Question of the week: is trading Peralta the right baseball move?

[titanrick]

14 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

I've changed my mind. I can answer without more context. 100% trade Freddy. Freddy Peralta would be SP4/SP5 on the Dodgers. The idea of holding onto him when the Dodgers exist as if it gives us a better chance to beat them just feels silly. Trade 1 year of Freddy to get players with more team control. Continue to try and make the playoffs every single year and hope to get hot at the right time. We can't compete with the Dodgers on paper.

I agree with you that we can't compete in spending with a team that spends half a billion dollars every offseason.  But talent-wise, I don't think it's hopeless.  We swept them last year in the regular season.  Yes, I recall what happened in the NLCS.  But who's to say what shape they will be in next October for injuries, older players starting to decline, etc?  Unless we're getting a REALLY good controllable pitcher back in the Peralta deal, I'd much rather keep him, go for it, and settle for the comp pick when we lose him.

[Fear The Chorizo]

19 hours ago, titanrick said:

I agree with you that we can't compete in spending with a team that spends half a billion dollars every offseason.  But talent-wise, I don't think it's hopeless.  We swept them last year in the regular season.  Yes, I recall what happened in the NLCS.  But who's to say what shape they will be in next October for injuries, older players starting to decline, etc?  Unless we're getting a REALLY good controllable pitcher back in the Peralta deal, I'd much rather keep him, go for it, and settle for the comp pick when we lose him.

The issue is the Dodgers can go on autopilot for 162 games, make sure their veteran starters are healthy, and steamroll through the playoffs - their farm system and IL roster are plenty deep to sleepwalk to 90+ wins.

 

I think the only way, absent the financial system actually getting fixed, to put the screws on their organization is for the rest of MLB to essentially boycott trading with the Dodgers, ultimately forcing then to have to flat out release or make available blocked prospects to the Rule 5 draft, and veterans coming off IL, getting nothing of value in return for them.  That includes nobody selling them veteran reinforcements at the trade deadline, too.  Force them to play with an aging roster or have to DFA valuable players.

[TURBO]

34 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I think the only way, absent the financial system actually getting fixed, to put the screws on their organization is for the rest of MLB to essentially boycott trading with the Dodgers, ultimately forcing then to have to flat out release or make available blocked prospects to the Rule 5 draft, and veterans coming off IL, getting nothing of value in return for them.  That includes nobody selling them veteran reinforcements at the trade deadline, too.  Force them to play with an aging roster or have to DFA valuable players.

LOVE the idea, but it will never happen...  There will always be teams willing to deal with the evil empire.

[markedman5]

I have to say I’m getting pretty fascinated to see the end result of this…….Arnold is obviously being very patient…….which might lead  fans to have inflated expectations of what a return might look like.

Im ok with keeping him obviously……but it sure seems like there is too much smoke to not have a fire.

[Frisbee Slider]

All of the Peralta trade rumors seem essentially that Milwaukee is answering the phone. That is different than Milwaukee actively shopping Peralta.

[TURBO]

I'm going out on a limb and predicting Freddy is gone by Tuesday.

Sadly, I have a gut feeling it's to the Dodgers, but at the very least we need to fleece them, so hopefully the return in tremendous.

[markedman5]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

I'm going out on a limb and predicting Freddy is gone by Tuesday.

Sadly, I have a gut feeling it's to the Dodgers, but at the very least we need to fleece them, so hopefully the return in tremendous.

Some chatter about things heating up with Yanks…….

[wibadgers23]

39 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

Some chatter about things heating up with Yanks…….

Wish it were the other NY team.  I like the Mets pitching prospects more.

[SF70]

7 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Wish it were the other NY team.  I like the Mets pitching prospects more.

Prefer Freddy go to an AL team and the Yankees have the $$ to extend him and keep him there. 

 

[wibadgers23]

17 hours ago, TURBO said:

I'm going out on a limb and predicting Freddy is gone by Tuesday.

