OF Options

[jay87shot]

After trading Collins there is a clear need for a potential OF upgrade. Perkins, Mitchell, Lockridge, and Baddoo (Black, Bauers, Berroa, etc.) provide exceptional depth but pretty limited upside. What would be some upside options that could be of interest. Maybe make a top 3 list of most likely/most desirable.

As discussed Duran and Buxton are probably the top 2 players that could be had but I would guess the bidding/interest in those players would be very high. Here are some other names that could be of interest that I haven't heard discussed.

Steven Kwan, there was interest at the deadline and he fits our player architype to a T. Kwan, Frelick, Chourio would be an amazing OF even if there isn't a true CF.

Luis Robert,  we saw what Vaughn did when he got out of Chicago, with Robert's skillset the potential is very enticing. The problem would be getting CWS to eat a bunch of that contract and finding a prospect package that is reasonable.

Wilyer Abreu, If the Red Sox don't find an offer for Duran, Abreu could be moved. The problem here is that he is a RF and Frelick and Chourio are already best in RF. Also the bat has more question marks than we would probably like.  You could put Rafeala in the same spot here, however he has an affordable long term deal.

Lars Nootbaar,  He has been a pretty consistent OF and with the Cardinals probably selling off I don't think the in division trade would be impossible. The difficult part is that he is coming of a down season so the upgrade concern is there especially since he doesn't play CF.

A's young OF, I posted to the Freddy trade thread that the A's could be an interesting avenue to get an upside CF in either Denzel Clarke, Colby Thomas, or Henry Bolte. We wouldn't need to trade Freddy to get one of those guys necessarily.

Daulton Varsho,  He likely would only be available if they sign Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger which are probably long shots but not crazy. 

MLB ready prospects= Spencer Jones, Dylan Beavers, Carson Benge, others who could be the centerpiece of a Freddy/Megill trade

Harrison Bader/Bellinger/FA= I doubt we have the money but I will bring them up.

For me it is 1)Kwan 2)Robert 3) Buxton      I think that Red Sox OF would get to expensive. I think Kwan makes the most sense since we already checked in last year and fits our Murph style player. I like the Robert upside the most especially since the prospect price would be low and Buxton might be tough to work out but would be the best overall bat to get.

Kwan for Henderson and 2 mid-level prospects would be at least close, the Guardians could use some pitching help and Henderson would give them that. It would be tough to give up Henderson but we have the depth to make it work. It could be Pratt, Ashby, or Quero instead of Henderson as the centerpiece.

Robert (CWS pay $12 million, 1/2 of this years money and 2 million for next years buyout) for Myers, Wilken, Tyler Black     The 10 million left on his contract would still be tough to fit in. The 3 we give up all have the upside that the CWS would want but not very high trade value overall.

 

[nate82]

Supposedly the White Sox are not interested in eating any of Robert’s salary and still want a good return for him.  I don’t see how they are going to do this.  Also I think Robert should be a DH going forward and not a full time OF.  

[KCBrewerfan34]

Roberts is a hard pass for me. Durability matters. 

[tmwiese55]

Sure, I get the logic on Kwan and how much he fits and makes sense.   But, man doesn't he feel a bit redundant with what so many of our other guys do?  I'd like to actually address the power issue if a move of significance were to happen.     He also fell off very hard to end last season. 

[Scooterfletcher]

Rather get Mayo, Beavers, Comp pick for Freddy.   We don’t need to get a pitcher back every single bigger trade we do (though we should in the high majority of deals we make where we send out pitching).

[Brewcrew82]

34 minutes ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Rather get Mayo, Beavers, Comp pick for Freddy.   We don’t need to get a pitcher back every single bigger trade we do (though we should in the high majority of deals we make where we send out pitching).

Mayo is not really a Brewers player. Limited to 1B, major K issues. 

[Madhawk23]

2 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Mayo is not really a Brewers player. Limited to 1B, major K issues. 

Get Beavers, Gibson and their Comp pick….and let’s get this deal done!

[Scooterfletcher]

1 hour ago, Madhawk23 said:

Get Beavers, Gibson and their Comp pick….and let’s get this deal done!

Beavers and the comp pick would assuredly be two pieces in a Peralta O’s deal but I haven’t seen a third piece that excites enough yet.  I’d pick Mayo over Gibson for instance but agree Mayo “might” not fit our roster construction.  Need to find a stronger third piece than Gibson though or just keep Peralta/don’t deal with Baltimore.

