The Brewers still don’t have the full picture on their 2026 trade-deadline haul, and they won’t for a while.
A month after the deadline passed, Milwaukee finally has both of its September call-up additions in uniform. Pitcher JoJo Romero and catcher Bo Naylor were the two deadline acquisitions added when rosters expanded by two players, giving the club its first real look at the entire group brought in for the stretch run.
Romero wasted little time getting thrown into the fire. He was still working his way back from appendix surgery when Milwaukee got him, and after a sharp minor league rehab assignment, he was activated and sent straight into a pressure spot against the division-rival Chicago Cubs. He inherited a runner left by fellow deadline pickup Antonio Senzatela and entered with a two-run cushion.
The lefty gave up two hits in his Brewers debut, but he was around the zone all night, landing nine of his 11 pitches for strikes. Milwaukee later added insurance and finished off a 9-4 win, with Romero credited for a hold. He followed that up Wednesday night with his first back-to-back appearance in a Brewers uniform and looked even cleaner, striking out one in a scoreless inning.
Naylor, meanwhile, still hasn’t made his big league debut for Milwaukee. He has been productive in the minors, though, knocking in 17 runs over 14 games. A big part of that surge has come from a different approach at the plate, with fewer balls hit to the pull side and better use of the whole field.
The Brewers have already had a longer look at Senzatela and starter Dustin May, and the early returns haven’t been clean. Since the deadline, Senzatela has posted a 4.63 ERA and May a 6.41 mark, feeding into a familiar storyline for Milwaukee: new pitchers often need time to settle in after arriving.
Even so, the sample is still too small to hand down a verdict. The real judgment on these moves won’t arrive until the season ends.
That matters especially with May, who brings the most upside and may be the most important of the bunch when October arrives. With a Brandon Woodruff return looking unlikely, even with the right-hander avoiding surgery, May is currently projected to be one of Milwaukee’s four starters in the postseason. If that holds, he’ll be asked to handle meaningful playoff innings for the first time since 2020.
There’s plenty of unevenness in his recent run, but May has also shown exactly why Milwaukee wanted him. He opened with six innings of two-run ball in his team debut, then followed with seven innings of one-run work against the San Diego Padres. Before joining the Brewers, he also threw a complete-game shutout.
If that version of May shows up in October, the rough August outings will fade fast. The same goes for Senzatela, who stumbled through three straight appearances early in his Brewers stint before finding his footing. Over his last eight outings, he has thrown six scoreless ones.
Romero and Naylor still have a chance to shape the final judgment, too. For now, though, the Brewers’ deadline story is still being written, and the final chapter won’t come until after the season.
In Other News...
Former Brewers Reliever Gets Another Shot To Test Milwaukees Decision
Easton McGees path away from Milwaukee has already taken a few turns since the Brewers designated him for assignment and shipped him to Kansas City in July. He got a brief look with the Royals, then spent most of August in Triple-A, where the results were rough enough to push him back out of the spotlight for a while.
Now he is back on Kansas Citys major league roster as a September call-up, which gives him another chance to show he belongs in an MLB bullpen. For the Brewers, it is the kind of move that keeps a former arm on the radar and quietly reopens the question of whether the organization gave up on him too soon. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers May Have Found The Tweak Antonio Senzatela Needed
Antonio Senzatelas move to the Brewers has already come with a clearer role and a different pitch mix, but the early returns were uneven. After his transition from the Rockies rotation to the bullpen, he had found more success leaning on a cutter and four-seam fastball, yet Milwaukee initially had him working more with a sinker-cutter combination that did not produce the kind of results the club was hoping for.
The good news for the Brewers is that the answer may have been less about the pitch itself than where he was throwing it from. A later adjustment to Senzatelas position on the mound helped his sinker play better, giving Milwaukee a possible path to a more effective version of the right-hander as it continues to sort out how he fits into the staff. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Deadline Gamble Is Turning Into An October Rotation Problem
When Milwaukee dealt for Dustin May at the deadline, the move was supposed to deepen a rotation the Brewers hoped would hold up into the stretch run. Instead, the right-hander has been searching for answers since arriving, and the early returns have been rough enough to change the tone around what was meant to be a stabilizing addition.
May has posted a 6.41 ERA in five appearances with Milwaukee, part of a season that has already been uneven overall. His 6-9 record and 4.69 ERA underscore why the Brewers were betting on upside when they brought him in, but the performance has not matched the ask, and it now looks unlikely the club will pick up his option for 2027. [Read more 🡒]