why getting an innings eating starter plus two bullpen guys was such a big deal. The key was not finding players who could compete with other elite pitching staffs. It was making sure they were not burnt out come playoff time. 

This is not the 2025 Brewers team. 

 

 

[Thurston Fluff]

3 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

While this may be true, as myself and a few others have repeatedly had to point out to posters on this board: Frias is a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball and this community has been behind in understanding how good he is and could become for quite awhile. Many outlets believe he is already a Top 50 prospect in all of baseball for crying out loud. I spoke with people in the industry late last summer and then again with folks in Arizona in and around the Brewers and MLB baseball in early July. The glowing words and overwhelmingly excited projection opinions were astounding. I know folks here will find reasons to devalue prospects but I can tell you the opinions and sentiments shared were absolutely on the same level as Made when he was moving through the Comex. It was absolutely eye opening.

I don't think you're doing your argument any favors by claiming Frias is in the same category as Made. 

[Joseph Zarr]

17 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

I don't think you're doing your argument any favors by claiming Frias is in the same category as Made. 

I am not making such claims. I am saying: coming out of the Complex his offensive hit tool and projections were talked about with industry contacts in a very similar manner. He missed half of last DSL season to injury but he had gotten onto the radar and the people I spoke to were already pointing to this. The bat speed, exit velos, launch angle capacities, quality of contact and hitting projections were uncannily familiar conversations. Obviously, he is essentially a RF'er so the value isn't the same as a Made. And I am not making such like-for-like claims - Made inherently will always have more value. But his defense and arm are also elite. He is a 5-Tool guy. Anyhow, we will just have to see how it plays out. 

[TURBO]

39 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

This is not the 2025 Brewers team. 

 

 

Truth, and the Dodgers are not the 2025 Dodgers team either, they added Skubal, and we counter with May.

We are not playing the same game as the Dodgers.

[Thurston Fluff]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I am not making such claims. I am saying: coming out of the Complex his offensive hit tool and projections were talked about with industry contacts in a very similar manner. He missed half of last DSL season to injury but he had gotten onto the radar and the people I spoke to were already pointing to this. The bat speed, exit velos, launch angle capacities, quality of contact and hitting projections were uncannily familiar conversations. Obviously, he is essentially a RF'er so the value isn't the same as a Made. And I am not making such like-for-like claims - Made inherently will always have more value. But his defense and arm are also elite. He is a 5-Tool guy. Anyhow, we will just have to see how it plays out. 

Whomever said that probably wasn't saying that at the time of the trade any more. 

[wiguy94]

6 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Truth, and the Dodgers are not the 2025 Dodgers team either, they added Skubal, and we counter with May.

We are not playing the same game as the Dodgers.

If we are going to directly compare prospective playoff rotations, the Brewers even though they didn't land Skubal have seen a much larger improvement compared to a year ago than the Dodgers did.

[TURBO]

5 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

If we are going to directly compare prospective playoff rotations, the Brewers even though they didn't land Skubal have seen a much larger improvement compared to a year ago than the Dodgers did.

Is it enough to compete with this rotation?

[Matt]

I don't think anyone is worried about our rotation or staff, with or without Skubal. It's the confidence that the offense can score more than one run a game, something they didn't do the last time they met the Dodgers. 

Talk of anything else is just nonsense. 

[GasserFace]

I am interested in seeing how May would look out of the pen as well.  Miz, Harrison and Hendo followed by May, Ashby, Senzatela, Romero, Uribe and Megill sounds like a formula where we may only need to score 3+ runs per night in a playoff series.

[Thurston Fluff]

15 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Truth, and the Dodgers are not the 2025 Dodgers team either, they added Skubal, and we counter with May.

We are not playing the same game as the Dodgers.

