The Milwaukee Brewers made a big trade for right-handed pitcher Dustin May at the 2026 MLB trade deadline. While the move didn’t pan out exactly as planned with May struggling for most of his Brewers tenure, including in the playoffs, that has not deterred teams around the league from being extremely interested in the 29-year-old.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic shared on social media that many teams are reportedly in on May, writing: “The market for Dustin May is blowing up right now with the Cubs, Nationals, Orioles, Giants, Reds, Guardians, Marlins, White Sox and Blue Jays all in play right now!!!”
Notably absent from that list is the Milwaukee Brewers. Even though they gave up a couple of promising prospects to get May and left-handed reliever JoJo Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals, they seem perfectly content to let him walk in free agency which honestly may not be a bad idea especially if a bidding war breaks out over May.
Milwaukee probably already has four rotation arms it can feel decent about going into next season with Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser, and Kyle Harrison all being logical options. The Brewers may only choose to add one rotation arm to round things out and if they are not completely sold on May then there is no reason to get into the mix.
Are Brewers undervaluing Dustin May?
However, there is a chance that Milwaukee is undervaluing what May could potentially bring to the table. Eno Sarris of The Athletic recently wrote an article about four starting pitchers who could be very high-value signings in free agency. May is one of the four and he compares how some of May’s underlying numbers and advanced metrics are not too dissimilar from Trevor Rogers who many expect will get a sizable contract in free agency.
So maybe the Brewers aren’t interested based on his ERA from 2026, but his FIP was 3.63 which suggests he may have just gotten a little bit unlucky throughout the year. All the teams interested in him seem to be betting that things will even out a bit in 2027.
It will be interesting to see what kind of contract he will get. Most predictions have him getting a one-year $15 million deal or potentially a two-year, $30 million deal so expect something in the $15 million per year range unless one team really likes him and offers him something more which isn’t out of the realm of possibility based on all the interest he is drawing.
The Brewers may be smart to sit this one out, but if another team lands him and his ERA reflects some of his underlying numbers then they may regret not making a push to get him.
Brewers May Not Realize Dustin May’s Value Amidst Intense Interest