Brock Beauchamp

In the latest trade roundup from The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal, Katie Woo, and Patrick Mooney wrote that the Nationals are preparing to sell. While Washington is playing decently this season (42-49), they're a whopping 16.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and 5.5 games out of a contentious National League Wild Card spot. They didn't expect to compete this year and feel as if they're a year ahead of schedule and PoBO Mike Rizzo feels selling is the right decision at this trade deadline. The Nationals have several interesting right-handed relievers that could interest the Brewers. On expiring contracts, they have Dylan Floro (179 ERA+) while they have two relievers who become free agents after the 2025 season: Hunter Harvey (183 ERA+) and Kyle Finnegan (184 ERA+). Starting pitcher Trevor Williams is expected to return from injury soon. He will also become a free agent at season's end and over 11 starts has a 2.22 ERA. Of course, the Nationals also have a Brewers fan favorite rostered and available in trade, Jesse Winker. View full rumor

Zachary Rotman of FanSided, quoting Robert Murray of the same publication, revealed that sources familiar with the Brewers are all-in on acquiring pitching at the trade deadline. While the struggles of relievers like Joel Payamps make it likely Milwaukee will dabble in the reliever market, most of the focus is believed to be on the starting rotation. That makes sense. Brewers starters have struggled to go deep into games, further extending their bullpen, which could have consequences down the stretch and into October. On the other side of the coin, the Brewers offense is tenth in baseball in OPS with no glaring holes to fill; to see significant upgrades offensively, the Brewers might have to shop on the top shelf of trade candidates, something they are unlikely to do. The Brewers recently acquired Aaron Civale from the Tampa Bay Rays but as of today, Dallas Keuchel still holds a rotation spot for the Crew. While Keuchel could be an acceptable short-term solution to the deadline, it's unlikely he will be a pitcher General Manager Matt Arnold is interested in relying on through the dog days of summer. While teams like the Texas Rangers might have interesting starters to trade - primarily Michael Lorenzen - it's likely the Brewers will pursue an arm that doesn't require them to trade away anyone in the top five of their farm system. View full rumor

I had kind of lost track of what the Dodgers were doing and was surprised to see the Brewers aren't that far behind them in the standings, which means the second postseason seed (and a bye) are within reach. I wouldn't put the Brewers' odds of grabbing that spot as good but it's certainly possible.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic focused on the struggling Texas Rangers in his latest trade deadline roundup. He points out that while it's rare for defending world champions to sell, the Rangers are teetering on that precipice as we head toward mid-July. Texas is in third place in the AL West, six games behind the Seattle Mariners. They're even further out of the Wild Card picture, 7.5 games out of the third Wild Card spot. While those aren't insurmountable numbers, the Houston Astros have been playing much better baseball after an abysmal start to the season while the Rangers have yet to do much better than treading water at any point thus far. What makes the Rangers particularly interesting is their corps of starting pitchers. Michael Lorenzen is having a stellar season (123 ERA+) while making only $4.5 million this season. He's a free agent at season's end. Nathan Eovaldi is having a similarly good season (128 ERA+), though he is making $16 million this season and if he pitches another ~70-ish innings, a $20 million vesting option kicks in for 2025. If he continues pitching as he has this season, that's probably not a deterrent to any acquiring team. The wild card candidate is Max Scherzer, who has a no-trade clause. He was willing to waive that last season but only if the Rangers added an additional season to his contract. There's no telling what Scherzer will do at this deadline; he's 39 years old now and is a free agent at season's end. View full rumor

