2026 Trade/Waiver Targets

[jay87shot]

I feel like it is time to start a thread to discuss players to target as the season goes on and teams start to emerge as sellers or buyers.

Here is a 1st name to get things rolling.

Luis Arraez- The Giants are tied with the White Sox and Rockies for last place in the bigs, Adames or Chapman would be better fits but there contracts are to big. Arraez would add some badly needed consistency on offense and has enough defensive versatility to get on the field. The giants have some decent relief arms that would interest us I am sure as well.

 

[MilwaukeeBeers]

In my opinion Luis Arraez is one of the most overvalued players in baseball. We have enough noodle bat table setters.

[jay87shot]

10 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

In my opinion Luis Arraez is one of the most overvalued players in baseball. We have enough noodle bat table setters.

I wouldn't give anything of huge importance for Arraez to be clear and the Giants would need to eat like 1/2 of his deal. However I do think that the consistency he does provide would be huge at least while we have Yeli out and Sal struggling. I would much prefer a power bat somewhere however I don't think that is available early anywhere. I doubt the Giants would even consider trading Arraez or anyone else for a month or so. 

I would love someone like Yandy Diaz or Byron Buxton but both of those teams are in first. The White Sox and Rockies don't really have anything to enticing.

[MilwaukeeBeers]

27 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I wouldn't give anything of huge importance for Arraez to be clear and the Giants would need to eat like 1/2 of his deal. However I do think that the consistency he does provide would be huge at least while we have Yeli out and Sal struggling. I would much prefer a power bat somewhere however I don't think that is available early anywhere. I doubt the Giants would even consider trading Arraez or anyone else for a month or so. 

I would love someone like Yandy Diaz or Byron Buxton but both of those teams are in first. The White Sox and Rockies don't really have anything to enticing.

I really wish we were in on Mune this past offseason especially for the cheap price he went for. I have been a fan of him for a while and he would have helped solved our current corner IF/power woes. 26 with upside too would have fit the window well. I get why we weren't with Adams and Fisher on the horizon (We won't talk about Wilken)

[sveumrules]

3 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

I really wish we were in on Mune this past offseason especially for the cheap price he went for. I have been a fan of him for a while and he would have helped solved our current corner IF/power woes. 26 with upside too would have fit the window well. 

Murakami is 1B/DH only so there wasn't really room for him with Yelich, Vaughn, Bauers, plus Contreras DHing on days he doesn't catch.

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Just now, sveumrules said:

Murakami is 1B/DH only so there wasn't really room for him with Yelich, Vaughn, Bauers, plus Contreras DHing on days he doesn't catch.

Yeah fair. I do think he can play 3rd with a below average glove but we know that doesn't fit the current Brewers model. Then again Rengifo is not exactly a wizard there either but he is only $4 million... which at this juncture is an overpay by about $3.5 million lol

[jay87shot]

I love Murakami and had I been in the front office would have probably traded Vaughn and overpaid for him. I was sure he would get like 5/125. His 2022 season was probably one of the greatest seasons in baseball even if it was in Japan and he was 22. Outside of the 5 HR he hasn't been very good however.

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

Outside of the 5 HR he hasn't been very good however.

Yeah, small samples all around but he's at 137/308/255 (63 wRC+) with a 33.8 K% over 65 PA after going bonkers (362 wRC+ over 13 PA) in that season opening series against us.

With 5 HR | 17 BB | 26 K over his first 78 PA he is rocking a 61.5% 3TO rate that would make Rob Deer (49.8%) or Russell Branyan (51.4%) or even Joey Gallo (59.6%) blush.

[Playing Catch]

Anyone find a nice link to a list of guys? Here's the Spotrac List.

I think it's hard to predict at this point because we really don't know what they're going to need, or what the team will look like near the deadline. I don't love hammys, hamates or thoracic outlet syndromes.

In addition, it looks like a lot of those expiring contract guys are on teams that hope to compete this season. There aren't a ton of obvious options from 2nd division teams. There are a number of pitchers, there, but not very many hitters that I think would be so demonstrably better than their internal options.

I guess Yandy Diaz would be a good target(?)

 

[wiguy94]

20 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Anyone find a nice link to a list of guys? Here's the Spotrac List.

