Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

[mikechamp]

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on June 28.

Same number of questions as last week, but I included 2 bonus questions: one about All Star voting and one about the endurance of starting pitchers. Enjoy the read!!

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/ ... t-134.html
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What do you see Brewers doing at the deadline?

Mark Polishuk
Third base help, bullpen help, and maybe a starting pitcher. Milwaukee has plenty of rotation candidates if everyone is healthy, but getting an innings-eater type would provide a nice security blanket.
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Who’s better, the Cubs or the White Sox?

Mark Polishuk
Which team do you think is better?

Cubs (48.8% | 305 votes)

White Sox (51.1% | 319 votes)

Total Votes: 624
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Does Milwaukee do a little bit of selling?

Mark Polishuk
Can’t be ruled out, but certainly not to any great extent. The Brewers are hungry to get over the top and finally win a pennant.
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Would the Brewers ever trade Jesus Made in a potential Skubal trade?

Mark Polishuk
No way Milwaukee trades such an elite prospect for a rental player, even Skubal.
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Say you were wrong on Braxton Ashcraft please

Mark Polishuk
Longtime Weekend Chat regulars, help me out... have I ever had any kind of hot take on Braxton Ashcraft? I don’t recall ever expressing an opinion on him one way or the other, haha. My stance at the moment? He’s pitching great!
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Can the Pirates right the ship or are they selling at deadline?

Mark Polishuk
Pittsburgh’s only true issue is the bullpen. If they add a couple of good relievers and Cruz/Horwitz are back pretty quickly after the ASB, that might be all it takes to really get this team on track.
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I'm going to Wrigley tomorrow for the first time, any advise?

Mark Polishuk
Get there early and take their guided ballpark tour. And, if this isn’t part of the tour itself, take the full stroll around the entire ballpark, walking the streets of Wrigleyville. There’s a ton of fun stuff to do on a trip to Wrigley Field before even getting around to the experience of actually watching the game.
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What is your favorite random stat line? Either single season or career.

Mark Polishuk
Stan Musial having 1815 career hits at home, and 1815 career hits on the road.
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Should the Pirates attempt to extend Lowe before he becomes a FA?

Mark Polishuk
Probably unlikely with Lowe this close to free agency, and how the Pirates would have to overpay to keep him off the market. And we know how the Pirates feel about spending money.One possible caveat….the impending lockout. If Lowe has any reservations about free agency with a work stoppage looming, that could make him more amenable to an extension now. If he’s liking how things are going in Pittsburgh and if the Pirates make a fair offer, who knows, crazier things have happened.
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All Star voting has become a joke. It’s NL real All Stars vs hapless Blue Jays. How do we fix this?

Mark Polishuk
My guess is that at least a few of the Jays players will sit out the ASG for rest purposes. But there’s really not much the league can do to prevent such lopsided vote totals, and after all these decades, head-scratching All-Star votes are part of the experience.
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How many times has a team gone 162 with only 5 starters? Asking for the Guardians... haha

Mark Polishuk
The Mariners came pretty close to this a couple of years ago, with six pitchers making 161 starts and Jhonathan Diaz “starting” once as an opener.
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The Mariners in 2003 used only 5 starters.

Mark Polishuk
Good call.
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