This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy's Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

It’s been a quieter than usual July so far for the Brewers on the transaction front, but Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline brings the opportunity for action beyond the addition of veteran reliever Jake McGee in free agency.

• Deadline special: Tues., 2-6 p.m. CT, MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB App

MLB Network’s experts compiled a list of players potentially available in trades and identified 14 who they think could fit the Brewers as they bid for a second straight National League Central title and a fifth consecutive postseason appearance. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of players available, but it’s illustrative of where smart baseball people see areas to augment Milwaukee’s roster.

• 9 teams that need to go all-in at the Deadline

Here are the names they mentioned with a couple more from me:

THE BATS

1B C.J. Cron (club control through 2023)
1B Josh Bell (‘22)
OF Ramón Laureano (‘24)
OF Ian Happ (‘23)
1B/2B/3B Brandon Drury (‘22)

Three I would add:

OF Bryan Reynolds (‘25)
OF Michael A. Taylor (‘23)
1B Garrett Cooper (‘23)

The Brewers entered Sunday ranked 21st in fWAR in center field and, while they have been much more potent since the All-Star break, essentially in middle of the pack in most offensive categories. So, you can see the need for bats. The Pirates are in no rush to trade Reynolds (121 wRC+) considering his long contractual control, but Laureano is a solid fallback and recent reports suggest the Brewers have indeed talked to the A’s about him. Taylor -- Michael A., not the Brewers’ Tyrone -- is a center fielder who would statistically represent an upgrade for the Brewers.

But would either be a real boost for the offense? Here are those center fielders’ stats together with Taylor and Jonathan Davis.

If it’s impact you want, a hitter like the Rockies’ Cron, Nationals’ Bell, Marlins’ Cooper or D-backs’ Christian Walker would be in order. Bell is a switch-hitter who is producing from both sides of the plate, and Cron, Cooper and Walker are all right-handed hitters, so there’s room to maneuver and still give at-bats to Rowdy Tellez. Reports vary about whether Arizona would trade Walker, who has 23 home runs this season. The Brewers drafted Cooper and had him in their system until sending him to the Yankees in an ill-fated 2017 trade for lefty reliever Tyler Webb. This season, Cooper has blossomed into an All-Star. He’s on the injured list with a bruised right wrist but should be ready to return soon after he’s eligible on Aug. 3.

The Reds’ Drury is an interesting inclusion as Cincinnati sells off player after player. His versatility is a huge plus as the Brewers are without their valuable utility man Jace Peterson (on the injured list with a left elbow issue and expected to miss most of all of August). Keston Hiura has been productive in certain spots but has bounced up and down and is currently at Triple-A.

THE ARMS

RHP Alex Colomé (club control through 2022)
LHP Andrew Chafin (‘23)
RHP Joe Jiménez (‘23)
LHP José Quintana (‘22)
RHP Zach Davies (‘23)
RHP Noah Syndergaard (‘22)
LHP Steven Okert (‘26)
LHP Dylan Floro (‘23)

Three I would add:

RHP Jorge López (‘24)
RHP David Robertson (‘22)
RHP Michael Fulmer (‘22)

The MLB Network crew also had Cubs reliever Chris Martin on the list, but he already was since traded to the Dodgers. Their players are a mix of starters in the event the Brewers want to augment a deep group that is about to get Freddy Peralta back this week, Adrian Houser in a couple of weeks, and a couple of relievers within the same timeframe. History says a bullpen add is likely; the Brewers have acquired a number of experienced, late-inning arms during the David Stearns era. Most of those deals have helped, but last year’s Deadline day trades for left-hander Daniel Norris and right-hander John Curtiss show they are no sure thing.

So, how aggressive should the Brewers be this trade season?

Brad Boxberger, Devin Williams and Josh Hader are set as the high-leverage options for the final three innings and Trevor Gott should probably be included in that group for the sixth. Hoby Milner has been a dependable left-hander in leverage spots in the middle innings. McGee has been great since signing as a free agent this month and has loads of late-inning experience. Right-hander Jandel Gustave and Brent Suter have picked up low leverage work. There’s room to add another good reliever, but the Brewers might argue that they have some of those coming from the inside.

Houser’s eventual comeback from a forearm injury means the Brewers will have flexibility again with recently extended lefty Aaron Ashby to bounce between the rotation and bullpen as wanted. Jake Cousins, who was very good last year against right-handed hitters, is coming back from an elbow injury. Veteran Luis Perdomo showed some bullpen promise early this season before he hurt his elbow. All of those internal options carry some “what ifs,” but they are options.

Should the Brewers trade for an arm, some of the names are probably familiar to most fans because the likes of Colomé, López and Robertson have been or are currently closers. But any type of reliable middle-inning reliever could be useful to the Brewers as a bridge between the starters and the late-inning trio. Don’t sleep on some of the other names; Detroit’s Jiménez and Chafin have been just shy of one-win players by FanGraphs’ measure of WAR.