The Los Angeles Dodgers made the biggest move of the trade deadline by acquiring Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.
Many teams were reportedly interested in Skubal, including the Milwaukee Brewers, who have a half-game lead over the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. The Dodgers gave up Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith to get Skubal. Hope was the Dodgers' No. 5 prospect and the No. 25 prospect in baseball. Ryan is a 27-year-old pitcher in Triple-A and was the Dodgers' No. 7 prospect and the No. 27 prospect in baseball. Smith was the Dodgers' No. 17 prospect.
The Brewers have an elite farm system, and details of their offer to the Tigers were revealed by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
"Milwaukee’s initial proposal was also three prospects, according to sources," McCalvy wrote. "All three were hitters, and at least two were Top 100 prospects. One of them was shortstop Luis Peña, who is No. 18 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100. The Brewers’ other position player prospects in MLB Pipeline’s version of the Top 100 are Jesús Made (who is No. 1 overall and was off limits), outfielder Luis Lara (who is No. 64 and probably wasn’t in play after the Brewers committed to him via a seven-year contract extension in June), infielder Jett Williams (No. 76) and outfielder Josh Adamczewski (No. 87). Different sources believed the third hitter was either on one version of a Top 100 list as well, or just outside."
The Brewers reportedly offered two top 100 prospects, and potentially a third. However, they did not offer a pitcher. The Tigers reportedly wanted a controllable big league arm, and got that in Ryan. However, Ryan is far from a finished product.
He made four big league starts in 2024, but had to have Tommy John surgery. He has a 4.46 ERA in Triple-A this year.
On paper, it can be argued that the Brewers' offer was better than the Dodgers', but the Tigers did not value it that way. It was very out of character for the Brewers to be that aggressive for a rental like Skubal. Offering Peña is not something the Brewers would do for a rental, but they did.
“We certainly talked about doing some ‘irresponsible’ stuff as well, but we tried to thread the needle, as Murph says,” Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said on Monday. “We were prepared to push a lot of chips in. And look, I think we did.”