Steve Drumwright

Image courtesy of © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Caleb Durbin knows what Jett Williams is going through right now—and we aren't talking about dealing with both being 5-foot-7. Durbin was the other guy acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade for a popular pitcher. The difference is that Durbin was more of a finished product, ready to see what he could do in the majors. Williams, currently the Brewers' No. 3 prospect and a consensus top-100 guy in baseball, played 34 games at Triple-A Syracuse last season and might make his way to Milwaukee at some point in 2026, but not before honing his craft at Nashville. Durbin, by contrast, was in the mix for an Opening Day spot with the New York Yankees before he was dealt to the Crew in the Devin Williams trade. Durbin was never a highly-rated prospect, perhaps due to being undersized and relying on his speed as a big attribute, along with a solid and unspectacular bat. When they acquired him, it was hard to see where the Brewers would play Durbin. Brice Turang was coming off a Platinum Glove season at second base, and Joey Ortiz was seen as the heir apparent at shortstop following Willy Adames's departure via free agency, perhaps sliding from third base to second base if Turang was the choice at short. After playing shortstop in college at Division III Washington University in Missouri, he played a lot of second and some short in the minors. He dabbled at third base, seeing action in 75 games in total at the hot corner. He worked at the position in spring training last year, but the Brewers chose to go with Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra as a platoon at third base on the Opening Day roster. It was off to Nashville to begin 2025 for Durbin, but offensive struggles prompted the Brewers to send Dunn down and call up Durbin for his debut in mid-April. The rest, you might say, is history. What Durbin did in 2025, while not spectacular, was part of the backbone of the Brewers' run to a third consecutive NL Central title. He adapted to become a more-than-competent third baseman, quelling worries that he didn't have the arm for the position and improving massively in his footwork and feel for the spot. He was a solid contributor offensively, including being a magnet for pitches from opposing pitchers. As a rookie with a new team at a new position, Durbin put up .256/.334/.387 slash line, with 11 homers and 53 RBIs in 136 games. He didn't utilize his speed as much as expected, but added 18 steals in 24 attempts. All of that led to Durbin finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting, one of three Brewers in the top seven and four to get votes. One thing stood out. In addition to being plunked 24 times—second-most in MLB—he was very disciplined at the plate. While he only drew 30 walks (eighth on the team), Durbin only struck out 50 times in 506 plate appearances, ranking in the 98th percentile of big-league hitters. Among Crew hitters with at least 200 plate appearances, only Andrew Vaughn had fewer punchouts (37). Heck, Jake Bauers had 59 strikeouts in 218 plate appearances (although also 32 walks). Durbin figures to be just as solid defensively in 2026, following almost a full season at third base. He had 5 Defensive Runs Saved, tying for the 10th-most at the position. However, it's on offense where Durbin could make more progress. His Statcast numbers say that his actual slash line (.256/.334/.387) was pretty close to what was expected (.253/.317/.384). While his plate discipline is a strength, Durbin needs to improve on hitting the ball hard consistently. He ranked in the bottom 4% in exit velocity (85.2 mph) and hard-hit percentage (26.9%), and the bottom 6% in bat speed (67.9 mph) and launch-angle sweet spot (29.6%). Boosting those numbers even nominally will add more doubles and a few more homers to his stat columns, while nudging his entire slash line upward. As we saw with Turang and Sal Frelick in 2025, that type of improvement from one season to another is possible. We know Durbin is capable of it, too, because he was both more selective and better at pulling the ball in the air in Triple A in 2024 than he was last year in the majors. Even a modest leap from him would give the Brewers another offensive weapon in 2026. The feistiness in Durbin won't allow him to not put up a fight, especially when others are already talking of Williams replacing him. View full article

Outfielder Jackson Chourio will get ready for his third season in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform by playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The Brewers made what had seemed a likely decision official via social media Thursday. This will be Chourio's first WBC. Rosters for all WBC teams are due February 3, which is Tuesday. Venezuela will be one of the teams to watch in this year's tournament. In 2023, Venezuela went 4-0 in pool play before being knocked off by the U.S. 9-7 in the quarterfinals. The U.S. went on to lose to Japan 3-2 in the championship game. Chourio was announced to Venezuela's roster along with Ronald Acuna Jr., Maikel Garcia, and Wilyer Abreu. The team captain is Salvador Perez. Whether Brewers catcher William Contreras will be named to the roster is unknown, especially since Perez is a catcher, too, as well as the team captain. No other Brewers are known to have made a WBC roster at this point. Sal Frelick is a strong candidate to play again for Italy. View full rumor

