The Milwaukee Brewers made their first strike of trade deadline day by swinging a deal for pitching with a division rival.
The Brewers are acquiring starting pitcher Dustin May and reliever JoJo Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals for prospects Josiah Ragsdale and Alexander Frias, sources told the Journal Sentinel. The Athletic was the first to report the deal.
May, 28, has made 21 starts this year for the Cardinals and has a 4.38 earned run average but better under-the-hood numbers, including a 3.14 FIP (fielding independent pitching) and 3.91 xERA (expected ERA).
“It’s just wicked sweepers, wicked sinker [with] arm side movement, changeups that fall off the table,” said Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Harrison, who played with May in Boston last year. “He’s a fun guy to bounce ideas off of, and his stuff is nasty.”
Added David Hamilton, another teammate of May’s in Boston, “Our time together was somewhat brief. Big guy. I got to talk to him a little bit … he’s from Texas [like Hamilton], so we talked about that a little bit. I faced him this year and had a [no-hitter] through seven against us. Happy to have him.”
May took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Brewers on May 27 at American Family Field.
“He cut us up pretty good a couple times,” Brewers first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers said. “I’m sure our pitching coaches are excited to get a hold of him. Sinker’s good. Four seamer has good angle. Sweeper seems like it’s coming from left-center.”
Romero has a 3.35 ERA in 43 innings a year after pitching to a 2.07 ERA.
Both players are free agents at season’s end. May’s contract contains roughly $4 million the rest of the year and features a $500,000 buyout for next year’s mutual option, while Romero is slated to make less than $2 million the rest of the year.
Acquiring pitching depth became the priority for the Brewers after missing out on Tarik Skubal when Detroit sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 1. May is not the front-of-rotation arm that would classify as a splash acquisition, but since his first two starts of the year he has a 3.54 ERA and 2.91 FIP.
May’s FIP, which takes into account walks, strikeouts and home runs, is the seventh-best among qualified starters in baseball in that time.
May has pitched in the playoffs twice, both with the Dodgers, but not since 2020 when he won a World Series title and has a 3.86 postseason ERA in 14 innings.
In trading Ragsdale and Frias, the Brewers are parting ways with two of their fastest-rising prospects in the system.
A seventh-round pick out of Boston College last year, Ragsdale added immense power this year and has slugged 19 home runs to go with a 1.022 OPS (on-base plus slugging) between Class High-A and Class AA.
Frias also has seen his stock soar due to massive exit velocities this year. An under-the-radar international signing in 2025, Frias is currently at Class A Wilson as an 18-year-old and is batting .342 with a .980 OPS at multiple levels.
This story was updated to add new information.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers acquiring Dustin May, JoJo Romero from Cardinals at deadline
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
