Brewers Are in a Prime Position To Make a Splash at the Deadline

Perhaps no team in MLB will have a brighter spotlight shining upon them in the upcoming days than the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sitting at an MLB-best 64-43, the Brewers have a tremendous opportunity ahead of them. They’ve been the hottest team in baseball over the past few months, and what transpires between now and Thursday’s trade deadline could greatly impact the ceiling of this team moving forward.

But the trade deadline is always an interesting conversation when it comes to the Brew Crew. A cash-strapped, small-market organization, the Brewers, as many are aware, function under tight operating constraints and rarely push the chips forward in any given season.

They pride themselves on their prolonged, sustained success, and continuously replenishing their assets as opposed to depleting their farm system has been essential to keeping this team competitive over the years.

But the 2025 Brewers have a chance to be different.

Will they continue to operate like they have in previous seasons by trimming roster fat while soft-buying, or is this the year they swing for the fences and make the impact addition that can take this team to the promised land?

It’s truly a fascinating question, and that’s why they’ll be one of the most monitored teams between now and Thursday’s deadline.

Stats and rankings were taken prior to play on July 29.

The Argument For the Milwaukee Brewers To Go All In

The argument for the Brewers to go for it this year is simple: They have the best record in MLB, something they haven’t done this late into the season since 1982, the year the franchise made its lone World Series appearance, and this team has the capital to make a splash.

It’s been well documented just how successful the Brewers have been at competing for a playoff spot over the years. They’ve reached the postseason in six of the last seven seasons and have been one of the best regular season teams over that stretch.

At the same time, the Brewers are also 2-11 in their last 13 playoff games and have lost six straight postseason series. Their winning formula and way of operating may be second to none in all of MLB given the financial restrictions and budgeting constraints they have to operate within, but it has yet to translate to any postseason success to this point.

But what we’ve seen over the past few months is that the roster foundation is clearly there to build around, and there is a special type of energy surrounding this team. With some additions, the Brewers can stray from the same fate that has plagued this team in recent postseasons.

They Have the Assets To Get a Deal Done

Last week, I wrote about the embarrassment of riches that the Brewers have in their pitching staff and how they could use that to their advantage in the coming days to improve other aspects of this roster.

With Nestor Cortes soon to return from injury and the numerous arms in Triple-A who could contribute at the big-league level right away, the Brewers have the pitching depth to trade from to acquire offensive help.

This Brewers team does a ton of things well on offense to make them a competitive unit, such as draw walks, limit the strikeouts, and hit for a strong average. That’s all good enough to get a team through 162, but in order to make it past a truly loaded field of National League contenders come October, the home run ball will always be king.

The Brewers currently rank 22nd in MLB with a .386 slugging percentage. They also currently rank 24th in baseball with 101 home runs, and their Isolated Power (ISO) of .135 is the fourth lowest in the sport and the second lowest in the National League.

They’re also sporting the the worst team barrel rate in baseball at 6.1% to go with a hard-hit rate that is in the bottom six of baseball.

For Brewers fans, this is not a new conversation and those numbers might make some wince. This is a sentiment that has surrounded this ball club for quite some time. An offense needs to slug to make it not just to, but through the postseason, and adding pop to this lineup should be priority No. 1 in the coming days for Milwaukee.

Given how impressive their farm system is from top to bottom and the aforementioned depth of their pitching staff, the Brewers can trade from their surplus of arms and still be in a good position for years to come. Using that to their advantage to acquire a truly impactful bat could be what this team needs to take them over the hump.

The Argument For the Milwaukee Brewers To Stand Pat

There’s always a counterargument when it comes to pushing the chips forward, though. Being a seller’s market, the price for lineup-altering, impact bats will be sky-high. The question is, will Matt Arnold and Co. be willing to pay the price to acquire that impact player?

That remains yet to be seen.

The Snag With Suárez

Obviously, Eugenio Suárez is the prized possession for any team looking for offense. But given that he is the top trade chip on the trade market, the Brewers will need to outbid some big players to win the Suárez sweepstakes.