[jay87shot]

15 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

Sure, I get the logic on Kwan and how much fits and makes sense.   But, man doesn't he feel a bit redundant with what so many of our other guys do?  I'd like to actually address the power issue if a move of significance were to happen.     He also fell off very hard to end last season. 

I agree someone with power would be a better traditional fit into a need. I just think that it would be the most likely all-star caliber add. I would much prefer Duran or Buxton.

15 hours ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

Roberts is a hard pass for me. Durability matters. 

I think getting him to a contender would possibly fix some of that, there is no denying that Robert would be a huge gamble. Hoewever he still possesses that 30/30 potential or better with gold glove defense, the upside is huge, especially since he has a 2027 option. If he puts up a 5 WAR season we could even trade him next year and get back like double what we give. Usually we don't make those risky moves but with Vaughn on deck he could give the front office some insight into if the risk is worth the reward (is he a head case/or just lost the fighting spirit and needs a change of scenery)

[KCBrewerfan34]

24 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I agree someone with power would be a better traditional fit into a need. I just think that it would be the most likely all-star caliber add. I would much prefer Duran or Buxton.

I think getting him to a contender would possibly fix some of that, there is no denying that Robert would be a huge gamble. Hoewever he still possesses that 30/30 potential or better with gold glove defense, the upside is huge, especially since he has a 2027 option. If he puts up a 5 WAR season we could even trade him next year and get back like double what we give. Usually we don't make those risky moves but with Vaughn on deck he could give the front office some insight into if the risk is worth the reward (is he a head case/or just lost the fighting spirit and needs a change of scenery)

Problem is the Brewers can’t afford to be wrong, if they are going to spend $15-20 million more they have to be reasonably sure on the player. 

[bensheeps]

Any interest in a flyer on Jhonkensy Noel?  Power is off the charts but stats were ugly last year (and I think he out of options).

[wiguy94]

55 minutes ago, bensheeps said:

Any interest in a flyer on Jhonkensy Noel?  Power is off the charts but stats were ugly last year (and I think he out of options).

I believe you’re correct that he’s out of options which makes it not make a ton of sense for the Brewers though I think I think the point may be moot as I’m not sure he’ll make it to the Brewers spot in the waiver order

[Klantz27]

Spencer jones, Eric reyzelman would be cool for Peralta, megill, perkins 

Or

Kristian campbell from Boston to play cf for some type of package would be interesting no where for him to play in outfield in boston and you got story, and Marcello mayer taking up infield with them trying to bring back bregman or bring in bichette 

[wntrtxn21]

42 minutes ago, Klantz27 said:

Spencer jones, Eric reyzelman would be cool for Peralta, megill, perkins 

Or

Kristian campbell from Boston to play cf for some type of package would be interesting no where for him to play in outfield in boston and you got story, and Marcello mayer taking up infield with them trying to bring back bregman or bring in bichette 

Campbell looks like he could help immediately, but I don't know if he's the bat the Brewers are looking for. I guess it would depend on what they have to give up to get him. No way I'd touch the Yankee trade. Reyzelman is a relief pitcher and little or no help at all. Jones is a whiff machine. He's struck out in 33% of his PAs in AAA!  Milwaukee doesn't need somebody like that. 

[Madhawk23]

53 minutes ago, Klantz27 said:

Spencer jones, Eric reyzelman would be cool for Peralta, megill, perkins 

Or

Kristian campbell from Boston to play cf for some type of package would be interesting no where for him to play in outfield in boston and you got story, and Marcello mayer taking up infield with them trying to bring back bregman or bring in bichette 

I’m glad you’re not in the Brewers front office! 😉

[CheeseheadInQC]

1 hour ago, Klantz27 said:

Spencer jones, Eric reyzelman would be cool for Peralta, megill, perkins 

Or

Kristian campbell from Boston to play cf for some type of package would be interesting no where for him to play in outfield in boston and you got story, and Marcello mayer taking up infield with them trying to bring back bregman or bring in bichette 

Maybe I am too leery of minor league strikeout rates and hyped Yankees prospects, but no thanks on giving up significant value for Jones. You hope you’re getting Joey Gallo 2.0 or Brent Rooker but he can play center. But those are the only two guys to succeed with similar triple-A K rates in the last 20 years, and Gallo was three years younger and Rooker took several years to find his footing. Everyone points to Aaron Judge as a comp, but Judge’s triple-A K-rate was more than 10 points lower at the same age. Chances are he ends up being a less fun version of Keon Broxton.

