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Rather than sit and wait until the final few days, the Milwaukee Brewers have proactively explored trades that would be more aggressive than their typical deadline upgrades, sources familiar with the team's movement said this week. A member of a front office who heard from the Brewers recently said that the team is "starting conversations, where they used to be more of a listening [team]" at this stage in July. Rumors of a potential reunion with Freddy Peralta, a splashy pursuit of Tarik Skubal, or even an all-out blockbuster to acquire Mason Miller and create the hardest-throwing starter-closer combination in baseball history have all swirled around the organization.
Much of the smoke, however, has no real fire to it, according to people with knowledge of trade conversations in multiple front offices. The Brewers aren't seen as motivated enough to give up any of their true top prospects. Their second-tier guys would be the cream of the crop in many farm systems throughout baseball, but even those players felt "off-limits" in deals for mid-tier targets, according to a source with another team. Milwaukee isn't willing to sell Josh Adamczewski, Bishop Letson or Tyson Hardin for pennies on the dollar just because they have lots of talent lying around.
The team is focused on moves that would bolster their pitching staff; that much is true. They've talked to the Detroit Tigers about several pitchers, including the obvious candidates (Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty, whom they've explored acquiring in the past; Casey Mize, a fellow impending free-agent righty starter) and some less obvious ones (Drew Anderson and Kyle Finnegan). They've reached out to the Angels to gauge the availability of Reid Detmers, but didn't find the asking price reasonable, a source said. They've closely monitored the rehab and return of Shane Bieber to the Blue Jays.
Of that group, Skubal and Detmers are the two who would move the needle for most Brewers fans. Unsurprisingly, though, they seem the least likely of the bunch to actually come to Milwaukee; the team and its could-be suitors just don't seem close to agreeing on the right value for either hurler. Instead, a creative deal is more likely. Intradivisional trades for Dustin May or Brady Singer are viewed as more realistic. Giants southpaw Robbie Ray is "a really good one to watch," according to one league source, who noted that the Brewers have an "up arrow" next to Ray because of the changes he's made to his arsenal this season.
Assuming all goes well with his ramp-up, Kyle Harrison figures to retake the second spot in the Brewers' starting rotation down the stretch, alongside the overpowering Jacob Misiorowski. The team needs help more in terms of depth than in terms of top-end quality, and they place a high value on young players other teams might trade more freely.
Don't hold your breath for a repeat of the Summer of CC Sabathia in Milwaukee. That the Brewers have even looked into the possibility is exciting, but it signals their broader willingness to chase greatness, rather than a specific plan to acquire one player. They're far more likely to make a smaller move, because a smaller move is all that's needed, and the Brewers only make the moves they need to make. No team in baseball is better-positioned to give up prospects for a chance to win a championship, except that for the Brewers, the only way to keep building toward a championship is to retain prospects and maximize their value. More importantly, the team rightly thinks they have as good a chance at a championship as anyone this year, even if they only add at the margins.
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