The Brewers have vaulted to the top of the National League standings. They won 11 in a row earlier this month to give themselves very strong odds of at least securing a Wild Card berth. They’re a half-game up on the Cubs in the NL Central and slightly ahead of the Dodgers, Phillies and Mets in the race for first-round byes.
For as well as they’ve played of late, there hasn’t been much clarity on what they’re prioritizing at the deadline. That’s largely because they’re deep across the board, making it more difficult to identify specific areas to upgrade. Their bullpen runs seven or eight deep. The rotation is strong enough that they kicked Tobias Myers to Triple-A and/or long relief and traded Aaron Civale to the White Sox. Assuming Sal Frelick returns in short order from a hamstring strain, they’re well set around the outfield. Rookie Caleb Durbin has solidified third base, and they’re even getting strong fill-in work from Andrew Vaughn across the diamond while Rhys Hoskins is on the shelf.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote earlier this week that Milwaukee’s strength could allow them to have a fairly quiet deadline. Passan noted that they’re not actively seeking an upgrade at shortstop over Joey Ortiz, who is hitting just .217/.273/.316 over 342 plate appearances. That’s not especially surprising in a market devoid of everyday shortstops. The 27-year-old Ortiz didn’t hit at all for the first two months of the season, but he owns a .269/.310/.418 slash going back to the beginning of June.
While they don’t need to add an everyday player, Milwaukee could stand to upgrade the bench. Utility infielders Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler aren’t providing anything offensively. Backup catcher Eric Haase rarely plays, but he’s hitting .224/.278/.358 and has never been a well-regarded defender. FanSided’s Robert Murray suggested this afternoon that Milwaukee could look to upgrade at that spot — though William Contreras shoulders as heavy a workload as any starting catcher in MLB. Miami’s Nick Fortes, Tampa Bay’s Danny Jansen and Cleveland’s Austin Hedges are among the catchers who could be available.
While the Brewers obviously aren’t deadline sellers, there’s at least one veteran player whom they could trade away in the coming days. Joel Sherman of The New York Post pointed out this morning that the Brewers may prefer to deal Nestor Cortes rather than find a spot for him in the rotation. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested similarly tonight.
Cortes has been on the injured list since early April with a flexor strain. He has been on a rehab assignment since July 2 and built up to 5 2/3 innings in yesterday’s start for Triple-A Nashville. Pitchers can spend a maximum of 30 days on a rehab stint. Milwaukee needs to activate Cortes by the beginning of August.
They don’t have a clear rotation spot available. Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Jacob Misiorowski and Quinn Priester are locked into the top four spots. Cortes could displace Jose Quintana, but it’s not clear that’d be an upgrade after a nearly four-month absence. Using a six-man rotation would require dropping to a seven-man bullpen. Milwaukee could shop Quintana as well, but Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes that might be difficult to sell to the clubhouse.
While Cortes is a respected veteran in his own right, it’d probably be easier to explain trading him when he’s been limited to two MLB starts this year. Quintana has taken the ball 14 times. Cortes is playing on a $7.6MM salary in his final season of arbitration. He’ll be owed nearly $2.5MM for the stretch run. Quintana is making a $2MM salary and on the verge of unlocking $125K incentives for every other start up to 24 appearances — up to $625K in total. He’s also owed a deferred $2MM buyout on a 2026 mutual option.
The Brewers are in first place folks. They are going to make some additions. Probably more than the Cubs make if I had to bet on it. Suarez makes sense for them.
They love their rookie third baseman. That isn’t happening..
That rookie 3b can play 2b. Their 2b can play short. Look it up.
Brice is not going to short, they tried it in Spring training and shut it down after he started having shoulder problems. They havent had Brice start 1 game there this year, instead they carried Capra’s AA bat for a long time, and then had Monasterio start there when Joey needed a breather despite being an obviously inferior defender to Turang and having little experience.Murphy just said Turang isnt moving off 2nd on the New York Post podcast.
Beyond that, they align their defense in such a way that requires the 2b to make alot more tough plays and cover more ground up the middle., allowing Ortiz to shade right consistently. Defense is a pillar of this teams strategy, they arent messing with that.
