Brewers Steal Explained: Why Diamondbacks Made Unorthodox Trade

The Milwaukee Brewers pulled off one of the most surprising deals in baseball ahead of the 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline.

With time winding down, Milwaukee was quiet. The trade deadline passed on July 31st and the Brewers didn't make any deals until right before teh 6 p.m. ET deadline. Milwaukee sent Nestor Cortes to the San Diego Padres. The Brewers also acquired reliever Shelby Miller from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

When the news of the trade first started to leak to social media, that's pretty much all that was said. It took a bit before the full details of the deal came out and it was shared that injured veteran starter Jordan Montgomery was also coming over.

He's out for the season, but is a pretty big-name player. The Diamondbacks essentially offloaded his contract along with Miller. Milwaukee pretty much just had to pay Arizona cash rather than give up prospects in the deal centered around Miller.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal shed some light on the deal behind the scenes.

"The Diamondbacks’ most unusual deal was the one in which they sent two injured pitchers, Shelby Miller and Montgomery, to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named or cash considerations," Rosenthal said. "Miller is on the injured list with a strained right forearm, but expected to return sometime in August. Montgomery is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. And rather than acquire talent, the DBacks chose to save about $2 million, paying down most but not all of Montgomery’s remaining obligation.

"The DBacks floated the idea of making such a deal with Montgomery to a number of clubs, according to sources briefed on their discussions. The Brewers jumped, taking on the additional $2 million in salary. Their decision was not without risk, considering Miller has been out since July 7. But in their view, it was better than trading a prospect."

This is a steal for Milwaukee. The Brewers got a reliever with a 1.98 ERA in 37 appearances for cash and a player to be named later simply because the Diamondbacks wanted to offload Montgomery's deal. The prices for relievers this summer was astronomical with prospects flying all over the place. But, the Brewers were smart and snuck this deal through.