After failing to land Tarik Skubal, Brewers get Dustin May and 2 relievers in trade-deadline deals

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers had their sights set on acquiring a top-tier pitcher before the trade deadline — namely Tarik Skubal — but had to shift gears when the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner ended up with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Instead, the Brewers, who entered Monday tied with the Dodgers for the best record in the major leagues, settled for veteran starter Dustin May, who was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals shortly before the deadline.

Milwaukee also got left-handed reliever JoJo Romero in the deal. In exchange, the Brewers sent minor league outfielders Alexander Frías and Josiah Ragsdale to the Cardinals.

The NL Central leaders bolstered their bullpen further by obtaining reliever Antonio Senzatela from the Colorado Rockies for left-hander Mark Manfredi, who has split time between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville, and infielder Juan Martínez, who has played with the Rookie ACL Brewers and Class A Wilson this season.

“The fans have every right to have any opinion they want about what we should or shouldn’t do,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said before Monday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “But nobody wants to win more than the guys in that (clubhouse).”

Murphy called prospects in the Brewers' highly touted minor league system the “lifeblood of an organization like ours.”

“We’re all working in a framework that has to make sense, so it’s hard to make trades,” he said.

General manager Matt Arnold said the Brewers “were in on a lot of things” as the deadline approached.

“There’s certainly some things where you come up short, and you’ve just got to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and try to do what you can to get the next thing,” Arnold said. “And ultimately, we were able to accomplish a lot over the last 48 hours that really helped the team.”

Arnold declined to discuss the Brewers' failed effort to swing a deal for Skubal, who landed with the team that swept the Brewers in last season’s National League Championship Series.

“I’m not going to talk about specific guys,” Arnold said. “Obviously, we were in a lot of different things, and like I said, if you’re able to access what you can, you get it, and if not, you move on.”

The speculation on social media, the news media and elsewhere as the trade deadline approached has had a negative impact on his team, Murphy said.

“Everybody’s aware of everything. Everybody hears names and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But we’ve got to go play baseball, and this has affected us. That’s the reality. And I don’t think it’s healthy. We can’t try to pretend it’s not there. Can’t lie to the players.”

The Brewers' acquisitions will “help make us a bit stronger,” Murphy said, noting that the team’s pitching staff has been riddled with injuries.

Arnold expressed confidence that May, Romero and Senzatela, who were expected to arrive in Milwaukee late Monday or early Tuesday, will serve key roles as the Brewers look to reach the World Series for the first time since 1982.

“They’re tough and they’re experienced. They’re going to fit in really well,” Arnold said.

May, 28, went 5-7 with a 4.38 ERA in 21 starts for the Cardinals this season. He had 106 strikeouts in 109 innings. On May 27, May carried a no-hitter into the eighth at Milwaukee but ended up taking the loss as the Brewers rallied for a 2-1 win.

Over his eight-year major league career, he is 24-27 with a 3.99 ERA in 92 games (78 starts) with the Dodgers, Red Sox and Cardinals. May missed the 2024 season while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery and an esophageal tear. He has a mutual option for the 2027 season.

Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison, a first-half standout who landed on the injured list July 11 with tightness in his pitching arm but is expected to return soon, overlapped with May in Boston and called him “a great guy with great stuff.”

“It’s just wicked sweepers, wicked sinker, changeups that fall off the table,” Harrison said. “His stuff is nasty.”

Romero, 29, was 1-3 with a 3.35 ERA in 44 relief appearances for the Cardinals this season. He is currently on the 15-day injured list recovering from an appendectomy. Romero has 43 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched and has stranded 20 of 28 inherited runners. He can become a free agent after the season.

Senzatela, 31, had spent his entire 10-year career with the Rockies, appearing in 212 games (145 starts). He has pitched exclusively in relief this season, going 9-2 with a 3.61 ERA and three saves in 34 appearances.

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