The curse of the Milwaukee Brewers trade deadline reliever continues

There is a saying about how the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. I guess that means in one regard, you could consider the Milwaukee Brewers insane.

Because at more than one MLB trade deadline over the pasts few seasons, the Brewers have gone out and traded for at least one reliever to add to their bullpen. Some years the need was definitely there for it, others you argue whether or not it was. But the moves continue to not pan out for the Crew how they had hoped.

The most recent example of that has been Nick Mears. The Brewers acquired the righty last month from the Rockies in exchange for minor league pitchers Bradley Blalock and Yujanyer Herrera. The need in the bullpen wasn't drastic, but there was a bit of an opportunity for depth at middle relief due to injuries at the time.

His first appearance went quite well as he struck out two of three batters in an inning of work. The second one, not so much as he gave up two runs on two solo homers in 1.2 innings. Results have been mixed since then but the overall picture so far isn't great.

Mears has now pitched in 11 games for Milwaukee now and has given up eight earned runs over 10.2 innings (6.75 ERA) on 13 hits and two walks while striking out 16. He has also now given up four long balls just with the Crew.

The Brewers felt as though the fact that Mears had some potentially electric stuff and also an extra year of control made it a good idea to pull the trigger on a deadline trade. But they probably also thought the same about fellow reliever Matt Bush.

Milwaukee traded for Bush from the Rangers in 2022, the same year as the infamous Josh Hader trade. While he struck plenty of batters out and his ERA wasn't horrible at 4.30, he also gave up six homers in just 23 innings and blew four saves. The extra year of control didn't end up mattering as the Brewers designated him for assignment after a rough start to 2023.

Those two just added to the list of relievers acquired at the deadline that haven't worked out. Taylor Rogers came over in the Hader trade and had a 5.48 ERA in 23 innings. The Brewers also traded for the injured Trevor Rosenthal from the Giants, who wouldn't pitch a single inning for Milwaukee.

In 2021, the Brewers traded for both Daniel Norris and John Curtiss. The former had a 6.64 ERA in 20.1 innings while the latter only had a chance to give up six earned runs in 4.1 innings before getting hurt and needing Tommy John surgery.

In fact, to find a deadline reliever that worked out, you have to go all the way back to 2019 and the significant acquisition of Drew Pomeranz, who had a 2.39 ERA in 26.1 innings down the stretch. But even that year they also traded for Jake Faria at the deadline, who ended up with a 11.42 ERA in just 8.2 career innings with the Crew.

Maybe Mears has a chance to break this trend. Maybe this is just a bad start and an offseason in the pitching lab will turn him around. Until that happens, it'll continue to feel like the Brewers are cursed when trading for relievers at the MLB trade deadline.