Sadly, I have a gut feeling it's to the Dodgers, but at the very least we need to fleece them, so hopefully the return in tremendous.

Just my opinion but they have a little over three weeks to trade Freddy because once camp opens, there's almost a zero percent chance they trade him.  If he's still a Brewer on Feb 12, then I think he's a Brewer until the end of the season.

[RobertCrawley]

On 1/11/2026 at 3:02 PM, patrickgpe said:

As in most things, it’s depends on the return. It’s impossible to answer without knowing what they can get, if they can get a young power hitting 3rd baseman or a good shortstop prospect, I think it is,  if the return is similar to Joey Ortiz and DL Hall, I’d rather keep Freddy and get the draft pick. 

I agree. It depends on what's on the table.

[landoc88]

Honestly no but thanks to a owner who refuses to spend money Matt Arnold has zero choice.

[Devinep]

Obviously listen to offers but only pull the trigger if the trade means the Brewers bend the other team over the table and show them the 50 states. shout out horrible bosses

[thebruce44]

On 1/13/2026 at 12:54 PM, titanrick said:

I understand the overall philosophy and I am in favor of it since we are a small-market team.  That's not going to change. 

But it has to be more nuanced than simply, "trade your best player - every time - before you lose him."  When we dealt Burnes and Hader, we were a playoff contender, but realistically not a title contender.  So reloading was the wise move.

Flash forward to the state of the Brewers in 2026.  We just had the best record in baseball last year. The ultimate goal is still to bring a championship to Milwaukee.  The time to "go for it" by keeping Peralta is now.  If it's not now, then that time will never come.  

I hate to say it, but I don't see us as a title contender with the Blue Jays and Dodgers getting even better this off season.

[Turning2]

12 hours ago, thebruce44 said:

I hate to say it, but I don't see us as a title contender with the Blue Jays and Dodgers getting even better this off season.

We can always hope they have a plague of injuries or that their cash cow tv revenue deal unexpectedly blew up. 😀. They are mortgaged in deferred salaries. But I assume LA has some type of insurance in place in case their TV broadcast network unexpectedly went bankrupt. 

[titanrick]

12 hours ago, thebruce44 said:

I hate to say it, but I don't see us as a title contender with the Blue Jays and Dodgers getting even better this off season.

I get that.  I just don't think baseball always works that way - that teams can just buy championships.  Of course we're coming off two years in a row where the Dodgers did exactly that so it's tough to argue differently right now.

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, titanrick said:

I get that.  I just don't think baseball always works that way - that teams can just buy championships.  Of course we're coming off two years in a row where the Dodgers did exactly that so it's tough to argue differently right now.

Well, we've had teams in the past try to buy championships with varying degrees of success, however, we have never seen what the Dodgers have done, and continue to do as far as actually buying championships.  This is a new level of nonsense never seen before.  Deferred money has raised the level of craziness allowed by MLB.

I don't see any way out of this mess now that the ball is rolling.

I think there used to be a chance that a given team had a chance to catch lightning in a bottle and have things work out magically for a chance at a world series title.  Now, I think those odds are far worse than ever before.

I no longer believe a have-not team like the Brewers have a chance in hell at winning the world series.  The odds were always stacked against us, now those odds are insurmountable.  

[SF70]

32 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Well, we've had teams in the past try to buy championships with varying degrees of success, however, we have never seen what the Dodgers have done, and continue to do as far as actually buying championships.  This is a new level of nonsense never seen before.  Deferred money has raised the level of craziness allowed by MLB.

I don't see any way out of this mess now that the ball is rolling.

I think there used to be a chance that a given team had a chance to catch lightning in a bottle and have things work out magically for a chance at a world series title.  Now, I think those odds are far worse than ever before.

I no longer believe a have-not team like the Brewers have a chance in hell at winning the world series.  The odds were always stacked against us, now those odds are insurmountable.  

The Brewers have a great opportunity to win a WS over the next decade. And the reason is two-fold:

1. The Dodgers and other LM teams will incur stiffer penalties for spending with each new CBA, that will limit their spending and act like a cap, without being a hard-cap. 