Will they be comfortable parting with a substantial prospect package to bring in a rental bat? Perhaps, but history tells us otherwise.

Plus, while it goes without saying that his 36 homers would be a monumental boost for this Brewers offense whose current home run leader is Christian Yelich with 20, there’s more to the conversation than just picking up Suárez’s home run potential.

Perhaps no team in MLB puts more value on defense than the Milwaukee Brewers. Suárez has the second-worst Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-5) among MLB third basemen this season. Substituting his glove at third base for Caleb Durbin‘s glove (+2 OAA and +8 DRS, the third-best mark among MLB third basemen) is a real element to the discussion.

Sure, that defensive downgrade is a lot easier to stomach when adding a bat like Suárez’s into the fold, but it could still make the Brewers think twice before pulling the trigger on a potential trade, especially at his enormous rumored price.

It’s also worth mentioning that since June 12, Durbin leads MLB third baseman in batting average (.330) and is third at the position in wOBA (.377), wRC+ (146), and fWAR (1.2). He provides value in a completely different way than Suárez, mainly by putting the bat on the ball at an elite rate and limiting the strikeouts, but he has a skill set that the Brewers greatly value in their lineup.

Now, that’s not to say the Brewers wouldn’t welcome Suárez and his elite home run prowess to the lineup, but Durbin’s play as of late is yet another element to consider when looking at how Milwaukee could attack this trade deadline.

Hesitant About O’Hearn?

Ryan O’Hearn, the first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, is likely the next-best bat on the market. O’Hearn, while not nearly the prolific power hitter that Suárez is, comes with the added benefit of being able to play in a corner outfield spot along with being a lefty platoon option with Andrew Vaughn at first base.

In fact, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Brewers “are among the teams interested in the Baltimore Orioles’ Ryan O’Hearn.” In the same report, Milwaukee was even rumored to have showed interest in first baseman Josh Naylor before the Seattle Mariners acquired him over the weekend.

So, clearly this team views first base as a potential need with Rhys Hoskins and Jake Bauers on the shelf for at least the next couple of weeks.

At the same time, given the likely demand of O’Hearn, does Vaughn’s hot streak make the Brewers less willing to swing a big trade?

In his 14 games as a member of the Brewers, Vaughn is slashing .341/.423/.705 with a 1.128 OPS, four home runs, and 14 RBI. With him swinging the bat the way that he has, coming up clutch time and time again, it’ll be difficult for Milwaukee to rationalize taking at-bats away from him at this point.

He’s been a focal point of the Brewers’ offense since getting the call, and I doubt they want to disrupt his newfound rhythm at the plate.

Still, that level of production isn’t sustainable for Vaughn, and the Brewers will need to be prepared for when his numbers come back down to earth. Bringing in a proven bat like O’Hearn would certainly hedge some of that risk.

But again, with internal reinforcements on the way in Bauers and Hoskins, and given that O’Hearn has a .222 batting average with a .661 OPS since the beginning of June, the Brewers’ front office is likely thinking long and hard about whether or not his price tag is worth the offensive upgrade.

Final Thoughts

What is the end goal for this team? It’s a common question asked regarding the Brewers each trade deadline.

It often feels as if the goal for Milwaukee is to make it to the playoffs and see what happens from there. For a while, that was a fine goal, especially since they’ve achieved that mission quite well over the years. But it’s time for the Brewers to not just get to the postseason, but truly establish themselves as the team to beat in the National League.

They need to determine if what they have in house is good enough to make it to the mountaintop. While players like Durbin and Vaughn have been essential pieces of this team’s success as of late, there’s risk in relying upon those types of players in pursuit of a World Series title given the former is a rookie and the latter has a suspect track record of production.

If they have the opportunity to acquire some of the top bats on the market without putting them behind the eight ball, there should be nothing stopping them from checking in on these names. But whether or not they deem the price tag worthy of the reward will be answered in the coming days.