They love Brice Turang too. They are very happy with their shortstop play. Your thought is for the team playing by far the best baseball to rotate everyone on the infield? Sometimes leaving the dugout alone is your best option.
Their shortstop is a negative WAR player. Its their very clear weakness. Its a bigger weakness than the Cubs 3b situation but when a Cubs article shows up its buy buy buy what will happen next. The Brewers get no respect here never have.
The Brewers have the best pitching in baseball and really good lineup. They probably are the favorites to win it all right now. They really don’t have glaring holes to fill.
You think the Mets should leave their team alone at the deadline?
I bet you don’t…….
The Mets need a couple arms for their bullpen. Their odds aren’t going to go up with any players available besides relievers. Suarez is the only difference maker available and the Mets aren’t trading for a 3b. I think the Mets odds of winning it all are 5-10% and it will be the same after the trade deadline. I think with the Brewers pitching they are the favorites.
That rookie 3B can’t play defense they way their starting 2B can.. your going to displace a GG winning defender? Laughable. Durbin and Turang ain’t leaving their positions. Bank on it
Did they say they love their 3b? If they did they are lying or stupid and I don’t believe they are stupid. These single hitters that don’t strike out are fun and useful solid players but a massive K guy with massive power is better especially in playoffs. Putting together hits vs elite pitching is obviously difficult. One swing from a Suarez is a instant difference maker. I like watching these hitters as much as anyone but they aren’t valued like power guys for a reason. And they don’t have to replace him. Just replacing him is a we want to win a championship move.
Yeah they can sit Ortiz more and then plug Suarez in. Suarez would be a difference maker in that lineup for sure.
Yes the owner said they loved their 3b during their game today.
Yeah he can move to 2b dude. He wouldn’t be benched just move positions. Suarez can also DH. He’s a great fit for the Brewers.
He can’t DH, Yelich is the DH, amd Contreras plays there often when he isnt catching. They obviously do not want Yeli in the field much, hes not a good defender, but more importantly he just had back surgery
People need days off. They are a better team with Suarez on it.
Well unless Suarez can magically play 1B overnight, or better yet a league average SS, the only way to accommodate that is benching Durbin, who has put up a wrc+ of 127 in June and 151 in July while adding value on the bases and playing good defense at 3B, 2 things Suarez doesn’t do.
You think a 3b can’t play 1b? I bet he can.
I think he could, not sure how long it would take for him to get comfortable, or how he’d take the position switch.
Id rather they just go after O’hearn if thats the plan. O’hearn fits better as LH compliment to Rhys when hes back, taking Jake Bauers spot and is projected to have a 120 wrc+ ROS vs Suarez 117 wrc+ projection per zips.
Also think hes less valuable at 1B in a vacuum, so the Brewers would have to overpay even by deadline standards for a Suarez bat at 1B
SSS but check Durbin splits. He is very meh vs RHP does his damage vs LHP.
Unfortunately I would bet on Milwaukee saying Durbin is fine. Why give up a good not great prospect to win a championship. Unfortunate because I love the strategy a small market has to use to win. Really only the Royals have ever won a championship and even then the small markets are still spending the same or even less and the large markets payroll has doubled. Would be impressive to win one in todays game.
Coming into the year the word was hes got reverse splits, that stuff takes a long time to stabilize, and besides I wouldn’t call a 93 wrc+ vs RHH meh considering his rough 1st month and value added w base running and defense.
I could buy they’d like to sit him against certain RH that have extreme splits themselves, like Seigler starting against Luis Castillo who has ran a Whip .5 higher against LHB 2 years straight, but thats more an argument to upgrade over Seigler than to overpay for Suarez imo
He just had back surgery a year ago
Durbin has a 117 wrc+ vs RHP since June 1, so hes been good against RH as well, just been otherworldly against LH in this stretch.
Well stick with him then. I don’t care. I like to win and anything that increases that I am interested in.
Suarez played part of last night’s game at 1B. No magic needed.
Durbin has played plenty of shortstop, and he would be backed up by Joey Ortiz. Ortiz would replace Andruw Monasterio.
