2026 Offseason and Beyond Trade/Free Agent Ideas

[jay87shot]

I have brought most of these up but am compiling my ideas into one spot.

1) Mitchell, Gasser, Grant Anderson for Gavin Williams

We get an ace upside and cash in on a solid healthy year of Mitchell. The Guardians need OF help and Mitchell brings that with Gasser filling in the rotarion spot.

2) Contreras to Yanks, we get Hunter Goodman, rockies get 2 Yanks prospects, Quero, and Crow

Yanks get a much needed vet catcher. We get a young power guy that our catching group can anti-up the D. The Rocks get 3+ good pieces to rebuild more.

3) Bryan Buxton for Luis Pena, Sal Frelick, and Blake Holub

Yes, this one wont happen Buxton is happy in Minny and wont likely approve a trade. Just let me dream on it.

4)Trade Vaughn to for Brian Curley and Christian Mena

We saved some money and get 2 solid arms. 

5) Megill to Texas for Dalton Pence, Jacob Johnson, and Emiliano Teodo

It hurts to let Megill go but getting 3 upside arms for 50 innings or so is the Brewer way. Teodo could help in the pen right away and Pence would make up for losing depth of Gasser and Crow

6) Bauers accepts qualifying offer. Sign 2 /3 cheaper vet arms

 1) LF Chourio 2)2B Turang 3)LF Buxton 4) 1B Bauers 5)C Goodman 6)DH Yeli 7)SS Pratt 8) CF Lara 9) 3B Ortiz

1)Misi 2)Henderson 3) Williams 4)Harrison 5)Drohan.  depth Hardin, Sproat, Priester, Pence

Uribe, Ashby, Patrick, Hall, Sproat, Wagoner, Teodo, cheaper vet arms, Keonig, others

The pen is a bit weak but Uribe, Ashby, Patrick, Hall is solid and the is lots of upside with Wagoner, Teodo, Sproat

[Mr Southpaw]

The pen is a bit weak but Uribe, Ashby, Patrick, Hall is solid and the is lots of upside with Wagoner, Teodo, Sproat

 

Zerpa should be back at some point next year.

[jay87shot]

21 hours ago, Mr Southpaw said:

The pen is a bit weak but Uribe, Ashby, Patrick, Hall is solid and the is lots of upside with Wagoner, Teodo, Sproat

 

Zerpa should be back at some point next year.

I would think it would make sense to not offer Zerpa arby and then re-sign him to a minor league deal. In my crazy scenerio I would think we would sign a couple vet guys to 1 year 3/4 milly dollar deals like Kirby Yates or guys like AJ Puk (if healthy) possibly even Brandon Woodruff as a reliever if he throws alright in summer.

I think it could be possible in more realistic scenerio that we could even sign a better reliever to bigger 1 year 8-12 million dollar deal if we did trade William and Megill. It isn't our normal way but there isn't much offense to upgrade and our rotation has good depth so really if we do have some money a bullpen add could be the biggest upgrade.

[PBTank]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I would think it would make sense to not offer Zerpa arby and then re-sign him to a minor league deal. In my crazy scenerio I would think we would sign a couple vet guys to 1 year 3/4 milly dollar deals like Kirby Yates or guys like AJ Puk (if healthy) possibly even Brandon Woodruff as a reliever if he throws alright in summer.

I think it could be possible in more realistic scenerio that we could even sign a better reliever to bigger 1 year 8-12 million dollar deal if we did trade William and Megill. It isn't our normal way but there isn't much offense to upgrade and our rotation has good depth so really if we do have some money a bullpen add could be the biggest upgrade.

What will Peralta's market be this offseason?  Has it cratered?  Could a 1 year split contract for a million loaded with incentives and outs work?  I'd at least kick the tires on that.  If he's going to have to go the "prove it" deal route, what better than the team and coaching staff he had success with.  

I'd like them to find the next Uribe type.  Find that hard throwing sinker / slider guy to grow in the bullpen.  Teodo was mentioned and he would definitely qualify as that.

[jay87shot]

1 minute ago, PBTank said:

What will Peralta's market be this offseason?  Has it cratered?  Could a 1 year split contract for a million loaded with incentives and outs work?  I'd at least kick the tires on that.  If he's going to have to go the "prove it" deal route, what better than the team and coaching staff he had success with.  

