Brewers Predicted To Cut Ties With Promising Southpaw At Trade Deadline

Even for the team with the best record in Major League Baseball, the trade deadline can be a nerve-wracking time.

The Milwaukee Brewers have been the hottest team in the sport over the last two months, and their roster is extremely well-rounded. But this is also a franchise without a World Series to its name, so they can certainly afford to take some big swings by Thursday's deadline.

That means for players who don't have well-defined roles on the big-league club, from young top prospects to older fringe big-leaguers, the next week will be full of uncertainty.

So who might be on the move? On Friday, Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic projected a trade involving a promising pitcher who's had a disappointing season.

Nesbitt predicted that 28-year-old Bryan Hudson, who put up a fantastic 2.5-WAR season in 2024, would be traded by the deadline after a disappointing start to 2025 got him sent back to the minors back in May.

"You may remember Hudson as the side-arming, soft-tossing lefty with a sub-1 ERA halfway through the 2024 season. Indeed, same dude. But by last season’s end, Hudson had been sent to Triple A due to a velocity decline, and that’s where he’s spent most of this season, too," Nesbitt wrote.

"As the Brewers look to add at the trade deadline, surely they’ll hear from GMs of non-contending teams who want to toss Hudson into the return and think perhaps they can unlock his 2024 form."

Hudson hasn't been very good in Triple-A this year, either, with a 6.65 ERA in 23 appearances. But pitchers who have had dominant stretches in the majors tend to get second chances, because reliability from a lefty reliever is worth its weight in gold come October.

If Nesbitt's thesis proves correct, it will be exciting to see who the Brewers bring in with the package that theoretically involves Hudson.