Brewers Likely Targeting These Two Needs If They Trade Freddy Peralta: Insider

Freddy Peralta trade discourse won't be escapable for quite some time, as much as many Milwaukee Brewers fans would love it to be.

We can pen think pieces all we want about whether Peralta should or shouldn't be traded, but the reality is that we've seen the Brewers make too many similar trades to ignore how realistic that possibility is. Especially now that Brandon Woodruff is back on a $22 million salary (the first-ever Brewers starting pitcher to sign for $20-plus million for a season).

At the end of the day, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold has to judge whether the offers Milwaukee is sure to get are substantial enough to pull the trigger. So for better or worse, we must wonder what an acceptable package would look like.

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What it might take to give up Peralta

Jun 14, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras (24) and starting pitcher Freddy Peralta (51) looks on during a pitching change in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel seemingly drew up a rough outline of a package that the Brewers might be targeting as a make-or-break point.

"The Brewers would likely target starting pitching that's big-league ready as a necessity in the deal," Hogg wrote. "Outfield would be another spot the Brewers would likely target, as there are questions beyond Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick at the big-league level there and a need in the minors."

There's no guarantee that a package of just two players, even if both fit the exact descriptions Hogg provides above, would get a deal done. But if it's close, a team would almost certainly be willing to add a throw-in of some kind, likely a high-upside prospect in the low levels of the minors.

If the Brewers shipped Peralta out, they would certainly want his spot in the rotation fortified. This is an organization based on stability, and as much as fans might want the team to go for it all in any given year, acquiring the next Peralta-level pitcher with five or six years of control would be an easy way to keep the winning machine whirring.

Truthfully, the Brewers probably have not determined whether Peralta is getting moved. But they've certainly got at least a rough idea of what price they'd be looking to extract for him.

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