I thought the Dodgers would be the odds on favorite to win it regardless of who they, or we, got. I'd still think they were if we got Skubal they stood pat. That said, I thought the Brewers did enough to give themselves a legitimate chance to beat the odds. The Dodgers could only get so much better. They were always going to trot someone out with a good chance of going six innings with two or fewer runs. Now they probably added a 5% better chance of doing so. We boosted our chances of doing the same by a larger percentage by keeping our young arms fresher.

[narwhalattack]

1 hour ago, Brewcrew82 said:

He's not an up the middle player like Made and hasn't been as good in A ball as Made or Chourio before him at that age. I don't see it. And is probably why the Brewers were willing to deal him. 

His value is dependent on his bat, which would likely need to develop to Caminero/Soto level to truly hurt us given our organizational depth. Non-zero chance obviously given his power tool, but not especially likely either. 

Regarding his performance in A-ball, he is young for that level and it’s not unheard of for players to struggle when they are first promoted. It is possible that he’ll look better by this time next year.

That being said, most of the hype I’ve seen about him has been about his bat, and even then I’ve seen his scouting reports point out the lack of loft in his swing and that he may need some changes in his swing mechanics in order to fully tap into that raw power. Also, at least based on what I’ve seen on Baseball America, it seems that although his plus-plus arm may be helpful in RF, his speed and defense is generally seen as below average. While it is possible that his defense improves somewhat over time, he’s likely not getting any faster, especially as he bulks up with physical maturity. Perhaps that’s what factored into why Arnold thought he was expendable.

[wiguy94]

20 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Is it enough to compete with this rotation?

Our rotation isn't competing against their rotation. Our rotation is competing against their hitters. The hitting is the much bigger issue than the pitching. Our pitching is in a way better spot this year than it was a year ago. 

[adambr2]

I feel like the “Sproat has TOR stuff, we gotta stick with him and unlock it” crowd switched to the “Thank God we got May, Sproat was butt, what an upgrade” crowd quickly in the last 24 hours. 

[narwhalattack]

Just now, adambr2 said:

I feel like the “Sproat has TOR stuff, we gotta stick with him and unlock it” crowd switched to the “Thank God we got May, Sproat was butt, what an upgrade” crowd quickly in the last 24 hours. 

Sproat reminds me of Manny Parra. The potential is there, but he is infuriating to watch.

[Brewcrew82]

1 minute ago, adambr2 said:

I feel like the “Sproat has TOR stuff, we gotta stick with him and unlock it” crowd switched to the “Thank God we got May, Sproat was butt, what an upgrade” crowd quickly in the last 24 hours. 

This feels like an exaggeration. It remains a results-based business. Even those who are highest on Sproat's potential seem to have long soured on his ability to come anywhere close to it this year. You could afford to give him time to work through things earlier in the year, but there's been little obvious signs of improvement heading into the stretch run, which is why they needed May. 

[adambr2]

4 minutes ago, narwhalattack said:

Sproat reminds me of Manny Parra. The potential is there, but he is infuriating to watch.

Beyond the physical skillset there is a mental part of this game that is necessary to succeed. I’m not writing him off completely, but I’m not sure he has that. 

Things go okay for him until they don’t. Something as routine as a walk often seem to send him into a spiral. 

I have just generally not seen him handle adversity well throughout the course of the season. I do feel for him, because it’s clearly not for a lack of effort or caring. You can tell he feels bad about his lack of contributions.

Maybe they should start with a makeover. I don’t know why he purposely shows up to work every day looking like he’s about to assist brother Mario in rescuing Princess Peach from Bowsers’ Castle.

[owbc]

8 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I feel like the “Sproat has TOR stuff, we gotta stick with him and unlock it” crowd switched to the “Thank God we got May, Sproat was butt, what an upgrade” crowd quickly in the last 24 hours. 

The pivot may have had something to do with Sproat's pitching performance last night. 

[adambr2]

4 minutes ago, owbc said:

The pivot may have had something to do with Sproat's pitching performance last night. 

For those of us who watched the 18 starts prior to that, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise,