Should the Milwaukee Brewers make an aggressive move before the July 31 trade deadline?
It would be out of character for Milwaukee’s front office to do so, but according to new remarks from ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Brewers have reason to go all-in on a splash deal.
“I think the Brewers are one big bat away from being a legitimate World Series contender,” Passan said while appearing as a guest on the Wilde and Tausch podcast.
“I think that's what the ceiling of this team is … they keep getting better.”
Milwaukee suffered from a decimated rotation early in the year, but now that that’s been fixed, this is a dangerously complete ball club, with the results to show for it. Milwaukee entered Monday with a 50-40 record, just four games back of the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs.
If the Brewers do decide to pursue a bat, as suggested by Passan, they’ll find that the market isn’t exactly overflowing with options. Most targets would be difficult to pry away, like Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Ozuna. An even more unlikely target for the Crew is 26-year-old outfielder Wilyer Abreu of the Boston Red Sox, although it is notable that MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams and Anthony Franco included Abreu on a new list of their top 40 MLB deadline trade chips.
“(Abreu) hasn’t shown quite the ceiling that (Jarren) Duran did in 2024 but he’s having the better ’25 season of the two,” Adams and Franco wrote.
“Abreu is already at a career-high 17 homers with a .261/.329/.506 line in 76 games. Most of that has come in a platoon capacity, as he hasn’t had much of a chance to improve upon his lifetime .198/.274/.302 slash against left-handed pitching. Abreu is still a year from arbitration and controllable for four seasons beyond this one. The Sox would demand a significant return even if he’s more of a strong-side platoon bat than a true All-Star caliber everyday player.”
Boston’s outfield logjam has been an ongoing narrative for months. The Red Sox have had one or even two too many solid outfielders on their depth chart all season long, and if they do make a move to remedy that situation, Duran seems like the more likely goner than the younger (and arguably more talented) Abreu.
Nonetheless, if the Brewers are serious about surprising everyone and actually going after a bat, calling Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to gauge the temperature on Abreu wouldn’t hurt.
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