After the trade deadline passed, the Brewers took plenty of heat for not landing Tarik Skubal. But new reporting shows Milwaukee was far more aggressive than plenty of people realized.
Scott Harris and the Tigers ended up sending Skubal to the Dodgers for outfielder Zyhir Hope and pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith. In the wake of that deal, the Brewers were left facing the familiar question of when they would finally make a major splash, the kind of move that once came with their 2008 trade for CC Sabathia.
The answer, as it turns out, is that they tried.
Andy McCullough of The Athletic reported that Milwaukee made a serious push for Skubal, and the offer was a strong one. The Brewers were unwilling to include starter Logan Henderson, which had already been known, but they did put together a package built around infielder Luis Peña, their No. 2 prospect, utility man Jett Williams, their No. 10 prospect, and outfielder Josh Adamczewski, their No. 3 prospect.
“From there, the Brewers brass received radio silence until that evening when they saw Dodgers Double-A outfielder Zyhir Hope was scratched,” McCullough wrote. “Soon after, Harris called [Matt] Arnold to let him know Skubal would not be a Brewer.”
Arnold made clear he respected the communication. “I appreciated the s- out of that,” Arnold said. “He was very transparent.”
The difference, according to the reporting, was pitching. Tigers fans had long believed Harris would need a pitcher to be swayed, and the Dodgers delivered two, with Ryan at least technically major league-ready after dealing with a hamstring issue. As for Milwaukee’s offer, the only piece that could have plausibly helped Detroit right away was Williams, though he has been struggling some at Triple-A.
The postseason only added another layer to the story. Starting pitching barely mattered across the board, with Jacob Misiorowski failing to go more than six innings in any start and needing until his third outing to clear five innings. Skubal worked six and five innings in his two starts before the Dodgers were swept out of the postseason, reducing the whole deal to a simple tally: three prospects for 11 Tarik Skubal innings.
For Milwaukee, the larger takeaway is easy. The Brewers made a real bid, they didn’t get Skubal, and they still won a World Series without him.
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