The Milwaukee Brewers trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game for the best record in all of baseball.
They are expected to be more aggressive than in years past at the trade deadline and are continuously being linked to Tarik Skubal in trade rumors. A trio of Skubal, Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison would mitigate a lot of the Brewers' concerns on offense. They would not need to score as many runs to score if that was the trio they were trotting out in October. With Logan Henderson as the No. 4 starter, they would be in a position to win the National League.
However, even if they don't land the big fish in Skubal, they could end up getting a different star at the deadline.
"The Brewers aren't exclusively focused on Skubal," reported ESPN's Jeff Passan on Thursday. "They love the idea of Mason Miller joining what's already a superpen."
If the Brewers are going to be aggressive, Miller seems like more of a fit than Skubal anyway. He has multiple years of club control, and if the Brewers are going to start dumping prospects, it's more likely to be for a controllable pitcher. However, they do have a history of not valuing closers as much, as seen by them trading away two Reliever of the Year Award winners in Josh Hader and Devin Williams.
Adding Miller to their bullpen would pretty much ensure that anytime their starter leaves with a lead, they're going to win the game. They already have a lethal duo in Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill. Adding Miller to close games would force teams to have to face Megill and Uribe in the seventh and eighth innings of tied games or trailing.
Those three, paired with relievers like Craig Yoho, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall, would give the Brewers the best bullpen in baseball.
They really can't go wrong with Skubal or Miller if they decide to pull the trigger on one of them. However, if they get one, they need to ensure they go all-in and actually acquire a power bat to make the move really worth it.