This Milwaukee Breweries are in first place in the National League Central Division with a record of 61-47. They open their weekend series on the road against the Washington Nationals tonight looking to extend their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, who are in second place and five and a half games back.
Tonight, the Brewers will have Frankie Montas, who Milwaukee acquired at the MLB trade deadline for two players, including infielder Joey Wiemer. Montas came to the Brewers via the Cincinnati Reds, with whom he had a 4-8 record and a 5.01 ERA.
The Brewers and their fans are hoping a change of scenery will facilitate Montas improve this season. Indeed, the 2021 version of Montas, who was 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 32 starts for the Oakland A’s, would be a much-needed boost to the starting rotation.
As it turned out, however, Montas was not at the top of the Brewers’ wish list on the final day of the trade deadline.
The Milwaukee Brewers tried to acquire Chicago White Sox player Erick Fedde in a trade
According to Ken Rosenthal in AthleticThe Brewers were one of two NL Central teams to battle for Chicago White Sox pitcher Erick Fedde:
“Two NL Central teams are pushing for Fedde, according to sources briefed on the discussions. One is Milwaukee Breweries. The second is believed to be the Cardinals.”
Ultimately, the Cardinals won the Fedde contest, sending three promising players to Chicago in a three-team trade.
Fedde is 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA this season, marking his first year back in Major League Baseball after a year in South Korea.
With the Brewers losing Fedde, they decided to acquire Montas from the Reds.
Frankie Montas’ trade to Milwaukee Brewers met with scorn
Brewers fans were not ecstatic with the decisions of general manager Matt Arnold and the trades he made before the trade deadline.
Matt Arnold at the deadline when he realized the deadline was 6:00 PM Eastern time, not Central Time photo:twitter.com/72YsCw88LS
— Ben (@jchourioburner) July 31, 2024
Matt Arnold said he loves our current bats and two hours later the Brewers scored 1 point 🤣😂😂
I really can’t make this up. Clown Show Office
— Ryan Rude (@SwaleRude) July 31, 2024
Comedy of errors #Brewers I doubt August will be better than July, good thing you all stayed devoted to the board… and heartbreak is inevitable anyway so who cares
— yugyR (@itsyugyr) July 31, 2024
This is not… good… at all…
This team could seriously fall apart, and it’s all because of management… again… The Brewers are better than the Braves and look terrible against them.
— Brewer Sooner (@BrewerSooner) July 31, 2024
That said, sometimes trades work out in ways fans don’t expect. While trading Josh Hader was a hugely unpopular move in 2022, the Brewers were able to operate some of their cap space to acquire All-Star catcher William Contreras.
Montas is not a top prospect and has a $20 million contract extension option through 2025. The Brewers likely won’t want to pay that salary.
He’ll need to perform well (see his 2021 stats above) for this trade to pay off.
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