Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals both face pivotal moments in their NL Central playoff chase this week.
- Each team stands to gain significantly by making one aggressive deadline deal that addresses their biggest roster weaknesses.
- The potential trades would reshape both franchises' short-term playoff hopes while balancing long-term prospect costs.
This week's series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals is a big one for both NL Central foes. The Brewers are hoping to further establish themselves as legitimate contenders, and a win on Monday against a good Cardinals team helps their cause. The Cardinals are simply trying to prove doubters wrong and get to the playoffs.
As good as these teams are, it's hard to envision either club achieving its ultimate goal without making an aggressive deadline deal. These mock trades could push them over the top.
Acquiring Tarik Skubal would make the Brewers World Series contenders
Acquiring Tarik Skubal would help the Brewers in a couple of obvious ways. Not only would it make their team much better, obviously, but ensuring that the Los Angeles Dodgers don't acquire him might be just as big a win. If Milwaukee wants to win a World Series, they're almost certainly going to have to go through a Dodgers team that swept them in last year's NLCS. It's a whole lot easier to beat them with Skubal than without, especially if the alternative is Skubal wearing Dodger Blue.
Making this dream a reality would sting, as this mock trade has Milwaukee parting with three top prospects. Logan Henderson, a top-100 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has done nothing but excel at the big-league level when given a chance and has the stuff to be a rotation lynchpin for the next half-decade — if not longer, if he can stay healthy. Andrew Fischer isn't listed as a top-100 prospect by MLB Pipeline for reasons I can't understand, but considering the season he's had (.442 OBP, 28 HR, 64 RBI, 1.150 OPS), he should be. He has star upside. Braylon Payne isn't quite as exciting as Fischer and Henderson thanks to a questionable hit tool, but he's a freak athlete who can run like the wind and hit baseballs 500 feet. If he can iron out some swing-and-miss concerns, his upside is sky-high, and he's had a great year at High-A as a 19-year-old.
It's a ton to give up, especially when we're talking about just a couple months of Skubal (no, there's no shot the Brewers re-sign him in free agency), but this is no ordinary rental. The lefty can flip a playoff series; when he's healthy, he's as good as any starter in the game. The Brewers could use a frontline starter given Brandon Woodruff's durability concerns, and while I'm not saying this trade wouldn't hurt, Milwaukee would still have one of the league's best farm systems moving forward.
If the Brewers can get a game-changer like Skubal and not part with prospects like Jesus Made, Luis Pena or Luis Lara, I'm not sure why they wouldn't do that. And if the Detroit Tigers trade him, I'm not sure they'd do much better than a MLB-ready starter and two high-end position player prospects, one of whom in Fischer could potentially be up by the end of the year.
A Michael Wacha reunion would greatly increase the Cardinals' floor
While the Brewers should be swinging big after years of postseason failures, the Cardinals should be eager to improve without mortgaging their future. This mock trade — which would bring Michael Wacha back to St. Louis, where he spent the first seven years of his career — would help them in that regard.
Don't get me wrong: The Cardinals would be giving up some good prospects in this deal. Quinn Mathews and Tai Peete have both been very highly regarded at times in their pro careers. However, Mathews has had continued struggles with command, and that's kept him from debuting in the Majors, while Peete, despite a ton of power and speed, has clear hit tool concerns. They're both valuable, but trading them for Wacha should be a no-brainer.
He isn't an ace, and he isn't young (he just turned 35 years old), but Wacha is the model of consistency that the Cardinals currently lack in their rotation. He has a 3.45 ERA in 18 starts this season, putting him on pace to record a fifth straight year of at least 20 starts and a sub-3.90 ERA. That kind of reliability is hard to find, and knowing that Wacha is under contract through the 2027 season and is owed just $14 million in the final year of his deal (with an additional $14 million club option for 2028) makes him even more valuable.
This deal makes sense for both sides. The Cardinals would be making a playoff push while also having an extra year of Wacha and not trading their best prospects, while the Royals would be selling high on a 35-year-old in a year in which they're out of postseason contention. Mathews can conceivably help them next season, and if Peete can improve his contact rate, he has the upside to be a special player.
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