Three Right-Handed Relievers The Brewers Could Pursue At The Trade Deadline

Upon reading the title, a discerning fan or typically judicious Facebook reader might remark, “Hey, isn’t our bullpen already pretty darn good? In fact, aren’t they fourth in MLB by team ERA with a mark of 3.20? Shouldn’t we go out and get starters instead?” While the number is undeniably correct, at least at the time of this article, the Brewers bullpen situation is a little more nuanced than usual. 

The first thing to do is to acknowledge how grim the starting pitching injury situation is. With Robert Gasser placed on the 15-day IL, the team was forced to call up Carlos F Rodriguez despite not having things figured out in Triple-A yet. When starters like DL Hall and Joe Ross eventually return to the rotation, it will take time to ramp up their stamina and re-acclimate to major-league hitting, so they might not be effective right out of the gate.

This feeds into the second point, which is the bullpen workload. Brewers relievers have pitched 298 ⅓ innings, the most in baseball. They’ve faced 1,230 batters (third in baseball) but have been reasonably efficient, throwing just 4,641 pitches (seventh in baseball). While the starters continue to ramp back up to 100%, the relievers will probably still carry a significant portion of responsibility. 

Third, having a good bullpen is fun, but isn’t having a great bullpen even more fun? Of course, it is. Milwaukee needs every advantage it can get, especially with the team’s past four postseason runs ending in the first round. Should starting pitching be the #1 concern for the team when it comes to trade talks this summer? 100%, but what happens if they can’t get the starting pitching help they need? What if the White Sox aren't willing to give up Garrett Crochet for anything less than part-ownership of Bernie Brewer's slide? Surely it’d be better to do something than nothing, especially if it won’t break the bank (er, farm?).

So now that we’ve established that there's at least some merit to entertaining this side of trade talks, which relievers are both worth pursuing and on teams that are likely to sell them off?

Declan Cronin, RHP, Miami Marlins
Much of the trade talks with the Marlins have surrounded lefty closer Tanner Scott. He’s caused quite a bit of ruckus, and it seems like there are more than several suitors clamoring for his services. Because of the strong demand, it would make sense for it to be a seller’s market, and the Marlins will likely set a price that will be reasonable for teams desperate for bullpen help but a bit too steep for the Brewers. For this reason, I’ve turned my attention to his younger, less bald teammate, Declan Cronin.

Declan Cronin had a terrible debut year with the White Sox but has maintained his rookie status for this year, and so far, his 2024 has been much better than his 2023. He’s pitching to a 2.65 ERA over 34 innings and has been the king of soft contact. He only does two things well: limit barrel rates and induce ground balls. His barrel rate of 3.2% and ground-ball rate of 60.6% are better than 95% of qualified pitchers this season. Interestingly enough, opposing batters are hitting the ball pretty dang hard, averaging an exit velocity of 90.8 mph, but their launch angle is less than optimal 0.7 degrees. 

So, how does he prevent hitters from getting under the ball? It's a deadly slider/sinker combination. His slider is his primary weapon, and he has been great at attacking batters' knees, but in the right spot. It’s not gross enough to generate incomprehensible whiff/strikeout rates, and I would hardly call it “wipeout,” but that’s sort of its beauty. It’s just tempting enough to get a swing, albeit one that spikes a ball straight into the dirt. The slider has a strikeout rate of 27.8%, but opposing batters are only managing to slug .253 against it.

His sinker has a similar M.O., choosing to move arm-side instead of downward. Against lefties, he’ll aim for the tip of the barrel. Against righties, he’ll aim for the hands. 

With the defense the Brewers have played this year, he might make a perfect fit. One snag that might come up is how much team control he has left on his contract, not even hitting arbitration until 2027. On the other hand, the Marlins have plenty of pitching talent, with their top three prospects all pitchers. They’ll need to rebuild the whole team, and their hitting needs far exceed their need for a righty reliever, so it wouldn’t be out of the question that Cronin would be traded for a reasonable price despite his rookie status. 

Jason Foley, RHP, Detroit Tigers
While Detroit's offense continues to be remarkably bad, their pitching staff has been excellent. Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty have been great for their rotation and aside from a few names, their bullpen isn't actually half bad. Leading the effort is their loyal closer, Jason Foley (great first name by the way), who is currently pitching to a 2.81 ERA over 25 ⅔ innings with 12 saves. This gives him an ERA+ of 149, the second-highest on the team behind the aforementioned Tarik Skubal. 

He profiles somewhat similarly to Declan Cronin, depending on low launch angles to achieve his 53.8% ground ball rate. He's even got a similar arsenal, relying on his sinker 60.3% of the time and his slider 29.6% of the time. Interestingly enough, his sinker is actually somewhat ineffective, with batters averaging .317 against it. His slider, on the other hand, has been nigh untouchable, boasting a opposing batting average of just .083 across 26 plate appearances. In addition to excelling at generating ground balls, it's been known to fan batters 26.9% of the time.

Despite the strong ERA, there are two major concerns with his candidacy as a trade target. First, his sinker is truly uncompetitive in its current state. On the bright side, of the 20 hits that have been recorded against it, 17 of them were singles. Furthermore, it's responsible for the majority of his infield groundouts. With some help, it wouldn't be out of the question for him to turn things around in the second half of the season. Also, the pitch does still have its moments, although they're somewhat rare.

Second, he's got a few years of team control left on his contract, reaching free agency in 2028. While he's a great asset to have around, the Tigers are likely more concerned about their offensive future. Their combined team ERA of 3.82 is tenth in MLB while their team OPS of .671 is 24th in MLB. Additionally, six of their top ten prospects are RHP, five of which are in Triple-A or above. Foley is great, but he might be even greater for the Tigers as a trade asset to build an actually competitive lineup.

Bryan Abreu RHP, Houston Astros
This might be a hot take, but like onions and ogres, there are layers to it. Despite all their merits, Milwaukee’s bullpen struggles with getting strikeouts. Their SO/9 rate of 8.27 is 24th in MLB, so it wouldn’t hurt to get some more punch-out power on the team.

Bryan Abreu has been one of the best relievers in baseball over the past three years, averaging a 2.04 ERA over 167 ⅔ innings pitched. This year is his worst in a while, pitching to a below-career average 2.80 ERA over 35 ⅓ innings. Still, his ability to beat opposing batters is still on par with some of the best. His whiff rate of 32.1% and strikeout rate of 32.9% are both in the top decile.

There’s honestly much to explain with his pitching style. He throws an 85.9 mph slider and a 96.5 mph four-seam fastball. To be fair, both pitches are quite squalid when they’re at their best, especially his slider, against which batters are averaging just .194 and slugging just .258 while whiffing 40.2% of the time.

Sometimes, he gets a little jazzed up and gasses his fastball up to 99 mph.

So, if his pitching isn’t complex, what’s the second layer? Well to start, it’s not super clear as to how the Astros will approach the deadline. They’re nine games behind the division-leading Mariners in the AL West and seven games back from a Wild Card spot. Furthermore, their farm system is one of the weakest in baseball after trading some of their best names to the Mets to get Kate Upton’s husband last year, so they need to rebuild. Will they try to go for an eighth consecutive ALCS appearance? Maybe, but if they decide to look past the present and towards the future, the Brewers could use someone with the talents of Bryan Abreu. He'll be a free agent in 2027, so the few years of team control might make it tricky, but with Tayler Scott and Seth Martinez pitching even better out of the Astros bullpen this year, it's not like the team would be without replacements.