Join Brewer Fanatic's writing corps for a great afternoon at the ballpark! Image courtesy of © Jovanny Hernandez/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK Brewer Fanatic is more than just a Brewers website; it’s a community. We want to show how much we appreciate all of you forum users, bloggers, and social media followers by offering discounted tickets to a Saturday evening Brewers game where you can meet the owners of the site and the newest Milwaukee Brewers beat writer, Jack Stern! The game is against the Miami Marlins on Saturday, July 27th, at a 6:05pm start time. The tickets are in section 211, a $46 ticket value. Before the game - starting around 3pm - we’ll be tailgating in the dedicated tailgate section (more details on that to come), where you can hang out beforehand, chat with some of the Brewer Fanatic folks, and enjoy complimentary brats and beers. Look for the giant blue Brewer Fanatic flag; you’ll find us there. As an added bonus, the first 30,000 visitors that day receive a free Brewers City Connect Hawaiian shirt upon entry to the stadium (photo included at the bottom of the article)! The ticket has a $46 face value but we're offering them for just $40. As with any great sales pitch, we have to say it… But wait, there’s more! The first $46 ticket is free to all Brewer Fanatic Caretakers. What is a Brewer Fanatic Caretaker? A Caretaker is a subscription to Brewer Fanatic, and 100% of all proceeds go to fund our dedicated writing staff and the technology that delivers the site and ensures it will be here for years to come. For as little as $5 a month, here are the benefits Caretaking will bring you: Ad-free browsing of Brewer Fanatic A free ticket to the Slam At Am Fam, a $46 value Free access to our premium Brewers guide released every October, the Brewers Offseason Handbook Exclusive access to premium Brewers-specific content from national baseball writers such as Robert Orr (Baseball Prospectus) and Davy Andrews (FanGraphs) We’ve recently expanded our Caretaker programs to include this free ticket and access to exclusive content from national baseball writers, which means we will need to raise the price of the Caretaker program in the coming weeks. But if you get in now for this special ticket event, you can lock in at this price for an entire year! Did I mention you’ll get to meet some of the best Brewers writers on the planet? You’ll get to ask Jack Stern the most esoteric Brewers question you can devise! In-person, even! We want to continue bringing you the best Brewers content every single day, and becoming a Caretaker is a way to ensure that happens. So join us and get to know some of the people who make Brewer Fanatic such a cool place to be a Brewers fan! If you have your own ticket to the game, please come by early and find us in the tailgating section outside American Family Field. See you soon and bring your family, I'm bringing mine! Become a Brewer Fanatic Caretaker #temp-video-block {display: none;} View full article

Welcome! I've been enjoying your blog entries!

Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote up a list of 17 starting pitchers and their likelihood of being dealt before the trade deadline. While few pitchers ranked as "highly likely to be traded", there were two Tampa Bay Rays holding that qualification: Zach Eflin and Zack Littell. The Brewers are well-established as willing partners with the Rays; they traded for Willy Adames back in 2021 and just last week picked up starting pitcher Aaron Civale from Tampa. Both Littell and Eflin are roughly league-average pitchers, though Eflin was very good last season as he pitched to a 119 ERA+. Littell was something of a journeyman bullpen guy; originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins, he later moved to the San Francisco Giants before becoming a breakout starting pitcher for the Rays last season. Like the recently-acquired Civale, both players are free agents after the 2025 season. Hit the link above to see the entirety of Heyman's list. View full rumor

Woof, this is a late one, gonna be hard to watch Civale's first start.

That's why I'm here! 😁 Seriously though, that is why I'm here. We believe strongly in community and being very hands-on with helping users, giving advice, participating, etc.

Welcome to the site, glad to have you here!

Happy Fourth!

No reason to dislike this move. Bust out the magic pixie dust, Brewers pitching lab.

I turned off the game in the eighth inning when the Brewers went down by a run, only to wake up and find they won the game... and traded for Aaron Civale?

Oh yeah, the offense has definitely slid a little but there are going to be Dodgers and Phillies every season. While I wouldn't empty the farm for a slew of rentals, I think the Brewers can (and should) absolutely afford one premium starter at the very least. I mean really, that's all they need IMO. They can get by with the roster they have, just slot in someone behind Peralta.

This one isn't a rumor as much as a surprising statement from a national writer as lauded as The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. Appearing on Foul Territory, the panel points out how different this Brewers squad is to previous seasons, which relied heavily on pitching and just hoped to scrape together enough runs on offense to win. It's a very different story in 2024. While the bullpen is still elite (and Devin Williams has yet to return), the offense is firing on all cylinders and is one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted offenses the Brewers have fielded in years. Most of the players are young and cost-controlled for years but it can (and probably should) be argued the Brewers should strike while the iron is hot. The Brewers are receiving excellent seasons from Christian Yelich, William Contreras, Brice Turang, et al and it may not be reasonable to count on similar performances in 2025. What do you think, Brewers fans? Is it time to sacrifice a little of the future for a little more certainty today? View full rumor

As for the topic itself, I believe this has to be intentional. It's too weird a coincidence for what are, in my opinion, the two best franchises at developing pitching to have the same zag when everyone else is zigging. And velocity can be taught, at least to an extent. The Twins have made their hay by churning out big righties who throw 95-98mph... except those guys were drafted from lower-tier schools and in college, were often throwing 88-91mph. Louie Varland, Bailey Ober, and David Festa are three examples. The Twins were even able to take Joe Ryan, pluck him out of AAA in the Rays' system, and turn him from a 90-91mph guy to a 94-95mph guy.