Brewers called 'big loser' by ESPN for lackluster MLB trade deadline outcome

The Milwaukee Brewers are sitting atop the NL Central and have one of baseball's best pitchers in Jacob Misiorowski. They just added Dustin May and Jojo Romero, and they have one of the best farm systems in baseball.

However, they failed to land Tarik Skubal at the MLB trade deadline, and in the wake of such a failed pursuit and overall lackluster trade deadline, the Brewers have been facing some tough questions.

ESPN's David Schoenfield shared a brutal evaluation of the Brewers' deadline, calling Milwaukee "the big loser" of the deadline. The reason why goes beyond simply missing on Skubal; it was not an all-in deadline like they should've attempted.

Brewers called 'the big loser' of MLB trade deadline by ESPN

"The big loser: Milwaukee Brewers," Schoenfield writes. "... This absolutely should have been the season the Brewers went all-in trying to claim the first World Series title in franchise history."

This deadline was not a good one for the Brewers. Their main addition will help, but it's not a needle-mover for a club that really could've used one.

Adding Skubal would've been an all-in move that would've moved the needle and made the Brewers a legitimate threat to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL playoffs.

Instead, the Dodgers got Skubal, and the Brewers settled for Dustin May. It's understandable why Schoenfield called the Brewers the big losers of the trade deadline.

MORE: Tigers receive lousy grade for Tarik Skubal trade to Dodgers from ESPN

They missed out on Skubal, saw their top competition get him, and then didn't make any significant upgrades of their own when they seemingly finally have a chance of doing so.

Sure, they want to keep their farm system intact, as it's been a strength for years. But, at some point, the Brewers have to actually try for a World Series title instead of building the same NLCS-caliber rosters year after year.

Milwaukee needed to do more at the deadline, but they didn't. This is still a very good team, and they did get better with the May and Romero additions. But it's understandable for Schoenfield to call them the "big loser" of the trade deadline, as, overall, things only got harder for the Brewers this season.

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