One year removed from making an appearance in the National League Championship Series, the Milwaukee Brewers have been struggling to make up any ground in the highly-contested NL Central division. Sitting in third place, behind the second-place St. Louis Cardinals and the division-leading Chicago Cubs, the Brew Crew are treading water as they fight to claw their way back to being closer in the divisional race.
Coming into the season, the NL Central was thought to be the league’s most difficult division to win, and while that sentiment still seems to be ringing true, it is not due to any team(s) being more dominant than the others. All five Central opponents are within eight games of each other, and at one point in June/July they were as close as five games separating first and fifth place.
Outside of the division race, the Brewers sit only one game behind the second Wild Card spot, as the Wild Card race is led by the Washington Nationals, with both the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies neck and neck for the second spot. If the Brewers were to get into the Wild Card ruckus, their pitching staff is much maligned and would need to receive a few pieces.
As the team currently sits, they have lost two of their starting pitchers to injuries in the past week – Brandon Woodruff with a left oblique strain and Jhoulys Chacin was pulled early from his start on Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds. Both have been in the rotation for the entire season, although Woodruff has become the team’s ace and Chacin has done a complete 360 turn and become the polar opposite of his 2018 dominant self.
This team is well within the range of making the playoffs; unfortunately, so are what feels like 30 other teams. If they want to remain in the hunt as they are and either vie for the divisional crown or a Wild Card spot, then they will need to make some deals to bring in talent.
Starting pitching is the team’s biggest and most impending need, which was already an area of concern before the two injuries this past week. Being hesitant to shell out top prospects for big-talent pieces has been the working mantra that general manager David Stearns has lived by, which has built this Brewers franchise into a contender.
The issue with their farm system is that it is not all that great, as second base phenom Keston Hiura just graduated due to service time, placing this prospect grouping very far down the list in terms of having high-ranking tradable assets. Shortstop Brice Turang, outfielder Trent Grisham, outfielder Corey Ray, second baseman/shortstop Mauricio Dubon and outfielder Tristen Lutz are all ranked high in the Brewers system but not necessarily in the eyes of every team, so making any kind of pitch for a high-leverage starting pitcher is going to be a hard sell.
There were reported rumors that came out Tuesday night about the Tampa Bay Rays having been in contact with the Brewers to check in on the availability of first baseman Jesus Aguilar, who has been coming on as of late but is still mired in a dreadful season, one that has been a stark contrast to his 2018, 30+ home run season. While the Brewers would most likely ask for some sort of major-league talent to keep on running towards a playoff berth, the reported interest in Aguilar is something to keep an eye on.
The Brewers, who currently have put themselves in a position to compete for a playoff berth, should absolutely buy at the deadline. Not necessarily to the point where they sell their entire farm just for a chance at making the playoffs, but more to try and acquire controllable talent for years down the road, in an effort to solidify themselves in case they miss out on the playoffs this season.
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