Was It Wrong For The Milwaukee Brewers To Trade Freddy Peralta?

[Steve Drumwright]

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images / © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The question everyone asks when a trade like this happens is pretty simple: Was this the right move for the team?

Some deals cut a little deeper, and this one definitely feels like one of those.

But this is how the Milwaukee Brewers operate, regardless of whether you agree with the strategy. On Wednesday, the Crew traded ace right-hander Freddy Peralta. They sent him and an expendable piece, right-hander Tobias Myers, to the New York Mets for two of their top-five prospects: infielder-outfielder Jett Williams and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat.

One of the first negative reactions I saw on social media was something from a national baseball writer to the effect of "The Brewers, not the Dodgers, are ruining baseball because they can't afford $8 million."

That is certainly a take. Very wrong, but certainly a take.

The Brewers were more than willing to pay Peralta $8 million for 2026. The reason behind the trade is what comes after 2026. No, I'm not talking about whatever happens related to a lockout or strike or anything related to the collective bargaining agreement.

Instead, it has to do with Peralta's future. He will be a free agent following the 2026 World Series. Peralta enters his age-30 season in a prime position to cash in. After a team-friendly five-year, $15.5 million contract extension that then became a seven-year, $31.6 million deal with two club options that bought out two free-agent years, Peralta is due a payday. He has earned it. Remember that Peralta came to the Brewers as one of three wild cards as they dealt first baseman Adam Lind to the Seattle Mariners following the 2015 season. Peralta hadn't played any higher than the complex league in Arizona at that point and was 19 years old when he joined the Crew.

In the 10 years since, Peralta has been a self-made pitcher. Sure, the Brewers gave him all the tools they could, but it was Peralta who put in the work and rose from obscurity to MLB All-Star and Cy Young Award contender. And the Brewers reaped the benefits of that and took advantage of the salary-suppression system MLB employs to get more value out of their investment in Peralta. No longer is he Fastball Freddy, the youngster who could only throw a variety of fastballs. Now he features three offspeed pitches in a changeup, slider, and curveball to go along with a four-seam fastball.

Since his stunning 13-strikeout MLB debut on that Mother's Day in Colorado in 2018, Peralta has been an integral part of the Brewers' success. Since joining the rotation full-time at the beginning of the 2021 season, Peralta has been a rock in the rotation, even if he wasn't spectacular for most of that. He started 139 of 141 games with a FIP of 3.65, an ERA of 3.30, and an ERA+ of 126. That ERA+ means Peralta was 26% above the average MLB pitcher. That number was certainly boosted by his 2025 performance, where he posted a 154 ERA+ and finished fifth in NL Cy Young Award voting.

The Brewers' philosophy of baseball business is not to overpay. They don't want to hand out exorbitant salaries that could weigh down their roster at the back end. The Brewers are approaching that situation with Christian Yelich, who has three more years at about $24 million each before a mutual option at $20 million for 2029 (those are usually declined). Peralta will certainly clear what Yelich, technically the Crew's highest-paid player*, is making, perhaps even approach $30 million a year. It is his market value at this moment. The Brewers would have given Peralta a qualifying offer (probably around $23 million for 2027), which he would have declined and netted the Brewers one single draft pick.

That was the situation Brandon Woodruff was in this offseason. Woodruff accepted the qualifying offer and returned on a $22.025 million contract for 2026. That is on top of the $10 million mutual option buyout the Crew paid Woodruff instead of a $20 million contract. So Woodruff is really making $32.025 million this season* (thus the mythical highest-paid Brewers player).

Could the Brewers afford Peralta's $8 million for 2026? Of course. That was never in question. But the Brewers, like they did with closer Josh Hader, starter Corbin Burnes, and closer Devin Williams, sold high on the player in question. Burnes netted shortstop Joey Ortiz, left-hander DL Hall, and a draft pick that resulted in first baseman Blake Burke from the Baltimore Orioles. Williams brought back third baseman Caleb Durbin and left-handed starter Nestor Cortes.

Hall hasn't panned out yet, and Cortes flamed out due to injury. Ortiz and Durbin are the starting left side of the infield. Time will tell on Jett Williams and Sproat, but their pedigree is higher than that of the others acquired in those other two deals. This is how the Brewers churn their talent. This is part of the secret sauce they have used to win three straight NL Central titles.