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images With last week's trade of right-handed starter Freddy Peralta, the message from the Milwaukee Brewers was clear: No one is safe from being traded. Peralta was dealt to the New York Mets as he entered his final season of team control. It happened to right-handed closer Devin Williams last offseason, and with right-handed starter and 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes two offseasons ago. Memorably, they also dealt closer Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline. Only shortstop Willy Adames was not moved before his final season with the Crew, in 2024. (Brandon Woodruff's injury took him out of this equation and offered the team a different dilemma about him between 2023 and 2024, instead.) Who is next in the spotlight? There are three candidates for the same treatment next winter: catcher William Contreras, right-handed closer Trevor Megill and first baseman Andrew Vaughn. All will be entering their final season of arbitration eligibility, with free agency looming after 2027. Thus, trade speculation on all three can commence. Contreras and Megill have the most value, with Vaughn probably still needing a productive full season with the Brewers to boost his stock. Let's take a look at all three, what their value is, and why they would be traded. WILLIAM CONTRERAS Contreras is the Crew's second-best player, after outfielder Jackson Chourio. When the Brewers swooped in to acquire Contreras from Atlanta in a three-team trade that included the Oakland A's, Contreras was an offense-first catcher who wasn't that good defensively. My, how times have changed. Thanks to the Brewers' ability to develop catchers, mainly under the tutelage of Charlie Greene, Contreras is still a good hitter but is now a pretty decent defender, too. That's made him one of the top overall catchers in the majors, a position that traditionally lacks consistent offensive production. In his three seasons in Milwaukee, Contreras has been a middle-of-the-order bat. While there has felt like there was more power available, Contreras has hit 17, 23 and 17 homers in the three seasons since the trade. He hit 20 homers in 97 games in his final season in Atlanta, when he mainly was the designated hitter, but he was also much of an all-or-nothing slugger back then. Contreras has become a more disciplined hitter, increasing his walk rate from 10.3% to 11.5% to 12.7% with the Crew, while his strikeout rate dropped from 20.5% in 2024 to 18.2% in 2025. Due to a broken middle finger on his catching hand that affected him the entire 2025 season, Contreras's slash line was down from his first two seasons in Milwaukee. After posting slash lines of .289/.367/.457 in 2023 and .281/.365/.466 in 2024, he dropped down to .260/.355/.399 last year. That dropped his fWAR from 5.8 to 5.5 to 3.6. Contreras had a procedure following the season to address the injury, which occurred during the 2024 season, so he should be at full strength entering 2026. That will allow Contreras to author what is likely his final chapter in a Brewers uniform. At a minimum, he will see his salary rise to $8.55 million, the figure the Brewers submitted for an arbitration hearing and the current record for a second-year arbitration-eligible catcher. Contreras is seeking $9.9 million. Whether the two sides will settle, as they did last year, is up for debate. Even another chunky raise next offseason makes him an affordable trade target to other teams, as the Brewers churn their roster without continual long-term investments. Providing he puts up similar offensive numbers to his first two years with the Crew, the return for Contreras should rival what the Brewers got for Peralta. If the right suitor emerges, they might even top it. TREVOR MEGILL Megill is a different animal. While Contreras was a well-known prospect, Megill has been a player who was waived, signed a minor-league contract, and was dealt for a player to be named later. However, he has found a home with the Crew. Following a 5.62 FIP and 8.37 ERA in 28 games with the Chicago Cubs in 2021 and a 3.29 FIP and 4.80 ERA in 39 appearances with the Minnesota Twins in 2022, the Brewers acquired him on Apr. 30, 2023. After a good first season in which he had a 2.13 FIP and 3.63 ERA in 2023, Megill grew into a late-inning role and took over as closer when Williams got hurt. He converted 21 of 24 save opportunities in 2024 and was the easy choice as closer entering 2025, when he had 30 saves in 36 tries. He increased his ERA+ from 119 in 2023 to 153 in 2024 and 168 last year. Megill's value has been built on his consistency as a back-end reliever. He did have an elbow injury late in the 2025 