I think it's hard to predict at this point because we really don't know what they're going to need, or what the team will look like near the deadline. I don't love hammys, hamates or thoracic outlet syndromes.

In addition, it looks like a lot of those expiring contract guys are on teams that hope to compete this season. There aren't a ton of obvious options from 2nd division teams. There are a number of pitchers, there, but not very many hitters that I think would be so demonstrably better than their internal options.

I guess Yandy Diaz would be a good target(?)

 

Diaz still has another year of control after this year so don't think Tampa would be trading him unless they are out of the race and trying to save some money. Even then Diaz is a 1B/DH so not a great fit on our roster unless Vaughn just isn't the same guy post hamate injury.

[wallus]

Pena from the Astros is someone I would keep an eye on. 

[jay87shot]

8 hours ago, wallus said:

Pena from the Astros is someone I would keep an eye on. 

I thought of him when writing the idea, the Astros are a mess right now. However they always seem to start awful and pull it together. I do think Pena would be an ideal guy however say we trade for him at the deadline would we then trade him next offseason? He would have 1 more year of control and Made/Pratt/Jett will likely all be ready come 2027. To be honest, I wouldn't mind trading 3 good prospects to get Pena if we knew we could get 2 back in the offseason but the doesn't seem like our front office.

My hope is that Made continues to crush AA and in like June the org just sends him straight to the bigs.

[nate82]

Pena would be a very expensive get prospect wise.  You are looking at a possible Made and another piece type of deal.  I don’t see the Brewers doing that kind of trade.

If Pena were to be made available on the trade market the Astros would have their pick of elite talent.  You may have to overpay to get him so more than Made and another piece.  

[wallus]

There is zero chance that Pena, with less than two years of control remaining, is worth Made.... much less Made plus. 

Made is almost locked in to be the #1 overall prospect in baseball very soon. The only team that would consider something like that is the Padres.

 

[nate82]

50 minutes ago, wallus said:

There is zero chance that Pena, with less than two years of control remaining, is worth Made.... much less Made plus. 

Made is almost locked in to be the #1 overall prospect in baseball very soon. The only team that would consider something like that is the Padres.

 

Pena is a SS and most SS’s don’t come on the market all that often.  There would be a bidding war where the Brewers if they were interested would need to use a Made plus offer to beat out other offers.  The Brewers wouldn’t do this but there would be some serious competition for Pena if he became available.

This is not a Pena is worth this type of a package more of the demand he would create would be worth that much.

[wallus]

33 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Pena is a SS and most SS’s don’t come on the market all that often.  There would be a bidding war where the Brewers if they were interested would need to use a Made plus offer to beat out other offers.  The Brewers wouldn’t do this but there would be some serious competition for Pena if he became available.

This is not a Pena is worth this type of a package more of the demand he would create would be worth that much.

I will acknowledge that he would be costly but he isn't in the ballpark of a player to get Made in a trade.

[brewmann04]

Not trading Made 

[jay87shot]

17 hours ago, nate82 said:

Pena would be a very expensive get prospect wise.  You are looking at a possible Made and another piece type of deal.  I don’t see the Brewers doing that kind of trade.

If Pena were to be made available on the trade market the Astros would have their pick of elite talent.  You may have to overpay to get him so more than Made and another piece.  

Made will likely be the #1 prospect in the league by most publications (Leo de Vries is the only challenger) in a couple weeks. Pena is a very good player but not a guy anyone would get a #1 prospect for. I doubt we we even entertain Luis Pena, my thought would be he would have value like Peralta with maybe a mid level 3rd prospect. Jett, Henderson, and like Bitonti or something. When I write that it does seem like a high price for a year and a half of a player even if he is a 4-6 WAR player.

[Playing Catch]

Focusing on the target, instead of the hypothetical return, Jeremy Pena would be a really good target, IMO. He's a plug & play, everyday shortstop on an arby 1 contract. He would instantly stabilize the entire lineup for at least the next calendar year --- which very well could be how long it takes to properly develop the young infielders.

He wouldn't be cheap, but you could flip him again in the offseason, if one wanted.