I'd like them to find the next Uribe type.  Find that hard throwing sinker / slider guy to grow in the bullpen.  Teodo was mentioned and he would definitely qualify as that.

I would think Freddy could get a multi-year deal, he still has been at least average and has made all his starts 4 years in a row. That being said I would think it would be more likely Freddy takes like 1/15 than like 3/36 because he is young enough and has enough track record that he could still make big money with a bounce back year. I wouldn't be against getting Freddy back but I don't know if he is better than Gasser or Drohan (Preister when healthy) at this point to justify spending that money. 

[TURBO]

30 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I would think Freddy could get a multi-year deal, he still has been at least average and has made all his starts 4 years in a row. That being said I would think it would be more likely Freddy takes like 1/15 than like 3/36 because he is young enough and has enough track record that he could still make big money with a bounce back year. I wouldn't be against getting Freddy back but I don't know if he is better than Gasser or Drohan (Preister when healthy) at this point to justify spending that money. 

No, no, he has not been at least average.  Take a look at his numbers for this season.  He has been REALLY bad, I mean like, REALLY REALLY bad.

I'm not saying someone won't still pay him, but as a one year prove it deal, and if it was cheap, I'd consider it, but we can not simply expect to get the old Freddy back right off the bat.  It looks to me like he needs some fixing, and what better team to do it than the team that had him previously?

I could go either way with him, but if the deal was a one year, CHEAP prove it deal, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

[long ball]

I’ve thought about it quite a bit recently and I don’t think the Brewers will offer Bauers the QO. He’s been massively important this year and it will sting to lose him, but I’m operating under the assumption he will sign elsewhere. 
 

it will be very interesting to see how the Brewers address Megill, Vaughn, and Contreras. All 3 have been important contributors and are entering their final year of team control. If we make a World Series run or heck win it, that probably lends more toward running it back with at least 2 of these guys. If we lose in the NLCS or earlier, it’s probably business as usual and at least 2 of these guys are traded. 
 

mitchell is obviously the other guy. He’s been quite good this year in his first healthy campaign. We have enough at bats to go with a 4 man outfield group of Chourio, Lara, Mitchell, and Frelick but I totally understand the concept of hoping to entice a team into giving up some long piece(s) for him given his injury history. You could include Frelick in this bucket too, but since he will be coming off his worst year in the bigs I don’t see an acceptable trade package coming our way so it makes sense to hope he bounces back next year. We don’t have a ton of OF depth at the high minors, but maybe the Brewers move off of Mitchell and try to add a more potent corner OF bat and slide Frelick into more of a 4th OF role. 
 

ortiz is another interesting guy. Huge second half turn around at the plate to where he’s nearly league average offensively on the year. If I had to guess today, our infield to start the year looks a lot like it does now with Hamilton, Pratt, and Ortiz manning 3b and SS. A Made extension would certainly change the equation here though. Otherwise I see Made as a May/June call up. 
 

woodruff would be interesting to bring back, but I don’t think they can or should commit much money to him. If he wants to re-sign here for under $5m, I think I’d be good with that if he comes out of this rehab in good shape. 
 

Baddoo, Wilson, may, Romero, and Senzatela are unlikely to be re-signed. 
 

I could see them bringing Sánchez back if they decide to trade Contreras. 
 

zerpa is the most interesting non-tender decision. Looks like grant Anderson will be arb1 next year, and I think we will retain his option so he seems like a perfectly reasonable 7th man in the pen and should be tendered. Zastryzny is a non-tender. 

[TURBO]

Losing Contreras could be a back breaker with no obvious replacement.  I shudder at the thought of running guys like Sanchez (another year older and as slow as slow can be), Naylor, or some waiver wire guy, out there on a daily basis.

As frusrtrating as William can be at times, he's still one of MLB's best at his position.

[PBTank]

18 hours ago, TURBO said:

Losing Contreras could be a back breaker with no obvious replacement.  I shudder at the thought of running guys like Sanchez (another year older and as slow as slow can be), Naylor, or some waiver wire guy, out there on a daily basis.

As frusrtrating as William can be at times, he's still one of MLB's best at his position.

