The Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the final seven weeks of the regular season Aug. 10 with a challenging trip out west against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
With injuries starting to take a toll and pitching depth stretched, will the Brewers be able to hang on to the best record in baseball and hold off the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division the rest of the way?
In Part 2 of our mailbag, beat writer Todd Rosiak answers readers’ questions on how the trade deadline was handled and if help from the minor leagues will come any time soon.
Read Part 1 of the mailbag on lineup situations and pitching here.
Let’s revisit the trade deadline
The Brewers have the best record in MLB. Yet, another trade deadline has come and gone without the team going “all in” to get to and win a World Series. It appears that the ownership group is content with being a good team and good story but not winning it all. Am I wrong?
Todd Rosiak: I get where you’re coming from and you’re right, the Brewers certainly didn’t go all in. Current management, led by president of baseball operations Matt Arnold, often brings up the word “irresponsible” when talking in generalities about trade discussions. Meaning, it would be irresponsible to trade three of the organization’s top prospects for a rental like Tarik Skubal. Let’s say the team did that and still lost in the NLCS. Are fans willing to deal with losing three potential top players with years of control for one failed shot at the World Series? Or, trading away even more prospects for a rented bat as well? The Kansas City Royals took their shot in the mid-2010s and succeeded by winning it all in 2015. What have they done since then? Nada. Some fans might argue it’s still worth it. Agree or disagree, the team’s ownership group is all in on “bites of the apple” every year, and young, cost-controlled talent is the key to remaining consistently competitive. If there’s anything Milwaukee doesn’t want to do, it’s return to irrelevancy and rebuilding, although the pressure to step up and try to win it all is going to increase with each passing year (and this year the drum beat was already pretty strong).
I think the Brewers did the right thing in not trading for Tarik Skubal, if the rumors are true about what the Tigers wanted in return. I think getting Dustin May was a great trade. My question is, can the Brewers be NL champs with the current roster? I say yes.
Todd Rosiak: Time will tell, obviously. The early returns on Skubal in a Dodgers uniform haven’t been great, but history suggests he’ll end up being a difference-maker for a team that already has a ton of them. The May acquisition seems like it could be a sneaky good one, and he cost a lot less in terms of prospect capital (although it’s tough having to send such players to a division rival in the Cardinals). As to the supposition that the Brewers can win the NL with their current roster, that I think will end up being largely dependent on what the offense can do. And from the looks of things right now, that’s a bet I probably wouldn’t make until and unless Yelich and Contreras begin swinging the bats.
Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale seem like a very high price to pay for rentals Dustin May and JoJo Romero. Is there any indication that their ceilings are not as high as they seem? Or that May and/or Romero are inclined to remain with Milwaukee?
Todd Rosiak: The Brewers weren’t going to be able to add quality pitching by trading fringe prospects. It was a seller’s market, and if they weren’t going to give up some of their biggest names to add Skubal this is what needed to be done. The good news for Milwaukee is it dealt from an area of great depth (the outfield) with more highly touted outfield prospects ahead of Frias and Ragsdale like Josh Adanczewski, Braylon Payne and Sawyer Strosnider also being left-handed hitters. I wouldn’t assume that either May or Romero will return to the Brewers, either, with May’s contract for 2027 featuring a mutual option for $20 million with a $500,000 buyout and Romero hitting free agency.
The last two years the Brewers traded for pitchers on the injured list. If they are looking for help to improve the team, why select players that can’t help? Last year, to get Shelby Miller they had to acquire Jordan Montgomery, who would not pitch, and then Miller went on the IL. This year to get May, they had to take a reliever on IL. Why do the Brewers do that?
Todd Rosiak: In order to acquire the reliever they wanted in Miller, the Brewers had to take on the injured Montgomery and his salary from the Diamondbacks. No question, taking Miller after he’d already missed time with a forearm strain was risky, but obviously the doctors signed off on his health and then he wound up blowing out his elbow 10 appearances into his tenure with Milwaukee. Funnily enough, he’s reportedly in the final stages of his recovery after last fall’s surgery and could be pitching against the Brewers out of the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen next month. The Romero situation is different in that he wasn’t taken on solely to acquire May and a return from an appendectomy is considered to be relatively straightforward (and also not arm-related). Expect his debut sometime in the next 10 days to two weeks.
