The Milwaukee Brewers made the difficult decision to part ways with All-Star closer Josh Hader at the 2022 MLB trade deadline. After offloading Hader to the Padres in a huge deal on Monday, David Stearns, President of Baseball Operations for the Brewers, released a statement in which he addressed the decision to pull the trigger on the trade.

While it's obviously a surprise to see a first-place team offload one of their most talented players, the Brewers felt the return they received in the trade was a sufficient enough mix of MLB talent and near-MLB-ready prospects. Getting Taylor Rogers back provides the team with a valuable back-end reliever, and there's always a chance Dinelson Lamet can return to his pre-Tommy John form. Both Gasser and Ruiz figure to be top 10 prospects for the Brewers, or around that range, so it was certainly a strong return on the part of Milwaukee.

Hader has also struggled mightily throughout the month of July. He registered a 12.54 ERA for the month across 9.1 innings of work, including surrendering 13 earned runs and five home runs. The Padres are obviously hoping he'll bounce back, and they'll have an additional year of team control over Hader before his contract runs out after the 2023 season.

The Brewers were ready to give up on Hader, perhaps in order to insert Devin Williams as the closer, and were able to do so without weakening their MLB squad by too much. It's a deal that will hopefully enable the Brewers to remain competitive in both the long and short term, prompting Stearns to pull the trigger on the deal.