Brewers Could Cut Ties With $15 Million All-Star In Surprise Trade With Astros

Milwaukee Brewers fans are hoping this season doesn't bring another star-studded trade.

Perhaps no team that's regularly in playoff contention is more comfortable trading away established big-leaguers than Milwaukee. If this team senses it won't have a strong chance to re-sign a free agent, it will often cut bait with that player ahead of schedule.

The Brewers' most tradable asset at the moment is starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, who is pitching the final season of a three-year, $15 million extension with a super-cheap $8 million club option for 2025. But if the Brewers traded Peralta away, they essentially wouldn't have a rotation anymore.

Earlier this week, Milwaukee paid a steep price to acquire Triple-A pitcher Quinn Priester from the Boston Red Sox, and he'll be starting on Thursday. If they traded away their ace in Peralta, it would feel a lot like waving the white flag on playoff contention.

Nonetheless, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller suggested Thursday that Peralta could be on the move this summer, naming him as a top potential trade fit for the pitching-needy Houston Astros.

"Assuming Houston does its usual thing and bounces back from a slow start—the Astros have had a sub-.500 record around April 20 in each of the past four seasons—it might be the singular team most likely to swing big for someone like Sandy Alcantara (or Peralta), as a means of both improving the current rotation and preparing for Framber Valdez's likely departure in free agency."

"However, without a single top 100 prospect in their farm system (Cam Smith was top 100, but he is already their primary right fielder), we'll see if they can actually make it happen."

Peralta, 28, could fetch a massive haul, because he's a former All-Star, a workhorse (200-plus strikeouts in each of the last two seasons), and comes with that extra year of (cheap) club control. If, and only if the Brewers are fully out of the playoff hunt, they have an opportunity to re-stock the farm system.

But after three division titles in the last four years, the Brewers' players and coaches have their hearts firmly set on a trip back to October that finally results in a series win. Depriving them of that would be a cutthroat move from the front office, so they'd better not have any remaining chance at the playoffs.

More MLB: Brewers Nab Intriguing 24-Year-Old Former Top Prospect In Trade With Red Sox