No idea why Milwaukee’s trade deadline focus was fixated on pitching. The offense is easily the biggest postseason concern, because The Crew rarely reaches the seats. The slap-hitting attack stops scoring against playoff pitching. Even during the regular season, it’s a game-to-game struggle.
Todd Rosiak: No question in there, but I get your point. Problem is, legitimate upgrades on offense – whoever they might have been – likely would have cost a great deal in terms of prospect capital, and as we have seen (Skubal) the Brewers just aren’t going to do that. Young players with high upside have been and will continue to be the lifeblood of the organization. Look around and you’ll see how few impact position players changed teams. The Boston Red Sox were ripped for what they traded to the Baltimore Orioles for catcher Adley Rutschmann. Luis Arraez was the best pure hitter available and the Philadelphia Phillies ponied up a couple prospects, plus Arraez had no clear-cut defensive position on the Brewers at that time (we’ve since seen injuries on the infield cause all sorts of shuffling). Other than that, there were no needle-moving hitters joining playoff contenders. But your point about an overall lack of threats is valid, and if Milwaukee goes cold again at the plate in the postseason there will be plenty more criticism to go around.
What about the prospects?
With the recent injuries to Pratt, Ortiz and also Jett Williams, who are players in the minors with best shot of getting called up? Do any of the players at Class AA Biloxi have a shot to make the majors or are they not ready yet?
Todd Rosiak: I know everyone is excited about the play of the young position-player prospects for the Shuckers, but let’s pump the brakes on that talk. Andrew Fischer, for his 35 homers and counting (15 at Biloxi), also had struck out a whopping 146 times in 440 plate appearances. Jesús Made, the top overall prospect in baseball, is enjoying another strong season but there is much more work to be done on his overall game. Same goes for left fielder Josh Adamczewski, whose offensive breakout might be the most exciting in the organization aside from Blake Burke. Above and beyond all that, starting those players’ service-time clocks now wouldn’t make sense. It’s unfortunate for Williams that his wrist injuries coincided with Milwaukee’s need for a player with his skill set, otherwise there’s no question he would have already made his debut.
Blake Burke just got called up to Class AAA Nashville. Do you see any chance, if he has a strong August, he might get called up in September to try to upgrade the offense?
Todd Rosiak: It’s going to be a heck of a discussion when it comes to naming the Brewers’ minor-league player of the year, and my guess is the trophy will be shared by at least a couple. One of the winners is sure to be Burke, who as the 34th pick in the 2024 draft might end up being the most impactful long-term piece Milwaukee acquired in the Corbin Burnes trade. He absolutely raked at Biloxi to the tune of a .285 average, 30 homers, 88 RBI and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .969 in 96 games, and as you noted has just begun in Nashville. But for the same reasons I stated above, Burke will not get the call to the Brewers down the stretch. Look more toward next season and beyond; Bauers is likely to land a lucrative free-agent deal and the jury is out on whether Vaughn (one more year of arbitration) will return. Burke might well be the first baseman Milwaukee can plug and play there for years to come.
How do Andrew Fischer and Blake Burke rate defensively?
Todd Rosiak: Fischer has played almost exclusively third base this season and that’s a huge position of need at the major league level for the Brewers. He played his final collegiate season at the University of Tennessee in 2025 playing first base out of need after Milwaukee drafted Burke. Between Fischer and Burke, Burke is well ahead with the glove at but that doesn’t mean Fischer can’t continue to improve.
Has Jeferson Quero’s arm strength returned to pre-injury level (realizing he is dealing with a biceps injury now)? Was curious if the Brewers still view him as a future option at catcher.
Todd Rosiak: No, Quero’s arm strength hasn’t returned to its pre-injury level, and the Brewers don’t expect that it ever will, which is a shame because he possessed a cannon before undergoing extensive surgery in 2024. That said, the expectation is that Quero will still be able to catch, with the hope that his bat as well as his overall defense, pitch calling and baseball IQ help mitigate his reduced arm.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should the Brewers have traded for a bat? Are callups likely? | Mailbag
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
