Grading a Brewers-Blue Jays trade for another rotation upgrade

The Milwaukee Brewers have already started improving their team ahead of the trade deadline. The obvious hole for the Brewers was in the starting rotation, where they added Aaron Civale in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this month.

They won't stop there though, as they could still look to improve their pitching rotation.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report agrees here, listing starting pitching as the team's biggest weakness.

"They'll probably be eying up a rental, though, with Peralta, Rea, Myers, and Civale all coming back next season, plus Brandon Woodruff, D.L. Hall and Robert Gasser who are currently on the IL," Miller wrote.

Brewers-Blue Jays mock trade sends starting pitcher to Milwaukee

Miller pitched a trade to support his idea that they need to add starting pitching. In the hypothetical trade, the Brewers would acquire the rental starting pitcher that Miller talks about.

The proposal sends left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi of the Toronto Blue Jays to the Brewers in exchange for their 17th-ranked prospect Bradley Blalock.

Brewers Trade Grade: A-

The Brewers would win this trade by a landslide. Kikuchi has been a reliable pitcher for the Blue Jays this season, pitching to a 4.00 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 111 strikeouts in 101.1 innings. He's not an ace, but he would provide an upgrade in the Brewers rotation that they desperately need.

Kikuchi would be the rental that Milwaukee would be looking for with him unlikely to be resigned at the end of the season. Milwaukee is notorious for developing pitchers into MLB assets, so they wouldn't have much of a need for the southpaw after this season.

Blue Jays Trade Grade: C+

The Blue Jays would be losing this trade simply because they should get more value from a reliable starter like Kikuchi. Though they don't have much leverage, there should be a decent market as many contending teams could look to upgrade the backend of their rotation.

Blalock isn't a bad prospect, by any means, but only adding the 17th-ranked prospect in the Brewers' system would be a bit of a hard pill to swallow for the Blue Jays.

Blalock, 23, has a 4.52 ERA across 14 starts at Triple-A this season. His strikeout numbers are a bit down this year, but besides that, the righty has looked solid in 2024.

The Blue Jays would need to add in a Brewers prospect in the 20-25 range. A piece like infielder Juan Baez would make this trade much more even, providing the Blue Jays with a young prospect who has been solid in his professional career.