Brewers skipper Pat Murphy defends club’s involvement in Tarik Skubal trade pursuit

Though many considered Tarik Skubal’s arrival to Los Angeles as part of a deadline deal between the Dodgers and Detroit Tigers a foregone conclusion, the Milwaukee Brewers were involved at some point. So much so that manager Pat Murphy affirmed that any notion his club didn’t try is “simply incorrect.”

“It isn’t as simple as, ‘That’s a better package.’ It’s not as simple as that,” Murphy told reporters. “There’s a lot more, a lot more layers to it. To say the Brewers didn’t try is simply incorrect.”

On Saturday, the Dodgers ultimately won the Skubal sweepstakes, dealing outfield prospect Zyhir Hope and right-handed pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith to the Tigers. In the lead-up to the deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the Brewers, alongside the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves, were expected to be among the clubs in the mix for the left-hander.

A small-market team with an estimated payroll of $136.6 million (19th in MLB), per Cot’s Contracts, Milwaukee was willing to absorb the remainder of Skubal’s 2026 contract ($9.6 million), per Rosenthal.

In the end, the Dodgers dealt from their top-rated farm system, including two players in Keith Law’s Top 70 list.

“There’s nothing that we did that no one else couldn’t have done,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday.

It’s a tone that Skubal also struck in his first comments with reporters on Monday.

“Every team could trade for me,” Skubal said. “I don’t sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done. It’s a winning org.”

Murphy, however, believes it’s not as cut and dried as that.

Historically, the Brewers have been loath to deal prospect capital in the way that other clubs like the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox have. The 2008 deadline acquisition of CC Sabathia and 2018 offseason deal for Christian Yelich were mere aberrations in the status quo.

For its part, Milwaukee upgraded in other ways at the deadline. On Monday, the Brewers matched up with the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero, and executed a separate deal with the Colorado Rockies for righty Antonio Senzatela. Previously, Milwaukee acquired catcher Bo Naylor and right-hander Codi Heuer from the Cleveland Guardians, though both players were optioned to Triple A.

In all of those deals, the Brewers did not trade from any of their Top 20 prospects, as ranked by Law. Class-A outfielder Alexander Frías and Double-A outfielder Josiah Ragsdale, the return for May and Romero, are considered top 30 prospects by other outlets. Similarly, lefty Mark Manfredi and shortstop Juan Martinez were not on any major lists.

Entering play on Monday, the Brewers, at 69-42, had MLB’s best record, sitting a half-game over the Dodgers (69-43). It’s a familiar place for Milwaukee, which finished last season with the league’s best record before bowing out to Los Angeles in the National League Championship Series.

Provided all things are equal, the Brewers and Dodgers are on a collision course for an October rematch, their third meeting since 2018.