The Brewers went after Tarik Skubal hard enough to make the Tigers think, and hard enough to leave Milwaukee frustrated when the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner wound up with the Dodgers instead.
What the Brewers would not call it, at least publicly, was a defeat defined by lack of effort. Pat Murphy pushed back Monday on any suggestion Milwaukee sat out the Skubal sweepstakes or got outbid in simple terms.
“I don’t believe that for one minute. I’m not saying -- I know we went after trying to get that player.
I don’t know exactly the details of it all. But I know this: It isn’t as simple as, ‘That’s a better package.’
It’s not as simple as that. There’s a lot more layers to it.
I don’t understand it fully. But I think this is a bigger situation than, ‘Well, that was a better package.’
And to say that the Brewers didn’t try is simply incorrect.”
From the Brewers’ side, the offer was real and it was substantial. Sources said Milwaukee’s initial proposal included three prospects, all hitters, with at least two ranked among MLB Pipeline’s Top 100.
One of them was shortstop Luis Peña, who checks in at No. 18 on MLB Pipeline’s list. The club’s other Top 100 position-player prospects are Jesús Made, No. 1 overall and off limits; Luis Lara, No. 64 and likely not available after his seven-year contract extension in June; Jett Williams, No. 76; and Josh Adamczewski, No.
- Different sources said the third hitter was either also on a Top 100 list somewhere or just outside it.
Detroit, though, wanted a controllable Major League pitcher in the deal. The names Milwaukee and other clubs were asked for most often included Logan Henderson, though none of the sources would identify exactly which pitcher the Tigers preferred.
So the Brewers can’t say with certainty which three players made up their best offer. What they do know is that it was strong.
And that made the landing spot sting all the more. Milwaukee not only missed out on Skubal, but now might have to face him on the road to the World Series.
Murphy said the reaction inside the clubhouse has been real, even if he doesn’t want the Brewers dwelling on the Dodgers.
“I don’t think we can be thinking about the Dodgers right now,” he said Monday, after Milwaukee added three other pitchers in trades with the Cardinals and Rockies. “This is Aug. 3, and I don’t think we can assume anything.
We’ve got to go play baseball. This has affected us already.
It’s already affected the team. I think that’s a reality, and I don’t think it’s healthy.
But it’s a part of our game right now. We can’t try to pretend it’s not there.
We can’t lie to the players. All that being said, we have to respond to it now.”
When asked what he meant by the Brewers being “affected,” Murphy pointed to the feeling that it was Milwaukee and Los Angeles battling for Skubal.
“I mean the initial reaction, that it was kind of like us against the Dodgers for Skubal,” Murphy said.
He added that he doesn’t see the situation as that clean or that simple.
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold also made clear that Milwaukee pushed. He wouldn’t discuss Skubal specifically, but said the club was willing to be aggressive and put fewer players and prospects off limits than in previous Deadline seasons.
“We certainly talked about doing some ‘irresponsible’ stuff as well, but we tried to thread the needle, as Murph says,” Arnold said. “We were prepared to push a lot of chips in. And look, I think we did.”
Milwaukee already showed some of that willingness in the deals that brought in Cardinals starter Dustin May and reliever JoJo Romero. The Brewers sent outfielders Alexander Frias, their No. 11 prospect, and Josiah Ragsdale, their No. 13 prospect, to St.
Louis. May is tentatively set to start Thursday against the Pirates, while Romero is still a few weeks away from returning after an emergency appendectomy.
The Skubal price would have been even steeper, but Milwaukee was willing to keep climbing if it meant pairing him with NL Cy Young Award frontrunner Jacob Misiorowski. That kind of 1-2 punch is easy to imagine in October.
The players, for their part, didn’t sound crushed. Sal Frelick, who is rehabbing a right shoulder injury, said no one in the room is acting like the Brewers need rescuing.
“I mean, I don’t know if ‘discouraging’ is the word,” Frelick said. “Obviously, no [other] guy like that is out there.
But I don’t think anybody in this room is like, ‘We need something.’ Or like, ‘Please, please.’
No one feels that way.
“It’s like, you know a guy like that could help any team that gets him, right? I don’t think anybody is too surprised where he ended up. That team gets a lot of those blockbusters.”
Garrett Mitchell sounded more defiant than surprised.
“I don’t think I’m shocked by it. But we’ve always had that underdog mentality.
Average Joes. I know we’re not really looked at or treated like that anymore, but that mentality is always a great place to be.”
DL Hall took the same broad view of the Dodgers.
“They’re not unbeatable. Nobody’s unbeatable.”
That kind of edge is exactly what Murphy wants his team carrying forward.
“Does it force you to go and sharpen your sword a little bit?” he asked.
“Yeah. So if that creates a little better edge, so be it.
It’s still not going to make it easy when we play the series against the Dodgers next week. I’m sure they think they got a little better this week, and they probably did.
But I think by the end of today, we’ll have gotten better.”
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