season that cost him a month, but he was back for the postseason—although right-hander Abner Uribe handled the closing duties. The Brewers are unlikely to move on from Megill, who will make $4.7 million in 2026, while in contention during the season, but with Uribe primed to be the next closer, the writing is on the wall. Megill doesn't have the credentials that Williams and Hader established during their Milwaukee careers, but his steadiness and the sturdy demand for a reliable right-handed reliever will bring back at least one good prospect, should he be traded. ANDREW VAUGHN We all saw what a change of scenery did for Vaughn. His July was electric. Following a June trade with the Chicago White Sox for right-hander Aaron Civale and a couple weeks at Triple-A Nashville, Vaughn hit the ground running with a homer in his first plate appearance and put up a .365/.426/.731 slash line in 16 July games, with five homers and 21 RBIs. Conversely, Vaughn logged a .189/.218/.314 slash line with five homers and 19 RBIs in 48 games with the White Sox before the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft was sent to Triple-A Charlotte. He cooled off a bit, but still finished the regular season with a .308/.375/.493 slash line for the Crew, with nine homers and 46 RBIs in 64 games and a 99 wRC+. Vaughn has a career slash line of .253/.310/.414, with his best season before 2025 being 2022, when he had a slash line of .271/.321/.429 with 17 homers and 76 RBIs. Another season like that would restore Vaughn's luster, but it would also likely price Vaughn out of any sort of future with the Brewers. He's making $7.65 million and would probably bump up to around $11 million in 2027. Only outfielder Christian Yelich ($24 million and change) and right-handed starter Brandon Woodruff ($22.025 million) make more than $10 million on this year's roster. The question will be whether Vaughn can replicate the final three months of 2025, or whether there will be regression. Any prolonged slump could see Vaughn off the Crew's roster in one form or the other. But a successful season will make him a commodity that the Brewers can cash in next offseason—unless, by then, they've locked him up on an under-market medium-term deal. If Vaughn does come back to Earth (even to the aforementioned 2022 level) in 2026, he'll be a non-tender candidate next winter. To avoid that risk and secure generational wealth now, might he consider a three- or four-year deal that offers the Brewers a club option or two and some cost certainty? We'll see. The team isn't averse to extensions, but they need leverage to get the terms that make such deals make sense for them. With Contreras and Megill, that leverage is lacking. With Vaughn, it's there. All three of these players are trade candidates next winter, unless and until something major happens to change that. 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Shortstop Jesus Made, the consensus No. 3 prospect in all of baseball, was one of nine players in the Milwaukee Brewers' system invited to spring training Tuesday. Spring training invites allow players not on the 40-man roster but under contract with the team to report when big-league camp opens, which for the Brewers is Feb. 12 for pitchers and catchers and Feb. 17 for position players. Pretty much anyone in the system can appear in a spring training game, but an invite allows prospects and veterans searching for a major-league job to get in extra work with the players on the 40-man roster. For prospects, it gives them a taste of what big-league spring training is like before ultimately joining the team's minor-league camp to get ready for the regular season. The other prospects joining Made, an 18-year-old who played at three levels in 2025, including Double-A Biloxi, are infielder-outfielder Jett Williams, shortstop Cooper Pratt, center fielder Luis Lara, third baseman Brock Wilken, corner infielder Luke Adams, left-handed starter Tate Kuehner, and catchers Ramon Rodriguez and Matt Wood. It is possible that more prospects are added at some point. Williams was one of two players recently acquired from the New York Mets in the trade for right-handed starters Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. The other one was right-handed starter Brandon Sproat, who is already on the 40-man roster. View full rumor

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. View full article

Jesus Made, the Milwaukee Brewers' 19-year-old shortstop who has rocketed up prospect rankings, was named the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline on Friday. Made, who played at three levels in 2025, including a brief stint at Double-A Biloxi, was slotted behind two other shortstops in No. 1 Konnor Griffin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and No. 2 Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers. In fact, the top five players and eight of the first 10 were all shortstops. The Brewers were one of eight teams to have at least five prospects in the Top 100. The others were shortstop Luis Pena at No. 26, infielder-outfielder Jett Williams at No. 51, shortstop Cooper Pratt at No. 64, and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat sneaking in at No. 100. Williams and Sproat were the players the Crew acquired from the New York Mets in exchange for right-handed starters Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. Made moved up one spot from where he ended the 2025 season on the MLB Pipeline list. Catcher Jeferson Quero was on the list last year at No. 84, but didn't make the Top 100 this time around. View full rumor

