MLB-leading Brewers pivot after Skubal as Deadline nears

ANAHEIM – The Brewers’ front office still has time to fortify the roster ahead of Monday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline, but they found out Saturday night that they won’t be landing the biggest prize.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that the Dodgers were finalizing a trade for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, besting other suitors that included the Brewers, Yankees and Cubs – a development that broke just as Milwaukee was rallying for the lead in the eighth inning of a 3-1 win over the Angels at Angel Stadium.

The victory, cemented by Brice Turang's tie-breaking single in the eighth inning and shutdown relief from Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill, pushed the Brewers (69-41) back in front of the Dodgers (69-42) for the best record in the Major Leagues. But there’s no way around it: Losing out to the Dodgers in the Skubal sweepstakes was a blow. Brewers officials have signaled a more aggressive approach to this year’s Trade Deadline than in recent years, and the clubhouse hopes had reached as far as the manager’s office on Saturday after word that the Tigers had signaled to other teams they were ready to listen to offers.

“I was late today because I was saying the rosary,” Milwaukee skipper Pat Murphy said during his afternoon media briefing.

He chuckled.

“I wish my mom was alive,” Murphy said. “She would have loved that quote.”

In this case, the Brewers’ prayers weren’t answered.

Skubal is joining the Dodgers’ collection of superstar starters.

“I don’t think anybody is surprised he went there,” Megill said. “When they came out the other day and said they were going to be greedy, I think the whole world can take that seriously, and that they would probably make that happen. The [clubhouse] talk, we just joke around with mock trades here and there, but it’s our job to play baseball with the team they give us and the guys in this room.”

The Brewers have fared well as they’re constructed, despite season-ending injuries for starters Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester and high-leverage reliever Angel Zerpa. They are leading the NL with a 3.48 ERA and rank second in the Majors to the Yankees’ 3.30. The Dodgers and Brewers are neck and neck for the Major League lead in starters’ ERA at 3.36, and Brewers relievers are tied for fifth out of 30 teams with a 3.32 ERA, with Megill and Uribe providing a 1-2 punch at the end of games.

“That’s the Brewers,” said left-hander Robert Gasser after holding the Angels to one run over five innings. “Everyone overlooks them, but we’re always in the fight.”

Still, pairing a pitcher like Skubal with MLB’s leader in ERA and strikeouts, Jacob Misiorowski, would have made Milwaukee as dangerous as any team on paper come October.

Now the Brewers may run up against him, should they meet the Dodgers again in the postseason. Last year, L.A. swept Milwaukee in the NLCS largely on the strength of a star-studded rotation.

“I can’t worry about what the Dodgers do,” Murphy said. “They’ve got a great organization, won back-to-back World Series, and they’re trying to do everything they can to compete at the end. I can’t worry about that. I need to worry about what we’ve got to do.”

With Skubal off the board, the Brewers, who have been casting a wide net for impact starters, relievers and infielders, will have to pivot. Skubal’s former teammate, Tigers right-hander Casey Mize, is among the other frontline starters believed to be available, as is Reds ace Hunter Greene. The next tier includes veterans like the Blue Jays’ Kevin Gausman and the Angels’ Reid Detmers and José Soriano, the latter of whom was scratched from his scheduled start against the Brewers on Saturday night while his team considers trade options. An opener, left-hander Brent Suter, started against his former team instead.

“I trust our front office, and it does feel like there’s a clear message out there that we’re not going to be passive in this thing. We’re going to be aggressive,” Murphy said. “But it still has to make sense. It still has to be responsible.”

Murphy paused and added wryly, “Hopefully not too responsible.”

The Dodgers gave up a pair of MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects among the three young players it took to land Skubal: outfielder Zyhir Hope (the Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect and MLB's No. 25), right-hander River Ryan (Dodgers No. 7, overall No. 68) and right-hander Brady Smith (Dodgers No. 17). When one official familiar with the talks was asked what a comparable package from the Brewers might have looked like, he mentioned infielder Luis Peña (Brewers' No. 2 prospect, overall No. 18), right-hander Logan Henderson (who is in Milwaukee’s rotation and graduated from prospect status earlier this year) and one of right-handers Bishop Letson (No. 9) or Josh Knoth (No. 10).

A trade for any of the big names on the market would hurt in terms of the prospect price, especially for a club like the Brewers that has won three straight division titles and qualified for the postseason seven times in the past eight seasons largely on the strength of their farm system and knack for making shrewd trades that don’t always generate the biggest headlines. Overwhelming the Tigers with an offer for Skubal would have been a departure from that approach, more along the lines of then-GM Doug Melvin’s bold move to acquire CC Sabathia from Cleveland ahead of the Trade Deadline in 2008.

But even the Sabathia deal showed that making a big splash at the Trade Deadline doesn’t guarantee anything come October. That’s the nature of baseball, that even for a pitcher as dominant as Skubal in recent regular seasons, the Tigers are 3-3 in his postseason starts, including losses three of the last four times he’s taken the mound in a playoff game.

That’s the debate that president of baseball operations Matt Arnold and his team of advisers have been engaged in for weeks. After making a trade with the Guardians on Saturday in the interest of depth, they were back to work throughout the day, looking to reel in something bigger.

It just won’t be Skubal.

“We have a lot of lines in the water, is what I would say,” Arnold said earlier Saturday. “I think things are moving, but who knows? We are certainly doing what we can to help the team in the next 48 hours.”