It wasn't the most explosive trade deadline for the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, but GM Matt Arnold snuck in under the wire to complete a last second deal before the 6 PM cutoff. The Arizona Diamondbacks are trading LHP Jordan Montgomery and RHP Shelby Miller to Milwaukee for a player to be named later or cash considerations, per MLB insider Mark Feinsand.
Brewers send a PTBNL or cash considerations to Dbacks for Miller/Montgomery, per source.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 31, 2025
Montgomery is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery and will not return until 2026. Miller, however, gives the Brewers another high-leverage arm out of the bullpen. He put together a 1.98 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 40 strikeouts in 36.1 innings for the D'Backs prior to the deadline, notching 10 saves.
This gives Milwaukee one of the strongest bullpens in the National League as Miller joins the likes of Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe, Nick Mears and Aaron Ashby. They'll need to wait a bit on Montgomery, but he has a chance to reinforce an excellent starting rotation come next season, slotting behind Jacob Misiorowski, Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester.
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Brewers add two impact arms (one now, one later) in trade with Diamondbacks
Miller, 34, inked a one-year, $1 million contract with the Diamondbacks last offseason and overdelivered, enjoying his best individual campaign to date. He brings valuable experience to the Brewers pen and gives them another righty with shutdown stuff late in games.
As for Montgomery, he's the reason Arizona did not receive diddly squat in return. As an impending free agent, the hope is surely that Montgomery re-signs at a discounted rate for a bounce-back campaign in 2026. Last season in Arizona (and his entire tenure with the organization) was abject misery for all involved, but Montgomery was a borderline All-Star arm and one of the most prized free agents in MLB not that long ago. There's a reason he netted a $22.5 million annual price tag with the D'Backs.
This was a salary dump for the Diamondbacks. And even if the Brewers never see Montgomery throw a pitch in a Brewers uniform, taking on bad money with no long-term strings attached is a great way to add an impact bullpen arm in exchange for next to nothing. Milwaukee did not sacrifice a single asset of import to bring Miller into the bullpen mix, which is a huge win.
Cubs fans ought to be jealous of Brewers' deadline trade
Meanwhile, the second-place Chicago Cubs — an arch rival of Milwaukee helmed by former Brewers manager Craig Counsell — did very little at the deadline. They added no starting pitching to a meager rotation and did very little to improve the bullpen, all while sacrificing far more assets than Milwaukee did.
The Brewers probably could've done more, but this is a savvy front office finding ways to improve a rock-solid roster without mortgaging the future, which is crucial for a team that relies so heavily on in-house development.