[Klantz27]

21 hours ago, Madhawk23 said:

I’m glad you’re not in the Brewers front office! 😉

Lol dl hall and joey ortiz would probably be a better package you're right 😂

[Lathund]

On 12/20/2025 at 3:42 PM, CheeseheadInQC said:

Maybe I am too leery of minor league strikeout rates and hyped Yankees prospects, but no thanks on giving up significant value for Jones. You hope you’re getting Joey Gallo 2.0 or Brent Rooker but he can play center. But those are the only two guys to succeed with similar triple-A K rates in the last 20 years, and Gallo was three years younger and Rooker took several years to find his footing. Everyone points to Aaron Judge as a comp, but Judge’s triple-A K-rate was more than 10 points lower at the same age. Chances are he ends up being a less fun version of Keon Broxton.

The real troubling thing with Jones less the strikeout rate (Though that is real ugly), it's the whiff rate. Jones this past season had a Contact % of 58% in AA and 62% in AAA. To put that into perspective, between 2020 and 2025, only two hitters who received more than 500 PAs in MLB had a contact % below that; Keston Hiura and Joey Gallo. That's in the majors. To compare, Keston Hiura, while strugling big time in MLB, was crushing AAA and had contact percentages between 68 and 72% there. 

So it would get real ugly in the majors for Jones, at least to start with and quite likely always. Which is why I have zero interest in him as part of any trade return. Yes, the raw power is off the charts, and gives a very high ceiling if he can get even within striking range of a below average hit tool. But the chances of that are miniscule. A high ceiling is fine and all, there still needs to be a somewhat high probability of getting there. If we're looking for projects with athleticism but questionable hit tools, look among much younger players further from the majors. Not someone who is already on a 40-man roster with the clock ticking entering his age-25 season. 

[James Zumstein]

I'd be interested to see if something could be worked out with the Angels for Jo Adell. 37 HR last year, and only made $2.1M in first year of arby. If we included Mitchell to replace him in CF (moving Adell to RF and Frelick to CF for the Brewers), along with DL Hall and Tobias Myers, I think that's a possible win-win for both clubs.

[nate82]

6 hours ago, James Zumstein said:

I'd be interested to see if something could be worked out with the Angels for Jo Adell. 37 HR last year, and only made $2.1M in first year of arby. If we included Mitchell to replace him in CF (moving Adell to RF and Frelick to CF for the Brewers), along with DL Hall and Tobias Myers, I think that's a possible win-win for both clubs.

Adell in RF would be a huge mistake.  While he is very athletic he just doesn't get good reads on balls hit into the OF and his arm is below average for a RF.  You would need to have a prime Lorenzo Cain playing CF to make up for Adell's defense in RF and Frelick is no where near a prime Cain in CF.  His best position is in LF and that isn't really a good place to put him either he is still a negative in LF defensively.  His best position defensively is at DH.  

You would need to give up more than Mitchell to get Adell and at that point it just wouldn't be worth it for an all bat and no defense LF/DH.  He is about a 1 WAR player which I wouldn't want to give up all that much for him.  Power wise he is nice but everything else is just average or way below average.  

[Scooterfletcher]

He said Mitchell, Hall, and Myers for Adell.   Not Mitchell straight up 

[wallus]

Any interest in Rob Refsynder? He murders lhp and should be cheap.

Also, did Ozuna fall off a cliff in 2025? His 2024 advanced stats are excellent. Yes, he sucks at defense.

[Scooterfletcher]

Miguel Andujar.  Can mash, play left, and below-average the tres bag as well.   Only  30-31 too.

[nate82]

2 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

He said Mitchell, Hall, and Myers for Adell.   Not Mitchell straight up 

None have all that much value hence why I said not enough.

[James Zumstein]

13 hours ago, nate82 said:

Adell in RF would be a huge mistake.  While he is very athletic he just doesn't get good reads on balls hit into the OF and his arm is below average for a RF.  You would need to have a prime Lorenzo Cain playing CF to make up for Adell's defense in RF and Frelick is no where near a prime Cain in CF.  His best position is in LF and that isn't really a good place to put him either he is still a negative in LF defensively.  His best position defensively is at DH.  

You would need to give up more than Mitchell to get Adell and at that point it just wouldn't be worth it for an all bat and no defense LF/DH.  He is about a 1 WAR player which I wouldn't want to give up all that much for him.  Power wise he is nice but everything else is just average or way below average.  

I respectfully disagree with your opinion of his defense at a corner OF position. He's played over 2,100 innings in RF in the majors and has a positive DRS and Total Zone rating, including being neutral in 69 games in RF this year. It was the Angels poor decision to try him in CF that made him look like a terrible fielder.