I'm in the opinion that the Brewers should hang onto Contreras another year unless they are blown away with an offer.  They could survive with Naylor who bats left and a journyman RH hitting catcher in a platoon next season if need be.  But yes, that's a big drop off from what William contributes.  Quero if defensively ready could also be that platoon partner.  Hopefully, there will still be a draft pick compensation when/if he leaves in free agency.  Or possibly the new CBA will provide some advantages to the Brewers to keep their free agents.

This offseason's market will include Jeffers and Stephenson who may be a better option for teams than trading assets for a catcher.  And I've also seen the speculation of Goodman from Colorado being on the trade market.

[jay87shot]

21 minutes ago, PBTank said:

I'm in the opinion that the Brewers should hang onto Contreras another year unless they are blown away with an offer.  They could survive with Naylor who bats left and a journyman RH hitting catcher in a platoon next season if need be.  But yes, that's a big drop off from what William contributes.  Quero if defensively ready could also be that platoon partner.  Hopefully, there will still be a draft pick compensation when/if he leaves in free agency.  Or possibly the new CBA will provide some advantages to the Brewers to keep their free agents.

This offseason's market will include Jeffers and Stephenson who may be a better option for teams than trading assets for a catcher.  And I've also seen the speculation of Goodman from Colorado being on the trade market.

I definitely would lean towards keeping William, if there is an offer that is to good to turn down probably I could be fine moving him. If we do move him I would look to add another young catcher and make it so we have 3 decent options at the beginning of the year. I would think we would need at least a package like what we got for Freddy or better to justify a trade. As you said we should likely get draft compensation however look at what happened to Freddy, the Mets aren't likely to get a pick but likely paid us extra because they could have. 

I like Jeffers a lot but doubt we would pay him, Stephenson would be a passible option as would Carson Kelly. I wouldn't mind trading for a young catcher if he has control, I think the package we get for Contreras would offset the outgoing assets for a more controllable, cheaper piece. 

Some other names of interest to me would include Sean Murphy (Braves pay a majority of remaining contract), Harry Ford, Luis Campusano, a Cardinal catching prospect, probably more that aren't coming to my mind at the moment.

[jay87shot]

On 9/9/2026 at 1:30 PM, TURBO said:

No, no, he has not been at least average.  Take a look at his numbers for this season.  He has been REALLY bad, I mean like, REALLY REALLY bad.

I'm not saying someone won't still pay him, but as a one year prove it deal, and if it was cheap, I'd consider it, but we can not simply expect to get the old Freddy back right off the bat.  It looks to me like he needs some fixing, and what better team to do it than the team that had him previously?

I could go either way with him, but if the deal was a one year, CHEAP prove it deal, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

4.85 ERA 4.43 FIP, 153 innings 142 k, 55 bb -0.1 WAR, ERA+ 86 that is pretty average to me (slightly below). Yes really really bad compared to what he has been but as far as starters go that isn't awful.

[jay87shot]

On 9/9/2026 at 5:36 PM, long ball said:

I’ve thought about it quite a bit recently and I don’t think the Brewers will offer Bauers the QO. He’s been massively important this year and it will sting to lose him, but I’m operating under the assumption he will sign elsewhere. 
 

it will be very interesting to see how the Brewers address Megill, Vaughn, and Contreras. All 3 have been important contributors and are entering their final year of team control. If we make a World Series run or heck win it, that probably lends more toward running it back with at least 2 of these guys. If we lose in the NLCS or earlier, it’s probably business as usual and at least 2 of these guys are traded. 
 

mitchell is obviously the other guy. He’s been quite good this year in his first healthy campaign. We have enough at bats to go with a 4 man outfield group of Chourio, Lara, Mitchell, and Frelick but I totally understand the concept of hoping to entice a team into giving up some long piece(s) for him given his injury history. You could include Frelick in this bucket too, but since he will be coming off his worst year in the bigs I don’t see an acceptable trade package coming our way so it makes sense to hope he bounces back next year. We don’t have a ton of OF depth at the high minors, but maybe the Brewers move off of Mitchell and try to add a more potent corner OF bat and slide Frelick into more of a 4th OF role. 
 

ortiz is another interesting guy. Huge second half turn around at the plate to where he’s nearly league average offensively on the year. If I had to guess today, our infield to start the year looks a lot like it does now with Hamilton, Pratt, and Ortiz manning 3b and SS. A Made extension would certainly change the equation here though. Otherwise I see Made as a May/June call up. 
 

woodruff would be interesting to bring back, but I don’t think they can or should commit much money to him. If he wants to re-sign here for under $5m, I think I’d be good with that if he comes out of this rehab in good shape. 
 