Honestly a Willie Castro might be enough too. Versatile and great clubhouse guy with a decent bat. Ryan O’Hearn is a good pick as well since I don’t think Vaughns magic has much more shelf life.
Castro and O’Hearn are much better fits than Suarez imo too. All these Suarez rumors kinda got me worried they are actually gonna bench Durbin, but who knows who is putting this stuff out there, maybe the d-backs
Not like the Brewers are gonna deny it and give the Cubs better leverage in trade talks.
My God do the Cubs live rent free in your head
I actually despise that saying too but in this case dang it really applies.
I told you this site has a bias against the Cardinals and Brewers. Look at how this article reads you wouls think the Brewers are some dumb luck team who isn’t going to do squat. I bet they do. Wait and see.
The second paragraph is literally nothing but compliments about them. I actually am not that worried about the Brewers honestly I think it’s a little smoke and mirrors but I can’t deny they’re on a heck of a 3 week bender.
And I actually randomly of all things live in the same town as the owner of the site. Yeah he’s a Cubs fan but if you read his posts he’ll talk about how he isn’t as much of a die hard fan anymore. I don’t think they’re treated any differently than most teams. Of course there’s plenty of stories on Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies because they have large fan bases and also happen to be active wheelers and dealers over the years. In recent years the Brewers have been more known for trading players away. Cardinals I don’t know. I don’t feel like they’re a heavy transaction type of a team but maybe I’m wrong.
Brewers have exactly what az is looking for. Suspect you are correct. Kind of obvious.
Yeah Brewers have the young pitching the Diamondbacks are in need of. Big league ready pitchers which is what they want.
People forget Durbin is a utility player displaced at 3rd base because Milwaukee has no other 3rd baseman.
They really need a true DH. They have for a long time… Ryan O’Hearn is the guy I want that makes a ton of sense.
No way the Brewers best in baseball FO massively overpays for a rental 3B that is likely to regress some these last 2 months.
Likely needs:
HL bullpen arm, preferably LH.
Utility IF.
LHH bat upgrade 1B.
The bullpen arm & utility player likely get addressed. The 1B probably not. The team could also shock the baseball world with a controllable upgrade, trading from their deepest in baseball farm system.
I think they’ll be able to find innings for Cortes if he’s not traded. Maybe they’ll monitor the Miz kids innings or a pitcher might need an IL stint for some reason. A bench bat like Castro or IKF or something is what I think they’ll go for.
I wonder what they could even get for Cortez at this point. Hes far from a sure thing coming off injury, and who knows if he’d even pass a physical.
You could get something for him. Numerous teams could use a lefty starter and while hes not reliable he has upside.
In other words the crew will be sticking with so so unproven singles hitters at ss and 3b. Flame out incoming in the playoffs. Brewers fans and players must be tired of ownership not going for it
There is very little that suggests the Brewers will stand pat besides a writers opinion.
The knowledgeable Brewers fans see a future juggernaut and potential small-market dynasty ahead thanks to their 3-6 years controlled, playoff worthy BL core, incredible infrastructure, deepest and best farm in the game, and most importantly, best in baseball FO.
So no, not only are we not tired of ownership, we appreciate his astute hiring of Stearns/Arnold, and listening to what they wanted him to do, the huge investments in infrastructure, among other behind the scenes things that have made this the best organization in baseball.
This is the golden age of Brewers fandom — and we’re only in the early stages.
would reeeeally love to see the brewers splurge for Maikel Garcia… it would cost a lot, but could very well be worth it
Yessssir!
Otto Lopez
Perfect fit!
Owner Mark Attanasio said yesterday that he would go along with whatever Matt Arnold wants. And by the end of the game, Durbin was playing shortstop. Arnold had checked out Ryan McMahon before McMahon was traded to the Yankees. So . . . it looks like the Brewers will be in on Geno Suarez, and they have the prospect capital to get him. The divisional race with the Cubs is personal for Attanasio. He reportedly yelled at Craig Counsell, “We’ll win!” as parting words.
Milwaukee getting Geno would be perfect. Would allow Durbin to slide back into his natural utility role. 2 birds 1 stone.
Also, other posters are correct big bats are necessary to win a WS. Small ball struggles against elite pitching.