For Milwaukee Brewers fans planning on giving Freddy Peralta one last hurrah at American Family Field, circle the dates July 20-22 on your calendar. Those three days are the first time the Brewers will face the New York Mets in the 2026 season, and it happens at home. Peralta was traded Wednesday by the Brewers to the Mets along with right-handed starter Tobias Myers for two prospects, infielder-outfielder Jett Williams and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat. Peralta is very likely to pitch in that series and could get some help from the Mets. The July 20-22 series is the second one following the All-Star break. The Mets face the Philadelphia Phillies coming out of the break, with a game on July 16, a day off, then July 18-19 at Citizens Bank Park. When Peralta pitches would depend on whether he makes the All-Star Game. Peralta is a two-time All-Star, including in 2025. Let's say that Peralta makes the All-Star Game with the Mets. That would push his first start to at least Saturday, July 18, after the break. Considering teams have the chance to reset their rotations at the break, Peralta is likely to be consulted as to whether he wants to pitch in the series vs. the Brewers, which is a Monday-Wednesday affair. The Mets would need to choose not to pitch Peralta against the two-time defending NL East champion Phillies in order to save him for a sentimental start against the Brewers. That would likely mean Peralta would start the Monday, July 20 game. Now, if Peralta doesn't make the All-Star Game but is still pitching well, he could start the Mets' first game out of the break on Thursday, July 16. That would set Peralta up to start the finale of the three-game series at American Family Field on Wednesday, July 22, an afternoon getaway game. However it plays out, the Brewers are likely to have an emotional tribute video ready for Peralta for the opening game of the series as he makes his return to Milwaukee for the first time since the trade. The Brewers don't play in New York until a midweek series Aug. 25-27. Coincidentally, the Brewers did not have a Peralta-themed promotional item (bobblehead, etc.) scheduled for the upcoming season. View full rumor

Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The unthinkable (yet inevitable) happened. The Milwaukee Brewers traded away ace right-hander Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets for two prospects on Wednesday night. The Brewers acquired infielder-outfielder Jett Williams, the Mets' No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and right-hander Brandon Sproat, their No. 5 prospect, while also shipping right-hander Tobias Myers to New York. Losing the 29-year-old Peralta, who developed from a minor-league wild card when acquired in a December 2015 trade from the Seattle Mariners for first baseman Adam Lind, certainly puts a dent in the Crew's rotation. Last year, Peralta finished fifth in NL Cy Young Award voting after an NL-best 17 wins, a 3.64 FIP, 2.70 ERA, and more than 200 strikeouts for the third consecutive year. Opponents hit just .193 against him in 2025, as he put up 5.5 bWAR. Still, with Peralta due a very affordable $8 million in his last season of club control in 2026 and being likely to earn three times that amount in average annual value in his next contract, he became a hot trade commodity, with the Brewers unlikely to re-sign him. It was the second time in three offseasons that the Brewers traded away their ace. In early 2024, they swapped former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles for left-hander DL Hall and shortstop Joey Ortiz. Where does that leave the Brewers' starting rotation? They're still in pretty good shape, regardless of where Sproat is slotted. The Brewers finished with the third-best starting rotation ERA in MLB at 3.56, and figure to roll out a top five of Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester, Jacob Misiorowski and two of Sproat, Logan Henderson, Chad Patrick, Robert Gasser or Hall. All but Gasser and Hall are right-handers. Myers would also have been in the last group battling for the No. 5 role or a spot in the bullpen. Woodruff, who turns 33 on Feb. 10, stayed with the Crew after accepting the qualifying offer of $22.025 million instead of becoming a free agent. Woodruff also becomes the leading candidate for Opening Day starter, after returning in 2025 from right shoulder surgery but then missing the postseason with a right lat injury. He is expected to be fine when spring training begins next month. In 12 starts, Woodruff had a 3.17 FIP and 3.20 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 