New Tarik Skubal trade details lays out Brewers' push and Tigers' last-minute pivot

After the dust from the trade deadline settled, the Brewers caught a lot of flack for failing to trade for Tarik Skubal. They, along with the Dodgers, seemed like the biggest players in the sweepstakes, with fans and commentators alike wondering if they would finally make a push as big as their blockbuster trade for CC Sabathia in 2008.

Scott Harris and the Tigers ultimately traded Skubal to the Dodgers for outfielder Zyhir Hope and pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith. The attitude toward the Brewers was, "when are they finally going to get serious about competing?"

They just won the World Series.

Andy McCullough of The Athletic revealed in the aftermath that the Brewers not only made a real attempt to acquire Skubal, but an incredibly enticing one.

Although they refused to offer starter Logan Henderson, which was already public knowledge, they offered infielder Luis Peña, their No. 2 prospect, utility man Jett Williams (No. 10), and outfielder Josh Adamczewski (No. 3).

"From there, the Brewers brass received radio silence until that evening when they saw Dodgers Double-A outfielder Zyhir Hope was scratched," McCullough wrote. "Soon after, Harris called [Matt] Arnold to let him know Skubal would not be a Brewer."

Insider reveals new details on Brewers' failed pursuit of Tarik Skubal and the Tigers' pivot to the Dodgers

"I appreciated the s— out of that," Arnold said. "He was very transparent."

Tigers fans knew that it would take a pitcher to get through to Harris, and the Dodgers offered two — one was technically major league-ready (Ryan was coming off of a hamstring issue). The only piece of the Brewers' package who could've plausibly helped Detroit immediately after the trade deadline was Williams, though he's been struggling a bit at Triple-A.

During the postseason as a whole, starting pitching was almost rendered obsolete. Jacob Misiorowski didn't pitch more than six innings in a start, and it took him until his third to get through five. Skubal pitched six and five in his two starts before the Dodgers were swept out of the postseason, which sort of distills down to the simple fact that the Dodgers gave up three prospects for 11 Tarik Skubal innings.

For the Brewers, the story was the offense and the bullpen. How much would Skubal have even helped?

For Milwaukee, all of this is vindication. No one can tell them they didn't make a real attempt to get Skubal, and they still won a World Series without him.

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