Instant Trade Grade: Brewers do well to acquire controllable bullpen help

The Brewers struck once more in the trade market for pitching help on Saturday, acquiring reliever Nick Mears from the Rockies in exchange for two minor league pitching prospects.

Bullpen help is always needed for every contender at the Trade Deadline, and the Brewers are no different. They've had a taxed bullpen most of the season due to issues in the starting rotation. The bullpen wasn't the biggest need for Milwaukee, but it was a need nonetheless.

How did the Brewers do in this trade for Nick Mears?

Nick Mears Trade Grade: A-

There are a lot of good qualities to like with Nick Mears. He's young at 27 years old, he's controllable through the 2027 season, and he's got excellent stuff.

However, on the down side, Mears has a 5.56 ERA this season and the stuff hasn't translated into results.

"Ultimately, we need real performance, not just underlying performance, but we think there are a lot of ingredients to tap into here with Mears. He's got electric stuff with a lot of upside and from all accounts he's a tremendous person, and open to working with our really good coaching staff to get the most out of his abilities. So we're excited to have him" Brewers GM Matt Arnold said.

The Brewers had just lost Bryan Hudson to the injured list earlier in the day, which was "certainly a factor" per Arnold, in the decision to make this move for Mears.

Mears has been much better over his more recent outings. One or two really rough ones have inflated his ERA on the season. Over Mears' last 12 outings, he has a stellar 1.80 ERA.

Getting several years of team control over Mears is a major factor here. The Brewers will have him for potentially four playoff runs. He won't reach free agency until after the 2027 season. That also factored into the price the Brewers paid to get him.

The Brewers have a history of picking up bullpen arms with great stuff but poor results and turning things around. Look at Hudson and Trevor Megill. Both were DFAed by their previous teams and became the two most trusted bullpen arms the Brewers had in the first half.

Typically, two top 30 prospects for a non-closer reliever is a steep price to pay. But the years of control makes it a much easier pill to swallow. Blalock came over in the Luis Urias trade last year and the Brewers put him on their 40 man roster. He was called up to the majors twice this year, but made just one scoreless appearance and has been down in Double-A otherwise. The stuff is there but development will take longer for Blalock.

Blalock wasn't going to be helping this team in the near future and with 40 man roster spots at a premium right now, it made sense that he was included in this deal.

Yujanyer Herrera similarly wasn't going to be helping the big league club anytime soon. He'd been posting a wonderful season in A-ball with the Timber Rattlers, pitching to a 2.91 ERA so far. He had put himself on the Top 30 radar with his performance.

Overall, the Brewers gave up some solid young pitchers to get a controllable big league arm with a blazing fastball. The results haven't been there in the ERA for Mears, but luckily this is not some rental that they have a short window to turn around. Mears adds power and depth to the Brewers bullpen and he could be a reliable piece of it for years to come.