3 Starting Pitchers Milwaukee Brewers Should Consider Trading For

Brandon Woodruff needs season-ending surgery on his shoulder—a second operation on the anterior capsule. That leaves the Brewers rotation, which was already getting thin on the back end, further in need of reinforcement. Let’s break down three different starting pitchers Milwaukee should go after if they want to be serious contenders come the postseason. 

Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal would be the home run pick. This would be the equivalent to what the team did for CC Sabathia in the second half of the 2008 season, and it’s no secret that even as a rental, Milwaukee would need to give up a lot of value to get the two-time Cy Young winner. 

Few teams are better-positioned to do that very thing, though. In addition to having the best record in the majors, Milwaukee boasts the best farm system, according to MLB Pipeline. Skubal is arguably the best pitcher in baseball, but he won't cost them top prospect Jesus Made. The team-friendly extensions signed by Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara make it unlikely that they'd be moved, either. That still leaves a long list of solid prospects whom the team could consider including, though.

It’d be a gamble, but if all goes well, a 1-2-3 sequence including Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison and Skubal would give this team a chance to outpitch any team they encounter in October.

Sean Manaea
The New York Mets are clear sellers, and while Sean Manaea isn’t having the strongest season, he was a top-15 Cy Young Award finisher just two short seasons ago. 

Manaea is currently 2-5 with a 4.74 ERA and 81 strikeouts over 79 2/3 innings. Don’t let that discourage you; Milwaukee has taken many pitchers (Quinn Preister, Aaron Civale, Bryse Wilson) with similarly underwhelming recent numbers and flipped them into much better versions of themselves. 

Though he's in his age-34 season and has been relegated to the bullpen even in Queens, Manaea does do some things well enough to make him interesting. His plus-plus extension helps the 90.5-MPH fastball play up. The southpaw also has a remarkable chase rate, utilizing a five-pitch mix to get a chase 32.3% of the time. His contract is onerous, but one benefit of dealing with the Mets is knowing that they'll eat most of the money. In this case, even if they do so, the acquisition cost for the Brewers should be quite low. 

Trevor Rogers
Trevor Rogers has the ability to be a wicked pitcher. Take one look at the Orioles hurler’s windup, and you’ll see the visual definition of the word 'deception'. Rogers releases the baseball at a low 22° arm angle, creating a rising effect on the majority of his pitches. The 2017 first-round pick is on a one-year, $6.2-million deal covering his final season of arbitration eligibility; he becomes a free agent this fall.

He holds a 6-7 record with a 4.28 ERA this season, and has piled up 77 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. He induces one of the best chase rates in MLB at 33.0%, and he uses five different pitches. Overall, his sweeper proves to be the most lethal, breaking violently to his armside. 

The sweeper garners the highest whiff rate (31.3%) and lowest batting average (.200) of any of the options in an arsenal that also features the fastball, changeup, sinker and cutter. Combining Rogers’s deception with the Brewers’ pitching lab could make him into even more of a weapon.

Any of these three hurlers could help the Brewers, who need sponges for innings down the stretch. However, their greater need—for a third playoff-caliber stud to lead the rotation—would only be filled if they can reel in Skubal, or if they nail it with Rogers. Whichever direction they go, the team is in a great position, but they must remain proactive.