The Milwaukee Brewers want to get past the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers this season, who also have the best record in baseball (59-31 record).
Well, the Brewers have the second best record in the league at 54-33 and now would be the time to go all-in. They can do so by sending a haul of prospects to the Detroit Tigers to acquire back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal at the MLB trade deadline.
The Brewers have the No. 1 ranked farm system in baseball. It will take a ton of talent to land Skubal and Milwaukee holds that in prospect capital. A conversation for Skubal would likely start with their No. 1 prospect Jesús Made and top pitching prospect Logan Henderson. They could also trade No. 5 prospect Jett Williams, who they acquired from the New York Mets for Freddy Peralta in the offseason.
The Brewers' starting rotation has the best ERA in MLB at 3.25. However, they just lost Brandon Woodruff to the injured list again for the same injury: right shoulder inflammation. Woodruff missed over a month of action earlier in the season due to right shoulder inflammation. They cannot count on Woodruff staying healthy and beyond the domination of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, the Brewers' rotation is super thin.
Trading for Skubal would automatically make the Brewers World Series contenders. They would immediately become a major threat to the Dodgers by forming the best rotation 1-3 in the game.
The dilemma is that Skubal is making $32 million this year, which isn't ideal for Milwaukee to take on. But given the year they're having, plus holding the No. 1 farm system, now is the time for the Brewers to go all the way in.
The Brewers did something similar at the trade deadline back in 2008 when they acquired ace CC Sabathia from Cleveland. They should repeat history by landing Skubal, which would give them the best chance to take down the Dodgers.
