After missing out on Tarik Skubal, the Milwaukee Brewers have turned to an NL Central rival for pitching help. The Brewers are set to acquire rental starter Dustin May and rental lefty reliever JoJo Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals, reports The Athletic. St. Louis will receive minor-league outfielders Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale in the trade.
This is the second straight year that May, 29 next month, has been traded at the deadline. He went from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox last summer, then signed a one-year deal worth $12 million with St. Louis in the offseason. Romero, 29, is currently on the injured list after having an appendectomy earlier this month.
May raises the floor of Milwaukee's rotation more than the ceiling, though he has put together some terrific starts this season. He'll join Jacob Misiorowski, Shane Drohan, Logan Henderson, Brandon Sproat, and eventually Kyle Harrison in the rotation. Depending on how the next two months play out, May could be in the postseason rotation.
Romero gives the Brewers a third lefty relief option along with Aaron Ashby and DL Hall, which could come in handy if they run into the Dodgers (Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shohei Ohtani), Philadelphia Phillies (Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber), or Atlanta Braves (Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson) in the postseason.
The Brewers went into trade deadline day with baseball's best record at 69-42, a half-game up on the Dodgers, who just imported Skubal. Milwaukee pursued Skubal, and it's unclear if they balked at the asking price or simply got outbid. Either way, they've picked up May (and Romero) to fill the pitching void.
As for the Cardinals, they've lost 18 of their last 26 games to fall under .500 and four games behind the third wild card spot. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom was always likely to stick to the long-term plan and sell. The recent 8-18 stretch clinched it. MLB Pipeline ranks Frias and Ragsdale as the No. 11 and No. 13 prospects in Milwaukee's system.
Here now are our trade grades for this deal.
Milwaukee Brewers: C
Meh
May and Romero are solid, useful players, to be sure. They're just unlikely to move the needle for a team that already has a very high floor and needed to add more ceiling at the deadline. There's a chance May isn't in the postseason rotation and Romero won't be any higher than second on the lefty reliever depth chart behind Ashby. A good trade in a vacuum. Compared to what Milwaukee needed to do at the deadline, it's a great big meh.
St. Louis Cardinals: B
Return lines up with the market
The established market for veteran rental starts is two good but not great prospects (see: Kevin Gausman to the Toronto Blue Jays, Robbie Ray to the San Francisco Giants) and that's what the Cardinals received for May. Romero is still a few weeks away from returning from the appendectomy, cutting into his value. Frias has big power and is in Single-A. Ragsdale is a plate discipline guy in Double-A.
