The Milwaukee Brewers' chances of making a postseason run hang in the balance of Christian Yelich's back injury. Even if the star outfielder has to undergo season-ending surgery, Milwaukee is going to make a push to improve at the deadline.
At 59-43, the Brew Crew lead the National League Central by six games. They’re in a good spot to win the decision again but will have to make some roster upgrades to really have a shot at making a deep run, especially because of Yelich's injury.
The Brewers are still going into this trade deadline as buyers, according to Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, as the Yelich injury “isn't expected to impact their deadline strategy.”
Gonzalez writes the following: “The Brewers feel as if they still have enough depth in their outfield, composed of Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins. Their pitching staff has been ravaged by injury, but they recently added Aaron Civale to their rotation and expect to get a handful of key pitchers back off the injured list in the coming weeks, most notably closer Devin Williams but also Joe Ross, DL Hall and J.B. Bukauskas. The Brewers could desperately use a front-of-the-rotation starter, but at this point, it seems unlikely they'd come away with what few impact arms might be available in the next six days.”
Brewers looking to be buyers at trade deadline
Chourio and Frelick aren’t high-level outfielders right now but are both very young and good enough to hold down the fort for Yelich. Mitchell has only played 14 games this season but has a .762 OPS so far. They’ll all have to step up with the former MVP down for the count.
The Brewers are a decently complete team but, as Gonzalez notes, could use a starting pitcher to serve as a cornerstone in their rotation alongside Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. Guys like Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet come to mind as potential options but their trade prices may be too high for their liking.
It might be good for the Brewers to add a bench bat and maybe try to get a top-end reliever but they also should be much more dangerous when other players get healthy again. Their ability to develop pitchers leaves them in a really good spot, even if it won’t be enough to boost the trajectory of their season right now. All they can do is scour the market and hope for the best news possible for Yelich.
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