How Brewers Can Respond After Dodgers Trade for Tarik Skubal

Beating the Dodgers isn't necessarily the Brewers' job. It's taken for granted, in many circles, that the Brewers will eventually have to go through Los Angeles in October to reach the World Series for the first time since 1982, but in reality, someone else will get a crack at that team first. For fans, players and the front office, it would be unhealthy, unproductive and inefficient to spend time obsessing over the Dodgers. The Brewers have their own work to do, and it shouldn't be a response to the Dodgers'.

That's much easier to say than it is to live out, though, on the morning after Tarik Skubal landed with the sport's most successful dynasty since the turn of the 21st century. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman pushed his chips to the center of the table to haul in Skubal from the forgettable Tigers, as he attempts to secure Los Angeles's third straight World Series title. The Brewers had been in on Skubal, a source familiar with the discussions said, but they always knew the Dodgers were the favorites. As such, Brewers president of baseball ops Matt Arnold has been planning his pivot for some time.

Though he's an impending free agent, Skubal was priced like a controllable one; that's one reason why the Brewers were never likely to land him. The package the Tigers received in exchange for Skubal is far richer than what any other pitcher headed for the market this fall will command, so the Brewers could choose to focus on one of those hurlers to keep acquisition costs down. They've talked to the Tigers about Casey Mize, the former No. 1 overall pick and another impending free agent, though the fit between what Mize does and what the Brewers like is imperfect.

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Casey Mize, Tigers

RHP  Age: 29 FA: Nov 2026 Sal: $6.15m

The first overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft came into pro ball throwing strikes, and hasn’t stopped. However, injuries and the mysteries of pitching development have held him back in all bids to be the frontline starter the Tigers hoped they were getting with that selection. This year, he’s figured out the latter. He’s now missing bats like a high-end starter, with a pitch mix that has become exceptionally varied. Injuries haven’t stopped nagging and nipping at him, but he’s showing the feel and command that were supposed to make him an elite starter. That it’s happening amid a season in which the Tigers just can’t get untracked is deeply unfortunate, but that it’s happening at all gives the team a chance to cash him in for some real long-term value, rather than watching him leave for modest draft-pick compensation this winter.

Arnold and Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom have known each other for 20 years, which provides the kind of foundation required to pull off intradivisional trades in July. St. Louis is likely to deal Dustin May, and the Brewers have checked in there, too. May suits the Crew's pitching predilections neatly, too: good velocity, good extension, three fastballs, and so on.

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Dustin May, Cardinals

RHP  Age: 28 FA: Nov 2026* Sal: $12.5m

It’s great to see May come through a multi-year run of miserable injury luck to pitch the way many long believed he could. Not has his good season with the Cards been solely about being available. He’s throwing more strikes, thanks in part to a rejiggered approach that favors four-seamers, cutters and changeups at the expense of sinkers and sweepers. He still has an extremely lively arm, and his stuff is playing better this season, thanks to his newfound ability to fill up the zone. As an impending free agent on a team that still views itself as building for a future brighter than its present, though, he’s a strong candidate to be dealt. Unless the Cardinals can strike a deal with him this month to convert his mutual option for 2027 into a multi-year commitment, he’ll be on the market, and should slot nicely into the back half of a playoff-caliber rotation.

Milwaukee has also talked to the Giants about both Tyler Mahle and Robbie Ray. Of the two, Ray comes with the higher price tag, but is also pitching better this season. The Brewers have talked internally about starters they could acquire to work in the back half of the rotation down the stretch, before moving to the bullpen in October. Ray would be a good candidate for that, and has done a version of it before.

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Robbie Ray, Giants

LHP  Age: 34 FA: Nov 2026 Sal: $25m

If you’re feeling uncharitable, you’ll note that Ray still walks plenty of batters but isn’t striking out as many this year. You might wonder if his solid surface-level numbers are mostly a matter of playing his home games at Oracle Park in San Francisco. However, reintroducing his sinker has helped him get off the barrel more consistently this year, so much of the extra contact hitters are making is early in counts and unproductive. He still has multiple secondary offerings with good swing-and-miss numbers; he blends experience and stuff almost as well as Sonny Gray and Freddy Peralta. He no longer has frontline potential, but he can be a mid-rotation option even for teams planning deep forays into the postseason. The Giants are not such a team, and would love to get rid of his hefty salary for the final two months.

The final dual option for Milwaukee on the rental starter front could be the Mets, who have both Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes on the market. Holmes is still rehabbing from a broken leg, but his profile is extremely similar to that of Quinn Priester. Needless to say, the Brewers are intrigued by that. A reunion with Peralta would be a joyous occasion for the team, but it might also be fraught; there's worry within the organization about the emotional toll it might take on all parties if Peralta's rough season continues after a would-be triumphant return.

As always, though, the team remains open-minded and interested in making bigger moves, if the right opportunity is there. Milwaukee has talked to the Rockies about starter Ryan Feltner, who has two more years of team control after 2026 and is having a strong season. Feltner, 29, has an extremely strange arsenal, with relative cut on his four-seam fastball and his changeup and an erratic but dastardly sinker-slider combination. He won't be cheap, but Feltner is one medium-term acquisition who could be a level-booster for the Milwaukee rotation.

Beyond those names, what Arnold might come up with is anyone's guess. The Brewers have not been frontrunners for Reid Detmers of the Angels, but José Soriano is "up their alley" and the team has checked in with interim Angels GM John Mozeliak about a number of players, a source said. Adding a starter remains an important box on the to-do checklist, but the team is also focused on deepending their stable to high-leverage relievers. That could lead them back to the Mets and Luke Weaver; it could also mean pursuing Orioles righty Tyler Wells.

Skubal was never in the cards for Milwaukee. It was a nice idea, given their competitive position and how great he is, but the value Detroit demanded in return—and eventually got, from a team closer to the end of its championship window than the Brewers are—was more than he would have been worth to the Crew. Arnold has less than 36 hours to respond, but he's not in a direct arms race with Friedman. He just needs to help a great team get to October with its legs underneath it.

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