2. As the Brewers organizational talent-level continues to mature their big-league team will only get better. 80% of the BL positionals & starting pitching talent has at least 4 more years of control and all will be within their prime-performance years. Then in addition, during these next 4 years we have the best young farm in the game that will spit out impact talent at key positions including pitching that should only improve the overall talent-level of the team moving-forward.

A 5+ year period of time with Chourio-Made-Pena-Miz and other impact talent playing baseball together will be a beautiful thing to behold.

[TURBO]

11 minutes ago, SF70 said:

The Brewers have a great opportunity to win a WS over the next decade. And the reason is two-fold:

1. The Dodgers and other LM teams will incur stiffer penalties for spending with each new CBA, that will limit their spending and act like a cap, without being a hard-cap. 

2. As the Brewers organizational talent-level continues to mature their big-league team will only get better. 80% of the BL positionals & starting pitching talent has at least 4 more years of control and all will be within their prime-performance years. Then in addition, during these next 4 years we have the best young farm in the game that will spit out impact talent at key positions including pitching that should only improve the overall talent-level of the team moving-forward.

A 5+ year period of time with Chourio-Made-Pena-Miz and other impact talent playing baseball together will be a beautiful thing to behold.

 

[tmwiese55]

The thing with LAD or the 'opening' to beat them in the next few years come in that Betts/Freeman are getting surprisingly old while having big contracts still. Other guys for them will be approaching that too.  So, the question will be can they keep spending these ridiculous amounts to pay new guys they buy while also paying the aging guys when the are essentially washed up?   

As of now, it sure looks they plan on and have the ability to keep paying though so its tough to have much hope.  But there has to be a limit at some point.

[Frisbee Slider]

I want to extend praise for our Brewer Fanatic community, who, all things considered, have handled a quiet offseason very well.

I remember way fewer instances of pitch forks insisting on needle movers.. Perhaps, that’s good or perhaps we just accept free agency isn’t really for Milwaukee. Plus, we won 97 games last year. 🤷‍♂️

[Turning2]

3 hours ago, TURBO said:

I think there used to be a chance that a given team had a chance to catch lightning in a bottle and have things work out magically for a chance at a world series title.  Now, I think those odds are far worse than ever before.

I no longer believe a have-not team like the Brewers have a chance in hell at winning the world series.  The odds were always stacked against us, now those odds are insurmountable.  

There is always a chance. The odds are extremely and unfairly long for a small market team like MIL, but a slim chance always exists. Just having a small market franchise reach the championship series over other big market teams with unlimited spending restraints indicates that. I joked before about an injury bug, but it could happen. If one of the Dodgers starters blew an elbow during the series, or takes a come backer that knocks him out, or if a couple of their big bats are in a slump or someone blows a hammy. Weird things happen. It's ridiculous that a small market would need things like that to occur as well as taking care of their own business in order to win it all, ... but a chance always exists. 

 

A key thing is your "big guys" can't disappear in the big games. One player might make 5X the $$$ of another guy, but that doesn't mean he has 5X the talent. There is not that much talent difference in relation to salary. At some point, the small market stars need to step up and play big in the big moments. 

[tmwiese55]

I just go into the year with the division as the attainable goal and something to celebrate or take pride in, however you want to phrase it.   Then take the playoffs as a crapshoot bonus and hope for the best.   I pretty much do that in all sports at this point since they've expanded the playoff fields so much that winning is such a long shot and only one team can be happy.   I guess other than NBA, which generally is the best team that wins.   

That said, LAD might be gaming the system so hard that MLB is now best team almost always wins too. But, SD and Tor took them to the wire the last two years so its not like they're the Durant Warriors level of unbeatable. And yea, its not lost on me that SD/Tor have big budgets too

[markedman5]

Well here is some info……obviously no idea how accurate it is

 

[Soupy]

True or not I think once again Brewer fans would, at least initially, be disappointed in the return. Keep him and win this year!