64⅔ innings. He had a 5.4% walk rate and 32.3% strikeout rate, both the best of his career. Now, Woodruff will be asked to lead the staff in what could be his final season with the Crew. The No. 2 spot in the rotation is likely to go to Priester, although Misiorowski could easily step up. The 25-year-old Priester was the feel-good story of the Brewers' rotation in 2025. Acquired just a couple weeks into the season from the Boston Red Sox while stuck at Triple-A Worcester, all Priester did was finish second to Peralta in wins with his 13-3 record, which included going unbeaten in 19 straight appearances, all but three being starts. Priester had a 4.01 FIP and 3.32 ERA in 29 games (24 starts). Priester is not a big strikeout pitcher, which is reflected in his 20.2% strikeout rate against a 7.7% walk rate. It wouldn't be surprising to see Priester take the next step, as he enters camp locked into the Brewers' rotation and on the Opening Day roster for the first time. Misiorowski, meanwhile, has something to prove after being shifted to the bullpen late in the season and for the postseason following a spectacular start to his MLB career. His triple-digit four-seam fastball is what makes all the highlights, but his growth into an ace hinges on improving his control and how he uses his slider and curveball. Misiorowski had a 3.62 FIP and 4.36 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) in the regular season. At 6-foot-7, with a gangly frame, he had a whopping 11.4% walk rate, which is only slightly offset by his 31.9% strikeout rate. He did allow just a .213 opponent batting average. Misiorowski will turn 24 just after Opening Day. If he can mitigate his wildness, his combination of blazing fastball and knee-buckling breaking balls would be deadly. Those three are locks in the rotation. The rest of these names are in much more fluid positions. Let's start with the 25-year-old Sproat, a second-round draft choice by the Mets in 2023 as a senior out of Florida. He's the player who will initially draw a lot of attention, as a direct replacement for Peralta. While ranked as the Mets' No. 5 prospect, he was not in MLB Pipeline's Top 100. Sproat did rank 81st in Baseball America's just-released Top 100; Williams checked in at No. 71. A 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander, Sproat made four late-season starts for the Mets in 2025. He pitched six innings in each of his first two starts, while his last two were more rocky. He allowed four runs in each, one going four innings and the other 4⅔. He struck out 17 in 20⅔ innings, including seven in his debut, while walking seven. While Sproat has a good four-seamer at 96.7 mph, he only used that 13.8% of the time. A 95.7-mph sinker was his most-used pitch in his four big-league starts, at 34.1%, indicating he is more of a groundball pitcher, which suits the Brewers' defense. He had a 66.7% grounder rate on balls in play off his sinker. In addition to his four-seamer and sinker, Sproat also mixed in his 84.2-mph sweeper (16.2%), 90.2-mph changeup (14.8%) and 79.9-mph curveball (14.8%). He sprinkles in an 87.9-mph slider 6.2% of the time. Sproat, who made 25 starts at Triple-A Syracuse in 2025, will obviously get a long look in spring training and be given every chance to earn a rotation spot. If not, a trip to Triple-A Nashville wouldn't be out of the question, but he would likely be the first starter summoned when an injury arises. Sproat doesn't profile as a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, but a solid mid-rotation performer. A month shy of turning 24, Henderson is perhaps a forgotten part of the Crew's rotation plan. Henderson made just five big-league starts, before missing almost the entire final two months of the regular season with right elbow inflammation. While something to monitor in spring training, it shouldn't be a concern. Henderson made his debut in late April with a nine-strikeout performance over six innings. After going back to Nashville for about three weeks, he made three more starts, going five innings each time, and allowed a total of three runs. He made one more start in early August, before being sidelined. He had a 3.02 FIP and 1.75 ERA in those five starts, with an 8.1% walk rate and 33.3% strikeout rate. Combine that with a 3.59 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) at Nashville, and he has proven himself worthy of a rotation berth. Patrick proved to be a valuable piece of the Crew's pitching puzzle in 2025. He made 23 starts and four relief appearances during the regular season, posting a 3.53 FIP and an identical ERA, with an 8% walk rate and 25.2% strikeout rate. While the 27-year-old profiles as a starter, Patrick found a different gear in a late-season and postseason relief role. That makes opening the season in the bullpen even more enticing, while knowing that he could convert back to a starter if needed. Patrick allowed three hits and one walk while striking out 11 in nine relief innings in the postseason. Gasser returned to the majors in late September for two abbreviated starts, then made