How Brewers can afford expensive starting pitcher trade targets with limited payroll originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Milwaukee Brewers have one of the best, if not the best, farm systems in all of Major League Baseball right now. With so many good prospects at their disposal, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the Brewers add to their team using the farm system.
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In pursuit of pitching help this summer to upgrade the rotation, the Brewers might be running into an issue with Tarik Skubal, Robbie Ray, and Kevin Gausman. All three are on expensive contracts and will cost a lot to acquire financially.
Fortunately, there’s a solution. Jesse Rogers of ESPN highlighted how the Brewers can utilize their strong farm system to upgrade the rotation, asking teams to take on more of the contract by offering more from their elite farm system in a trade.
Brewers can afford expensive SP trade targets by using better prospect capital
“With the exception of Freddy Peralta, most of the good pitching rentals – like Skubal, Gausman and Ray — come with a hefty price tag for the final two months,” Rogers writes. “The better prospect returns a team can offer, the better the chance the trading team sends cash with a pitcher.”
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The Brewers can land an expensive starting pitcher not by taking on more of their contract, but by giving up a better prospect package to have the other team take on the move of the remainder of the contract.
For example, instead of sending just two top prospects to acquire Skubal from the Detroit Tigers, the Brewers could send a third top prospect and have the Tigers take on more of Skubal’s remaining salary.
This is a way for the Brewers to upgrade their roster with a significant move while still keeping payroll to a minimum.
MORE: Tigers expected to trade Tarik Skubal but still try to contend without him
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They could still take on some of a new contract, but parting with more prospect capital to ease the financial burden is very much in play for Milwaukee this summer.
A controllable starter might cost too much for the Brewers, so a rental like Clay Holmes or Freddy Peralta, both not making too much money, would make more sense for Milwaukee.
But, if the Brewers want to pursue a Skubal, Ray, or Gausman without spending too much money, they can part with extra prospect capital to get the other team to eat more of the contract.
It will be very interesting to see what the Brewers wind up doing at the trade deadline, as they could see this as their all-in season, or they could have a quiet deadline while trying to build a long-term contender.
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