Nine days after the Milwaukee Brewers came up short in their pursuit of Tarik Skubal, Shane Drohan is still remembering the moment he learned the Dodgers had landed him - and it wasn’t from the team.
“It was pretty brutal, at least for me, I was sitting in the dugout and I found out through a fan behind us,” Drohan said, per Cerullo. “It was some lady, she’s like, 'Oh, Skubal to the Dodgers' and I’m like there’s no way that’s how I found out, but that’s how I found out.”
The Brewers had been in the mix for the two-time reigning AL Cy Young award winner before the MLB trade deadline, but the southpaw ultimately went to Los Angeles. Milwaukee, meanwhile, stayed busy of its own, adding Dustin May and JoJo Romero in a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals and bringing in Antonio Senzatela from the Colorado Rockies.
Even with those moves, the deadline left plenty of people around the game underwhelmed. Many baseball experts still saw Milwaukee’s haul as disappointing, especially after the club had been linked to Skubal.
That matters for Drohan, because a deal for Skubal could have changed the shape of Milwaukee’s rotation. With May now in the mix and Kyle Harrison back from injury, Skubal would likely have pushed Drohan out of the starting five.
Right now, the Brewers’ rotation stacks up with Jacob Misiorowski at the top, followed by Harrison and rookie right-hander Logan Henderson. May and Drohan round out the group.
Drohan earned his spot in the rotation at the start of June, when Henderson went on the injured list, and he’s been mostly steady since then. Across 23 games, including 13 starts, the 27-year-old is 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP and 93 strikeouts in 93 innings.
His numbers look a lot better in relief than in the rotation. As a starter, Drohan has a 4.61 ERA, compared with a 1.82 mark out of the bullpen. That gap has been widened by two rough outings lately.
He followed a strong six-inning start against the Los Angeles Angels on July 31 with a shaky stretch before that. On July 24 against the Colorado Rockies, he gave up five runs on six hits in six innings. Then on Friday in an 8-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins, he was tagged for career highs in hits with nine, runs with six and home runs with two, while also matching his career high with four walks.
Drohan is expected to start one of Milwaukee’s games in its four-game series against the Dodgers from Thursday through Sunday.
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If Turang needs time, Milwaukee would have to find answers quickly from elsewhere on the roster, with Jihwan Bae, David Hamilton and Joey Ortiz among the names likely to matter more. None of those options can fully replace what Turang has brought, but this is the kind of shuffle the Brewers may have to manage if they want to avoid one injury turning into a deeper infield problem. [Read more 🡒]
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Brewers Suddenly Face A Depth Test They Cant Escape
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Sal Frelicks absence has added to the squeeze in the outfield, where the Brewers have had to manage without one of their more reliable regulars because of a right shoulder strain. The encouraging part for Milwaukee is that help should be coming, but for now the club is still operating in survival mode as it tries to keep its season on track through a roster that keeps getting thinner before it gets whole again. [Read more 🡒]