two postseason relief appearances. He made the Brewers' Opening Day roster in 2024 and had five starts before blowing out his left elbow. He is the last piece of the Josh Hader trade still with the Crew, and was the most anticipated player acquired, but has yet to truly showcase himself because of the injury. Gasser will be at full strength come spring training, and a front-runner for the rotation as the lone left-hander among these candidates. Finally, Hall, who hasn't been able to stay on the field long enough the past two seasons to make an impact, deserves at least momentary consideration. He has appeared in 33 games since coming over from the Orioles, 23 of them in relief. Hall began 2025 with a lat strain, came back around Memorial Day, pitched in 20 games, then went down with a strained right oblique in mid-August that ended his season. He put up a 3.73 FIP and 3.49 ERA in 2025, but had an 11% walk rate and just a 17.4% strikeout rate. It might be better to keep him in a relief role until he can prove he can remain healthy. Although they're dark horses, I will mention two other rotation candidates, in left-handers Aaron Ashby and Ángel Zerpa. Ashby has carved out a nice relief role and been a little uneven when given a chance to start, so it is difficult to see the Brewers forcing him out of his comfort zone, but letting him try to stretch out in the spring wouldn't hurt anything. Zerpa was acquired this offseason from the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Isaac Collins and right-handed reliever Nick Mears. He's likely to stay in the bullpen, where he found success in Kansas City, but the team did mention trying him as a starter just after the trade. Of course, the Brewers could always sign a veteran on a short deal for more competition, like they did with left-hander Jose Quintana last year. For now, though, they have a clear top three and a high-variance but high-upside battery of options to round out the back of the rotation. Even without Peralta, they should be a good pitching staff in 2026. View full article

It seems like a Freddy Peralta trade is going to happen; it is getting much closer. According to a report by Michael Marino, who calls himself a national MLB reporter but appears unaffiliated with any outlet, the Milwaukee Brewers wanted young New York Mets right-handed starter Jonah Tong in the return package for Peralta, who is entering 2026 in his final year of team control and is making $8 million before hitting free agency. But the Mets rejected including Tong, the No. 4 prospect in the Mets' system and No. 46 in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. As a counterproposal, the Brewers asked for infielder-outfielder Jett Williams, the Mets' No. 3 prospect and No. 30 in baseball, and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat, the Mets' No. 5 prospect but not a top-100 player. The report said the Mets are not willing to pay that steep a price for one year of Peralta. Tong made five starts for the Mets while making his MLB debut in 2025, posting a 4.31 FIP and 7.71 ERA, with 22 strikeouts in 18⅔ innings. Sproat also made his MLB debut in 2025, putting up a 2.80 FIP and 4.79 ERA in four starts, striking out 17 in 20⅔ innings. Williams, who can play middle infield as well as center field, put up a .261/.363/.465 slash line between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025 with 17 homers, 52 RBIs, and 36 stolen bases in 130 games. Williams also struck out 131 times. View full rumor

Ryan Braun, the 2011 NL MVP with the Milwaukee Brewers, who had two incidents regarding performance-enhancing drugs, failed to receive 5% of the vote for the Hall of Fame on Tuesday and will no longer appear on the main ballot. Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones were elected to the Hall of Fame. After playing his entire career with the Brewers, from 2007-20, the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year was in his first year on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot. It was a long shot for him to be elected in his inaugural appearance on the ballot, so the real question is whether Braun would hit the threshold to improve his position in future years. But Braun received only 15 votes from the 425 writers who turned in ballots, or 3.5%. In fact, 11 of the 12 players who were appearing for the first time did not get 5% and are off the BBWAA ballot (Cole Hamels got 23.8%). Players not elected by the BBWAA will be considered by one of the committees and could be nominated for a vote. While Braun has some of the best numbers in Brewers history, he also had two well-publicized incidents involving PEDs. The first came after his MVP season of 2011, when he tested positive and faced a suspension. But he became the first player to successfully appeal on the grounds that his testing sample was handled improperly. Braun admitted to lying about never taking PEDs. Braun was involved in the Biogenesis scandal in 2013 and served a 65-game suspension. View full rumor

