2 Marlins relievers Brewers should target at trade deadline after Miami's losing skid

Yesterday kicked off one of the most exciting weeks of the MLB season: the seven days leading up to the midseason trade deadline. The most active trade deadline in sports, MLB's often produces blockbuster deals and franchise-altering moves, which has fans excited about what their team might end up doing at the end of July each year.

While the deadline involves all teams, as those who aren't planning on contending are generally the ones turning their valuable veteran pieces into exciting young talent as they try to turnaround their organizations, it's far more fun to be a fan of a "buyer" when the trade deadline rolls around. Fans of the Milwaukee Brewers have had the fortune of watching their team make meaningful additions to their roster at the trade deadline for much of the last decade, and the 2026 season is no exception.

Entering play on July 28, the Brew Crew has the second-best record in all of baseball, trailing only the reigning back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. With the top-ranked farm system in baseball accompanying their perennially contending major-league roster, the Brewers are in a prime position to make a splash at the 2026 trade deadline, and some reports have indicated that the front office is prepared to do so this year. Names like Tarik Skubal, Mason Miller, and CJ Abrams, all of whom would require a blockbuster deal to acquire, have continued to surface in trade rumors over the last few weeks.

However, whether or not the Brewers do end up going after a top-tier trade candidate before the August 3 deadline, they would be wise to explore all corners of the trade market. That market, which continues to look small given the crowded nature of the American League Wild Card race, may have expanded by one team over the last two weeks, as one NL East club experienced a poorly timed losing skid.

Marlins' franchise-record-breaking 12-game losing streak has them positioned to deal one of their relievers to the Brewers at the deadline

Prior to the All-Star Break, the Miami Marlins were one of the best stories of the 2026 campaign. Appearing to be in the midst of a rebuild, the Marlins were 10 games above .500 on July 9 despite competing with the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in the competitive NL East. However, starting with a 2-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on July 10 and finally ending with a thrilling walk-off win over the Phillies last night, the Marlins lost 12 consecutive games and now have a very different deadline outlook.

Miami is still just two games back of a Wild Card spot, but with four teams between them and the final NL postseason spot, President of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix, who has done an excellent job since taking over as the head of the Marlins' front office, needs to decide if it's worth foregoing the chance to add more young talent to the organization by trying to compete for a playoff berth this year. If the forward-thinking Marlins' front office elects to sell some of their lesser-known pieces at the trade deadline, here are two relievers Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office should be calling about.

LHP John King

The Marlins would love to part ways with closer Pete Fairbanks, who is on an expiring $13 million deal, ahead of the deadline, but his bloated 7.18 ERA this season could make that difficult. The next most obvious trade candidate in Miami's bullpen is left-hander John King. The 31-year-old King, who Brewers fans may remember from his two and a half seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, is in the midst of his best season in the major leagues. He's sporting a 2.53 ERA with a stellar 0.82 WHIP across 42 appearances this year.

King doesn't have huge strikeout stuff, as indicated by his sub-20% strikeout rate, but he generates a good deal of ground balls (47.4%) and keeps hitters off-balance with his four secondary offerings. The seven-year veteran has a track record of success and would immediately give Pat Murphy another much-needed, high-leverage southpaw at the back-end of his bullpen. King is under team control through the 2027 season and earned just $1.5 million in the arbitration process this year. He shouldn't require too big of a trade package to acquire and could be an important piece for the Brewers down the stretch.

RHP Tyler Zuber

Whereas King is a polished, proven veteran with a high floor, right-hander Tyler Zuber is quite the opposite. Despite also being 31 years old Zuber is at a very different stage in his career than King, in that he's still trying to find his footing as a big-leaguer. He has a career 6.05 ERA in 80.2 innings sprinkled throughout five different seasons. The Marlins are the sixth MLB organization that Zuber has been a part of throughout his career, and his 5.06 ERA out of Miami's 'pen this season doesn't necessarily scream "deadline acquisition" for a first-place team like the Brewers.

However, where Zuber makes some sense for Milwaukee is the fact that he would be a low-cost trade addition, whose impressive underlying metrics indicate that his surface-level numbers will soon start to improve, similar to Nick Mears back in 2024. Zuber's arsenal, which includes an excellent four-seamer and nasty slider, earns a Stuff+ grade of 116. As a reminder, Stuff+ is a movement and velocity-based metric that assigns grades to a pitcher's individual pitches and full arsenal that essentially communicate how "nasty" the pitches are. Zuber's 116 Stuff+ grade would rank third on the Brewers behind only Jacob Misiorowski and Aaron Ashby.

Zuber has a great deal of untapped potential, and under the guidance of the Brewers' excellent pitching department could become a true high-leverage weapon in no time. The problem, however, is that Zuber is out of minor league options, meaning the Brewers would have to roster him on their major league squad as he works through the necessary tweaks to unlock his potential. Even still, with three more years of team control beyond the 2026 season, and a unique arsenal that wouldn't cost too much to acquire at the deadline, Zuber is a name worth exploring.

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