Baddoo, Wilson, may, Romero, and Senzatela are unlikely to be re-signed. 
 

I could see them bringing Sánchez back if they decide to trade Contreras. 
 

zerpa is the most interesting non-tender decision. Looks like grant Anderson will be arb1 next year, and I think we will retain his option so he seems like a perfectly reasonable 7th man in the pen and should be tendered. Zastryzny is a non-tender. 

Bauers will come down alot to the finances of the team, if the front office is going to trade some combination of Contreras, Megill, Vaughn, or even Ashby a QO is possible. We showed that we can be a little risky last year with Woody and the QO and I think Bauers is a similar decision. 

The OF with Mitchell and Frelick will be interesting, my guess is that we just keep all 4. However Mitchell would seem like he could have really good value and would be relatively easy to replace. Our other high end OF prospects likely won't be ready until mid-season, so going with Sal and Lockridge (maybe a cheap FA) is manageable. Like you said trading Sal won't bring back much and it isn't to difficult to envision a rebound. 

I think the Joey, Pratt, Hamilton rotation has been humming along so well I wouldn't change much there. With Made in AAA next year we have really good insurance, if Ortiz is playing well and Made forces his way up I could see a situation where we could move Joey in like June kind of like the Rays trading us Willy when Wander Franco was ready.

I think after paying Woody like 40 million for like 110 innings, I feel like a 1 year 2 million dollar deal with incentives to say 6 or 7 makes sense for both sides. Maybe throw in a bigger team option (say 12) with a low buyout just because. I think if he looks healthy Woody as the long man in the bullpen would be a great spot for him. If he gets a little velo back he could slide into a later inning relief role or get stretched out if we end up with a need for a starter at some point. If his injuries come back the low value isn't a backbraker.

[TURBO]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

4.85 ERA 4.43 FIP, 153 innings 142 k, 55 bb -0.1 WAR, ERA+ 86 that is pretty average to me (slightly below). Yes really really bad compared to what he has been but as far as starters go that isn't awful.

His last 3 starts have been great, so I'm assuming your stat line includes those starts.  Previously though, he has been FAR below average.  Great to see him figuring things out with TB, but look at his numbers specifically when he was with the Mets.  AWFUL!

[Jopal78]

On 9/7/2026 at 8:49 PM, jay87shot said:

 

3) Bryan Buxton for Luis Pena, Sal Frelick, and Blake Holub

Yes, this one wont happen Buxton is happy in Minny and wont likely approve a trade. Just let me dream on it.

 

They’re probably that couple that is made for each other. Buxton does not want to play anywhere else, and his trade value is essentially nothing as he misses 60 games a year (just announced out for the year again  this time with hip surgery. 90 games played).

[wallus]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

They’re probably that couple that is made for each other. Buxton does not want to play anywhere else, and his trade value is essentially nothing as he misses 60 games a year (just announced out for the year again  this time with hip surgery. 90 games played).

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, wallus said:

Nope. Name a team that would give legitimate prospect capital for a player who is in his mid 30s and who is a terrific player but also guaranteed to miss 60-70 games a year. 

Sure, they could dump his contract for garbage, but that’s why his trade value is essentially nothing.

Surely you’ve noticed the  people here dumping on the May trade because he had a couple of clunkers, imagine the melt down if the Brewers traded some of those plug n play prospects for Buxton, and he almost immediately misses the rest of the season with a hip injury, the site would literally melt down. 

 

[cragi]

dont want to stress anyone out but the brewers will have a tough decision this offseason on outfielders.

Chourio is probably face of the franchise for a long time. 
Lara, Mitchell, and Frelick are highly regarded, but probably shouldnt keep 4 solid OF and the bench player will probably lose value.

More importantly, Adamczewski moves up to AAA and Payne isn't too far behind him. If either gets hot in AAA, nowhere to put him.

Brewers are going to want more pitching. This is what made Adamczewski, Frias, and Ragsdale painful to put on the block but expendable. 

