3 Possible paths the Brewers could take to address the pitching staff needs

Option 2: Sign a free agent

The Milwaukee Brewers could try, try again at signing someone to help fill depth until the injured guys are ready to come back. Toss Mitch White back to the free agency pool and try to fish another pitcher out. Maybe call 40 year old Zack Greinke and see if he wants to throw on the old #13 jersey on again for a little while?

On a serious note, Grienke, Rich Hill, Madison Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard while technically all free agents, are highly unlikely to be worth anything close to what their names and careers suggest about them.

Maybe the Brewers could look to bring back some other familiar faces. Remember Matt Bush and Daniel Norris? If your answer is no, I envy you, I wish I could forget. The Brewers should steer clear of these two.

The only other option would be to look at some recently DFA'd pitchers and try to find some treasure among other men's trash and scrape any value possible off the discard pile. Players designated for assignment in the last week include Jay Jackson, Mike Baumann, Ty Adcock, Amir Garrett and Nabil Crismatt.

Jay Jackson is 36 years old and pitched for the Brewers in 2019. In 2024 with the Minnesota Twins Jackson had a 6.85 ERA in 17 appearances before being designated for assignment including eight earned runs in his last five appearances.

Mike Baumann was recently designated for assignment by the Baltimore Orioles and while looking at solely his 3.44 ERA might make him seem like a good candidate for signing, it is worth noting that his 1.473 WHIP is higher than Jay Jackson's. Baumann also has a a worse strikeout to walk ratio, in 2024 he's struck out 16 batters and walked nine. His ERA+ is 108 and was 109 in 2023 so he is above average, just slightly.

Ty Adcock was solid for the Seattle Mariners in 2023, a respectable 3.45 ERA in 15.2 innings, however in 2024 in AAA Adcock is sporting an 8.64 ERA with a 2.040 WHIP.

Amir Garrett, familiar face as he spent a lot of time with the Cincinnati Reds, was recently designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels and elected free agency. You know things have to be pretty bad to be DFAed by one of the worst teams in baseball. Garrett had thrown just 5.1 innings for the Angels this season to the tune of a 5.06 ERA and 1.688 WHIP. His ERA+ is at 86, nowhere near the 136 he posted for the Kansas City Royals in 2023.

Nabil Crismatt is one pitcher that is not like these others. Crismatt was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers and elected free agency, a surprising move considering his low 2.57 ERA and 1.000 WHIP. Granted these numbers came in just seven innings pitched across five games and Crismatt was not good in 2023. I guess it must be nice to be the Dodgers and be able to DFA guys like this.

Looking at these players, Jackson, Adcock and Garrett are immediate no's, Garrett will probably get signed by a team willing to overlook the small sample size he put up with the Angels in 2024.

Mike Baumann is probably a better option than Mitch White at this point and would be worth a look to swap the two and Nabil Crismatt is a head scratcher for the Dodgers to cast aside and would be worth the Brewers to bring him in.

Option 3: Make an early trade

As far as trading for pitching help, the basic conundrum is you're either trading for a guy who has been good previously and is underperforming, betting on a return to previous success (someone like Mike Clevinger) or you have to pay a steep price for a good pitcher on a bad team (someone like Mason Miller). Are there any players that could be found in the middle ground?

Looking at some of the bad teams in Major League Baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers could maybe make a call to the Colorado Rockies for Jalen Beeks. Beeks is 30 years old and having a pretty good statistical season. In 19 games (21.1 innings), Beeks has a 2.11 ERA, 220 ERA+ and 1.219 WHIP. His strikeout to walk ratio is less than ideal at 1.36 (15 strikeouts, 11 walks), but that could be a way to help keep the asking price down a bit. It's also worth mentioning that Beeks is left handed and combined with Hoby Milner and Bryan Hudson would give the Milwaukee Brewers three extremely formidable lefties in the bullpen.

In very similar fashion to Beeks, Tanner Scott of the Miami Marlins is another lefty on a bad team that is likely to sell. Scott is 29 so his price tag might be slightly lower than other relievers who are pitching well on bad teams like Mason Miller or Victor Vodnik. While Tanner Scott doesn't have an alliterate name like those two, he does have solid stats. A 1.89 ERA in 19 games and 228 ERA+ are solid, where he could fit in as a happy medium to low cost/high reward is his age as previously mentioned but similarly to Beeks is his strikeouts to walks which have contributed to a slightly inflated WHIP. Scott's WHIP is 1.474 thanks in part to 17 walks compared to 20 strikeouts.

The Milwaukee Brewers could make a call about a different Los Angeles Angels pitcher without having to grab a guy with a high ERA. Matt Arnold could make an offer to the Angels for familiar face Hunter Strickland. Strickland, despite being 35 years old, has pitched well so far in 2024. A 2.37 ERA in 19 innings with 16 strikeouts and just three walks. Strickland was with the Brewers in the second half of 2021 and was fantastic. Strickland was mentioned by the Athletic as a player who could be traded.

Tim Hill of the Chicago White Sox could be a low cost option for the Brewers to trade for. Hill was mentioned in an MLB.com article of players most likely to be traded by the deadline. Hill is 34 years old but having a solid season, in 16 innings pitched his ERA is just 2.25 and his ERA+ is an impressive 181, however, some of his other numbers are troubling, just eight strikeouts to six walks and a 1.688 WHIP are reasons for caution.

So what should the Milwaukee Brewers do about their pitching situation? Standing pat and waiting out some of their injuries would be an understandable strategy. Swapping a guy like Mitch White for Mike Baumann or Nabil Crismatt would be a good move for multiple reasons. Lastly, if Matt Arnold wants to kick off trade season a little early by looking for one of the four guys mentioned and get in on them before other teams desperation meter cranks up a bit, that would be understandable as well.

Don't expect them to be in on the biggest names in the rumor mill that will cost huge packages of prospects. These middle ground guys are the type of guys the Brewers should target for the betterment of 2024 and beyond.