Could The Milwaukee Brewers Add Alex Bregman At The Trade Deadline?

[Matthew Lenz]

It remains unclear how aggressive the Milwaukee Brewers will be at the trade deadline, but Jim Bowden of The Athletic speculates they could be as a landing spot if the Boston Red Sox cannot extend him ahead of the trade deadline.

Bowden goes on to suggest the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers as additional suitors for the superstar third basemen, if he is dealt.

Through 51 games, he boasts an impressive .938 OPS, fueled by a .385 on-base percentage and a .553 slugging percentage. He has hit 11 home runs and driven in 35 runs, while also scoring 32 runs. He signed a 3-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox in February 2025 with opt outs at the end of each season.

Do you think the Brewers should pay up to add Bregman or address other needs? Join the conversation in the comments!

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[KCBrewerfan34]

He’s making like $40 mill a year, that’s a no go 

[brewmann04]

Money saying no at this point. Then they will need  to pay him after the season 

[wibadgers23]

I could see Doug Melvin trading for a rental like Bregman but this regime just doesn't operate like that.  Plus, his salary is just too much for the Brewers.

[Team Canada]

This would be amazing only in that it would completely shut down anyone who criticizes Mark for not shelling out cash to get better. But if they had any doubt that Bregman would opt out at the end of the year there's no way they'd do this.

[BrewersRice]

While it is easy just to say it's too much money, there are reasons why it might work.  First of all, if it looks likely that he will opt out, you are off the hook after the end of this year.  This could amount to 20M on this years payroll. That is not far off from where they were in 2022. Their payroll has also been lower the last couple years for the likelihood of an addition at the all star break. Secondly they are likely to trade a high end prospect, and there is still a chance that the Sox include some cash in this.  It all depends on what the trade market is like. I dont see the Red Sox really being sellers at this point, so that is more where my doubts are compared to finances.  Either way I dont think it is likely, but yet not impossible.  My preference for a win now and win later is more for Perdomo, Abrams, Neto. Yes pricey and they would likely have to trade Pratt, along with a lot of other value, but I believe it helps their lineup the most if we are in win now mode. 

[Snoebird]

21 hours ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

He’s making like $40 mill a year, that’s a no go 

Half of his salary is deferred; that's on Boston. The acquiring team would be responsible for only $6.5 million. 

[KCBrewerfan34]

Didn’t know that, that’s a possibility then. What if he opts in for next year though? 

[Lathund]

19 hours ago, Snoebird said:

Half of his salary is deferred; that's on Boston. The acquiring team would be responsible for only $6.5 million. 

If it's deferred salary, I believe it works the same as with regular salary, i.e game checks. So normally if a player is on one team for 81 games, and then gets traded to another team for 81 games, they'll pay half of the salary each. If all this salary is deferred, they'll still pay half each, except it'll be at some point in the future. And the first team will pay any deferred salary from prior seasons, and the new team any from future seasons. The money is earned now, from the present employer, just paid out at a later date, but still by the present employer. 

[TURBO]

So the Red Sox sign Bregman, which basically secures the fact that Devers leaves.

If they trade Bregman, now they don't have either player?

lol

Geez.

[JosephC]

3 hours ago, Lathund said:

If it's deferred salary, I believe it works the same as with regular salary, i.e game checks. So normally if a player is on one team for 81 games, and then gets traded to another team for 81 games, they'll pay half of the salary each. If all this salary is deferred, they'll still pay half each, except it'll be at some point in the future. And the first team will pay any deferred salary from prior seasons, and the new team any from future seasons. The money is earned now, from the present employer, just paid out at a later date, but still by the present employer. 

I think you are correct, even if the team that trades him had "pre-funded" the future payment, I believe the practice is that money does back to the team that trades him and the new team has to put that money into the "fund" for the future payment.

Bregman is attractive because, barring catastrophic injury, he will opt out after this season so he would be a 2.5 month rental at this point.  His agent is Scott Boras.  Scott Boras won't be satisfied with a 2 year, 80 million dollar deal.  Even if the market sees 40 million per year as too high (unlikely, let's just say that's the case), Boras would still opt out and shoot for a 3 year, 105 million dollar deal.  It may be 5 million per year less, but 105 million is 25 million more than 80 million....that's the way Boras works.  The only way he does not opt out if he suffers an injury so bad that he's projected to miss the first few months of the 2026 season.  Otherwise, it's a very safe bet that the team that trades for him is basically getting him for 2.5 months at a 16.67 million dollar price-tag.  That's still too much money for the Brewers, but that's not unreasonable money for 2/3 of the teams in the league.

[markedman5]

I’ve already seen it reported that the Red Sox aren’t moving him.

They are the hottest team in baseball and in playoff position …….fan base was mad after the Devers deal……..this one on top,of that would threaten safety of the owners/executives.

not happening 

[Team Canada]

Yes, 10 straight wins has made this question a clear "no way".

[BrewerFan]

On 7/11/2025 at 8:48 AM, JosephC said:

I think you are correct, even if the team that trades him had "pre-funded" the future payment, I believe the practice is that money does back to the team that trades him and the new team has to put that money into the "fund" for the future payment.

Bregman is attractive because, barring catastrophic injury, he will opt out after this season so he would be a 2.5 month rental at this point.  His agent is Scott Boras.  Scott Boras won't be satisfied with a 2 year, 80 million dollar deal.  Even if the market sees 40 million per year as too high (unlikely, let's just say that's the case), Boras would still opt out and shoot for a 3 year, 105 million dollar deal.  It may be 5 million per year less, but 105 million is 25 million more than 80 million....that's the way Boras works.  The only way he does not opt out if he suffers an injury so bad that he's projected to miss the first few months of the 2026 season.  Otherwise, it's a very safe bet that the team that trades for him is basically getting him for 2.5 months at a 16.67 million dollar price-tag.  That's still too much money for the Brewers, but that's not unreasonable money for 2/3 of the teams in the league.

No, the team that signs him to that deal with the deferred money is the one responsible for it. 

That is the default. When the Nats traded Scherzer or...a thousand other examples. If we traded Yelich, we'd still be on the hook for that 10 years of...2.3M (2.5 if/when we decline the final year).

That only changes if you specifically make that part of the trade, but it's definitely not assumed.

The team that trades him would get him for ~2.5 months at 6-7M for the rest of this year, and IF he gets injured and doesn't opt out, you're taking on 40M the next two years TOTAL, not per year, as each year, 20M is deferred. It's a contract setup for him to opt out but also provide protection in case he does not. 

 

 

Though in that scenario, I'd assume the Red Sox would want some protection. Make the Brewers eat 10M of that deferred money, but that's speculation. In all standard cases, deferred money is the obligation of the team that signed the player. 

 

On 7/11/2025 at 8:17 AM, TURBO said:

So the Red Sox sign Bregman, which basically secures the fact that Devers leaves.

If they trade Bregman, now they don't have either player?

lol

Geez.

The Red Sox are the worst run big market team...IMO. 

From trading Betts and Price(who had negative value, but they paid half of the remaining 3 years at 32M AAV). 

Betts had averaged 8.1 WAR a year through age 26 and had just won an MVP. It's hard to understand what they're actually trying to do. Signing Story when he was on the decline, and then letting Xander walk. 

If you could trade for Bregman and not give up a top 5-6 prospect...I'd do it. Big bat, locks down 3B.

 

They have done a good job at developing their own talent, but...they've got a lot of money and it's seldom wisely spent.