Sell at fair price for Mitchell?
Sell low on Frelick?
Does Adamczewski's glove play?

[TURBO]

2 minutes ago, cragi said:

Sell at fair price for Mitchell?
Sell low on Frelick?
Does Adamczewski's glove play?

Yes

Yes

Yes, he is learning on the fly, but looked pretty damn good in Appleton.

[wallus]

6 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Nope. Name a team that would give legitimate prospect capital for a player who is in his mid 30s and who is a terrific player but also guaranteed to miss 60-70 games

 

He's 32, not mid thirties. Every single big market playoff contender would give up a legit prospect for him. 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, wallus said:

He's 32, not mid thirties. Every single big market playoff contender would give up a legit prospect for him. 

Not a chance. He’ll be 33 the next time he steps onto the field. Unreliability crushes trade value and Buxton has now played 12 seasons in the major leagues and has missed fewer than 50 games in a season due to injuries twice.

A buyer pays for production they expect a player to deliver across a season. With Buxton it’s impossible to have realistic expectations of production because he’s constantly injured. 

 

[Outlander]

I don't think there is a need to trade an outfielder. Nobody in the minors really pushing for one of the outfield spots. Frelick is a really good fourth outfielder that can plug into a starting role when guys get injured.

Jett Williams is the next guy up and he is probably just as likely to get traded. If there is a season in 2027 and Adamczewski plays well they can always find room for him just like Lara. Things tend to work themselves out.

[Brewcrew82]

12 hours ago, cragi said:

dont want to stress anyone out but the brewers will have a tough decision this offseason on outfielders.

Chourio is probably face of the franchise for a long time. 
Lara, Mitchell, and Frelick are highly regarded, but probably shouldnt keep 4 solid OF and the bench player will probably lose value.

More importantly, Adamczewski moves up to AAA and Payne isn't too far behind him. If either gets hot in AAA, nowhere to put him.

Brewers are going to want more pitching. This is what made Adamczewski, Frias, and Ragsdale painful to put on the block but expendable. 

Sell at fair price for Mitchell?
Sell low on Frelick?
Does Adamczewski's glove play?

Think there's definitely a case to be made for selling high on Mitchell in the offseason.

He's entering his second season of arbitration and is going to be due for a decent pay increase. Do you really believe he's suddenly figured out how to stay healthy, especially as he gets older (he's already 28)? Plus Chourio and Lara both have the ability to play CF quite well.....

At the same time provided he gets offseason surgery to fix his shoulder, I would probably hold onto Sal Frelick and bet on a bounce-back season after which you can hopefully sell on the higher end as Payne and Adamczewski start to factor in at the big league level. 

 

[TURBO]

6 hours ago, wallus said:

He's 32, not mid thirties. Every single big market playoff contender would give up a legit prospect for him. 

I hope we are not one of those teams.  I'd guess not since we are not big market.  Teams like the Brewers can't afford to take that risk.  The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and others, sure, but teams like us just wouldn't be in on him imo.

[Brewcrew82]

On 9/9/2026 at 4:36 PM, long ball said:

I’ve thought about it quite a bit recently and I don’t think the Brewers will offer Bauers the QO. He’s been massively important this year and it will sting to lose him, but I’m operating under the assumption he will sign elsewhere. 

 

 

Disagree. I think things are very much trending in favor of the Brewers tendering Bauers the QO.

He's likely to end up as the best bat by wRC+ on a FA market which is otherwise going to be particularly devoid of elite hitting. I think he easily beats out Ryan O'Hearn's deal. At which point the Brewers would be pretty foolish not to give him the QO and obtain draft pick compensation.

[wntrtxn21]

10 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Disagree. I think things are very much trending in favor of the Brewers tendering Bauers the QO.

He's likely to end up as the best bat by wRC+ on a FA market which is otherwise going to be particularly devoid of elite hitting. I think he easily beats out Ryan O'Hearn's deal. At which point the Brewers would be pretty foolish not to give him the QO and obtain draft pick compensation.

I don't see any way the Brewers offer Bauers a QO. He's been pretty much a journeyman 1B before this year with a career .223 BA/717 OPS. The most he's ever made was this year at $2.7M. This has been a career year for him, but he'll be 31 next year.  I could see something like 3 for $24M - $27M.