[Klantz27]

I wish we would of signed hyeseong kim a year ago I proposed on here 5 year 60 mil dude ended up signing for free with the Dodgers pretty much 5 years 22.5 mil 😭 dude absolutely rakes and he hardly playes lol

[BrewerFan]

On 4/17/2026 at 11:03 AM, MilwaukeeBeers said:

I really wish we were in on Mune this past offseason especially for the cheap price he went for. I have been a fan of him for a while and he would have helped solved our current corner IF/power woes. 26 with upside too would have fit the window well. I get why we weren't with Adams and Fisher on the horizon (We won't talk about Wilken)

He's basically been good in two series. It's early, but we also had Vaughn at 1B, Chourio in LF and Yelich at DH. That changes our entire offense. 

 

On 4/20/2026 at 5:31 PM, nate82 said:

Pena is a SS and most SS’s don’t come on the market all that often.  There would be a bidding war where the Brewers if they were interested would need to use a Made plus offer to beat out other offers.  The Brewers wouldn’t do this but there would be some serious competition for Pena if he became available.

This is not a Pena is worth this type of a package more of the demand he would create would be worth that much.

Ok. 18-year-old SS prospects who are raking at AA and the #1 prospect in the Minor Leagues are available far less often. 

I don't think anyone would come particularly close to beating Made for Pena. You're getting Pena for this year and then MAYBE next year, then a FA. 

I would imagine the Astros would jump on that trade immediately. Doubt they'd even feel the need to field other offers. I'm kinda surprised you think it'd cost Made-Plus, even if there were a bidding War. 

He's a ~700 OPS type guy who plays good defense at SS. Players like that... they aren't that rare. Lets go back a couple years and think about Adames. The Os offer Gunnar Henderson or the D-backs Corbin Carroll. We're not shopping that deal, we're jumping on it. 

[Jopal78]

18 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Focusing on the target, instead of the hypothetical return, Jeremy Pena would be a really good target, IMO. He's a plug & play, everyday shortstop on an arby 1 contract. He would instantly stabilize the entire lineup for at least the next calendar year --- which very well could be how long it takes to properly develop the young infielders.

He wouldn't be cheap, but you could flip him again in the offseason, if one wanted.

Or an is already making 10 million dollars this season and presumably will get a multi million dollar raise next year in arbitration.

I don’t think the Brewers would really be interested in trading some of their minor league depth to add that kind of salary commitment. 

[Playing Catch]

44 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Or an is already making 10 million dollars this season and presumably will get a multi million dollar raise next year in arbitration.

I don’t think the Brewers would really be interested in trading some of their minor league depth to add that kind of salary commitment. 

No doubt the financials would be a big part of the deal, but deadline deals have a way of making the money work for both clubs. The Astros are a big-enough franchise to eat money in exchange for prospect-quality.

Without knowing how the money/assets would flow, Pena still represents a clear upgrade, and, in the event of falling out of the race, an opportunity for the Astros to trade present value for future value.

Most trade targets represent either a miniscule upgrade in on-field value (so why bother), or they're too good or too expensive to be realistic targets. Pena is *affordable* enough to be discussed in this thread as a possible option come the deadline.

I acknowledge that it would be something of an outlier for the Brewers to do this, although there are parallels with the Adames deal.

 

[Jopal78]

42 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

No doubt the financials would be a big part of the deal, but deadline deals have a way of making the money work for both clubs. The Astros are a big-enough franchise to eat money in exchange for prospect-quality.

Without knowing how the money/assets would flow, Pena still represents a clear upgrade, and, in the event of falling out of the race, an opportunity for the Astros to trade present value for future value.

Most trade targets represent either a miniscule upgrade in on-field value (so why bother), or they're too good or too expensive to be realistic targets. Pena is *affordable* enough to be discussed in this thread as a possible option come the deadline.

I acknowledge that it would be something of an outlier for the Brewers to do this, although there are parallels with the Adames deal.

 

Sure it makes sense that the Brewers have a need at SS but that’s about it.

If the Astros flounder and choose to rebuild, they’re not going to include cash to move their valuable players. Secondly, teams simply don’t often trade their top tier prospects anymore, so cash is not likely going to persuade anyone to depart from that path anyways.
 

The other difference is Adames arrived with 3+ years of control. Peña has 1+ season. 
 

It looks good in theory, but the teams/situation don’t really match up for this kind of move 

[Playing Catch]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

It looks good in theory, but the teams/situation don’t really match up for this kind of move 

Okay. Do you think there exists such a move?