I am on record as saying Peralta was the perfect player for the Brewers to invest in. He epitomizes what they do, taking a ball of clay and molding it into something useful.

But I also understand the Brewers' philosophy and agree with it to a certain extent. Players should get paid what they are worth, and teams also have the right not to make a bad investment. Hader cashed in. Devin Williams got his payday. So did Burnes, who then got hurt. Peralta, barring the unforeseen, will get his next offseason.

Just not from the Brewers, who sold Peralta at his peak and now instead have two good prospects, bolstering an already-burgeoning farm system.

Was this the right move for the team?

Yes, it was.

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[gregmag]

To add to this article’s very reasonable analysis:

Think about all the players the Brewers have either traded or not resigned in Peralta’s situation. To this point, not one of them has come close to earning the big contracts that most of them got:
 

Prince Fielder had one great year, one decent year, and then got hurt.

Corbin Burnes had one very good year, was off to an excellent start last year, and then got hurt. He has a good chance to come back and make his contract look good. The Brewers could’ve used his pitching in 2024 – but then they would’ve been without Joey Ortiz’s very good 2024 season as the starting third baseman.

Willy Adames was very good last year, his first post-Brewers season. He’s the one guy on this list whom the Brewers really missed, taking into account how he did, what they got to replace him (not much in his case, because they chose not to trade him), where they were in the standings, and what they got from the replacement at his position. Let’s see how his contract looks going forward.

Josh Hader has mostly been good after leaving. However, the Brewers seem to have replaced his contribution very easily.

Devin Williams stunk up the joint last year. I would bet on him to recover. But again, the Brewers’ bullpen didn’t miss a beat in his absence.

Carlos Gomez did almost nothing after leaving.

Jonathan Lucroy did almost nothing after leaving.

Then we get to lesser veteran “stars” whom the Brewers let go after good seasons, like Hunter Renfroe and Adam Lind. Those two did almost nothing after leaving. I can’t immediately recall any such guys who made us question our decisions, although I may be forgetting someone.

Looking at these players’ results, I can’t see any good case against the Brewers’ strategy of cutting bait on veterans when they get expensive, because when they get expensive also tends to be when they decline. The two big veteran extensions the team has handed out, to Ryan Braun and Christian Yelich, made sense in that those guys were the highest level players in this group (not to mention the ones who meant the most to the Brewers). But even those contracts look like not the greatest baseball decisions.

MLB’s rules make players cheaper when they’re better and more expensive when they’re worse. You don’t have to be the cheapskates the Brewers are always accused of being to see the wisdom in taking advantage of that structure.

[KingRhyno8]

Amen to both the article and first comment. Brewers have been proven right far more than proven wrong.

[MattK]

Agreed. Very reasonable thoughts.

Out of the fan base, though, is the concern that this philosophy, along with major focus on the young player acquisition & development side of the house, will continue to tease with playoff appearances without really actually giving the chance to win the World Series.  Freddy is the specific case where keeping him only for 2026, even if the overall cost (not getting high level prospects, but only a draft pick) is high, the potential to reach the World Series has likely diminished. 

And if the club's ability to find gems in Latin America or via the draft would drop, it will be much tougher to stay at the level of making the playoffs. 

One thing I will be curious about, as some of the current prospect group gets closer to the majors, is whether multiple examples of the Chourio contract will be extended to the youngsters? Will the front office be fine with Made & Pena on 8yr, X million deals at the same time as Chourio? Would they offer Turang, Misiorowski (Priester? Frelick?) longer term multi million dollar deals, or will the can kicking and reliance on the farm system to supply cheaper, but not as major league ready players, continue? 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Good piece.

Yeah, as soon as I read "national baseball writer" I should've skipped to the next paragraph. Yeah, Milwaukee is the problem because we 'can't afford $8 million'. This, after the results of the previous trades that @gregmagalluded to.

What a dope.

[Trax]

MLB is a joke and will continue to be until the gross disparity in this fixed league is seriously addressed.

The Dodgers receive roughly 300 million per year MORE in TV revenue than the Brewers do.  With no cap like the NFL has and a joke of a "revenue sharing" "lux tax" program.

 

It is becoming unwatchable.