Despite being one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers didn't make too many big moves before the MLB trade deadline. While other teams, like the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, made big swings to improve their rosters, Milwaukee chose a more subtle approach that has brought some criticism to the franchise. Manager Pat Murphy refuted that criticism with his latest comments.
Murphy, who is 66 years old, claims that he and Milwaukee are more excited about the players currently on the roster, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Pat Murphy highlighted the numerous moves the front office has made throughout the entire season, and not just the trade deadline. The Brewers' manager uttered his full support of the front office as well.
“We've been doing the deadline all year,” said Pat Murphy. “We picked up [Quinn] Priester, we signed [Jose] Quintana late. I trust [general manager] Matt [Arnold] and the front office. Their track record is what it is. I can assure you that I trust them. I know a lot of people don't understand it. I mean, we got the addition of Andrew Vaughn, which changes your trade deadline because this is real. The thing that I take away from that is we didn't lose any of our players with the exception of Eric Haase, which we didn't lose him (fully) because he's cleared waivers.
“That's all I worry about,” continued the Brewers manager. “From my standpoint of what I do in the trade deadline, I've been telling these guys all year, our trade deadline is getting [Robert] Gasser back late, or getting [Brandon Woodruff] back healthy. For me, that's how I look at it. And not losing any of our current group that has been such a special group to be around as people, that's kind of how I look at the culture here.”
The Brewers ultimately acquired closer Shelby Miller and injured starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery by sending a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Additionally, Pat Murphy and the club added outfielder Brandon Lockridge after sending Nestor Cortes, Jorge Quintana, and cash to the San Diego Padres.