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After the drama of an offseason that included the departures of franchise cornerstones Corbin Burnes and Craig Counsell, the Milwaukee Brewers have responded with one of the best starts in franchise history. The club is 36-23 — seven games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.
Despite this success, the team could use some reinforcements to maintain their high level of play throughout the season. Here are two trade targets for the Brewers before the MLB trade deadline
Brewers needs
Starting pitching
Injuries have decimated Milwaukee's starting pitching, with DL Hall, Wade Miley, Joe Ross, and Jakob Junis all on the Injured List. Miley is out for the year, while Junis is on the 60-day IL. Tobias Harris and Bryse Wilson have stepped up admirably in their absence, but it is unlikely that either can be depended upon as a long-term option. Milwaukee's current second and third starters are Colin Rea and Robert Gasser, respectively — hardly the type of pitchers who should be leading a playoff team. The loss of Miley is especially harmful as it leaves the club without a dependable starter outside of Peralta.
11 pitchers have already made a start for Milwaukee in the season's first two months. Finding dependable starters to solidify the rotation will be crucial to the Brewers' success.
Relief pitching
With starting pitchers getting injured, returning from injury, and stretching out from relief into a starting role, the Brewers have relied heavily on their bullpen to eat innings. Milwaukee starting pitchers have thrown the fewest innings of any staff in the Majors in 2024, with their relievers throwing the most.
Moving long reliever Bryse Wilson has further weakened the bullpen, as he was often able to piggyback off those short starts and bridge to the club's higher-leverage relievers. Milwaukee has relied heavily on Hoby Milner, Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps, and Bryan Hudson. Adding another solid reliever will keep those guys fresher moving forward.
Brewers trade targets
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Erick Fedde (SP), Chicago White Sox
The Brewers are no strangers to adding pitchers from the KBO League in South Korea. The club signed Josh Lindblom on a three-year deal in 2020 after he won the KBO equivalent of the MVP and Cy Young Award in 2019. Lindblom's time in Milwaukee was short and unsuccessful. The right-hander posted a 6.39 ERA in 62 innings pitched across the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He has not pitched in the Majors since.
The White Sox have experienced better luck this season with Erick Fedde. Fedde spent the 2023 season in the KBO, earning the same MVP-Cy Young combo that Lindblom won four years earlier. His transition back to the United States has been much smoother. Fedde has a 3.12 ERA through 12 starts while tying a career-best with 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents are batting just .193 against a revamped curveball that can now be classified as a sweeper, making Fedde a strong but affordable trade target for the Brewers.
Braxton Garrett (SP), Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are another struggling ballclub with a surplus of starting pitching talent. Sandy Alcantara and Jesus Luzardo are All-Stars when healthy, Edward Cabrera is averaging a ridiculous 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings this year, and Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers are both solid back-end starters. This rotation is far better than the team's 21-39 record suggests. This great staff has also been without left-hander Braxton Garrett for the first six weeks of the year as he recovered from a shoulder injury.
Garrett has a 3.63 ERA for the Marlins over the last two seasons with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-1. His sinker has been a valuable pitch — worth 12 runs since the start of 2022. He pairs the sinker with a slider with a whiff rate better than 40% that opponents batted just .168 against last year. The 26-year-old's whiff rate is down this year, but he makes up for it with one of the lowest walk rates in the league. The lefty has allowed just one earned run over his last 14 innings pitched, and with the Marlins already trading All-Star second baseman Luis Arraez, the club made it clear it is looking to sell this summer.
