Pat Murphy Determines Whether Tarik Skubal Trade Is Realistic For Brewers

Does anyone see that as a legitimate possibility?

Jun 9, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Tarik Skubal trade discourse has the potential to dominate the Major League Baseball offseason.

Skubal will soon be a back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, and he eventually wants to be paid accordingly. Heading into the final year on his rookie contract, he and the Detroit Tigers have been rumored to be miles apart on a potential exension.

Any team could use a talent like Skubal, but it remains to be seen how many teams would get involved in the potential trade bidding war. That sort of "win-now" scenario rarely seems to jive with the Milwaukee Brewers' ethos, but is there a chance this situation could prove the exception?

Pat Murphy gently suggests Skubal trade unlikely

Oct 17, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy (49) speaks in a press conference before game four against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

That's what Brewers manager Pat Murphy was recently asked, and to his credit, Murphy gave a fairly direct, candid response.

On Tuesday's episode of "The Show" featuring New York Post insiders Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman, Murphy indicated that while any team could use Skubal, it was unlikely Milwaukee would decimate its assets for only one year of control.

"The Skubal thing, believe me, there's a lot of things in baseball that would give up a lot for that right now," Murphy said. "But when you think of our organization, giving up prospects for one year of onctrol of somebody is probably not what we do best. It probably doesn't make sense, does it?"

The hosts pointed out that the Brewers once traded prospects for Zack Greinke with one year of control left on his rookie deal, but for better or worse, baseball operations departments have evolved quite a bit since 2010.

Realistically, any team that might hypothetically trade for Skubal should also want to feel confident that it has a good, if not great, chance to extend him for the rest of his prime. That's what the Boston Red Sox accomplished with Garrett Crochet last offseason, but Crochet was a year further away from free agency and hadn't yet fully blossomed into a superstar the way Skubal has.

In other words, the team that does the deal (if that team exists) is going to have a lot more money in reserve than the Brewers have indicated a willingness to spend on their overall roster.

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