After the biggest week of player movement of this hot-stove season, Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta remains a hot topic. According to a social-media post by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, five big-market teams are leading the pursuit of the right-hander. Those teams are the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Atlanta. But Heyman also notes that those five are "among many, many" teams trying to acquire Peralta. This comes after Brewer Fanatic's own Matt Trueblood reported Monday the Brewers were "moving toward a deal" for Peralta, with the Yankees as the most likely fit. Peralta is a hot property as he is making a very affordable $8 million for 2026 before hitting free agency. He is coming off a 2025 in which he posted a career-best 5.5 bWAR with an NL-leading and career-high 17 wins to go along with a 3.64 FIP and 1.075 WHIP for an ERA+ of 154, the highest of his career. Of course, the Brewers could always sign Peralta to an extension. View full rumor

Get ready, Milwaukee Brewers fans. It is less than a month until the three-time defending NL Central champions are back at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Official report dates were announced, with the Crew pitchers and catchers due Feb. 12 and the first full-squad workout Feb. 17. Players in the Brewers' system who are playing in the World Baseball Classic have report dates of Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, respectively, regardless of their organization. Players often report early, especially those bouncing back from injuries or just wanting to get extra work in. The first Brewers exhibition game is March 21, when they host the Cleveland Guardians. The Brewers also host WBC participant Great Britain on March 3, while the annual prospect showcase, Spring Breakout, will feature the Brewers traveling to the Seattle Mariners in Peoria, Ariz., on March 20. The Brewers' last home game in Arizona is the next day, March 21, against the San Diego Padres, with March 22 vs. the Chicago Cubs the last game in the desert at Mesa, Ariz. The Brewers will face the Cincinnati Reds in two exhibition games in Milwaukee on March 23-24. Opening Day for the Crew is March 26 vs. the Chicago White Sox at American Family Field. View full rumor

Spring training invitations serve two purposes. For the team, the players invited to big-league camp serve mainly as extras for drills, or to make sure certain positions (like catcher) have bodies to handle all the pitchers. But for the players—the prospects who have a hope of one day reaching the majors—a spring training invite is a chance to open the eyes of the coaching staff and front office, possibly even with another team. The Milwaukee Brewers sent out another round of invites that popped up on the transactions page recently. Those went to six players, two of whom were in the Brewers' system last season. Those two are catcher Darrien Miller and infielder-outfielder Eduardo Garcia. Miller was a ninth-round draft choice by the Brewers in 2019 out of a California high school, and has slowly made his way up the system. The soon-to-be 25-year-old played the last two years at Double-A Biloxi, with slash lines of .212/.392/.291 and .192/.381/.329, respectively, in a combined 174 games. Garcia was an international signing in 2018, only playing his first season in the U.S. in 2021. The 23-year-old split 2025 at High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi, after getting a brief taste of Biloxi in 2024 (10 games). A versatile defender and athlete, he played 58 games at shortstop and 54 in center field between the two stops, while also getting time at third base, second base, and left field. After a slash line of .252/.341/.435 with 13 homers and 47 RBIs in 96 games at Wisconsin, Garcia had a .212/.297/.265 showing with no homers and nine RBIs in 33 games at Biloxi. He also made 22 starts at short this winter in Venezuela for the Cardenales de Lara, who posted the best regular-season record in the league. He had a .324/.395/.581 slash line with six homers and 19 RBIs in 34 games. As for the organization newcomers, right-handers Gerson Gerabito and Drew Rom had previously signed minor-league contracts. You can find more about their path to the Crew here. Shortstop Eddys Leonard signed a minor-league deal in November and just formally got his invite. Leonard, who turned 25 in November, was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent in 2017 and was still a top prospect in 2022, with MLB Pipeline ranking him eighth in the system. But the Dodgers cut him loose in 2023, trading him to the Detroit Tigers after designating him for assignment. After the 2024 season, Leonard was DFA'd by the Tigers, but returned on a minor-league deal. Late in spring training, the Tigers released him. Atlanta scooped up Leonard a few days later, and he put up a .239/.304/.435 slash line with 20 homers and 61 RBIs in 126 games at Triple-A Gwinnett. Last, but not least, is outfielder Greg Jones, the only one of this group to have played in an MLB game. Originally a first-round draft pick (22nd overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays out of North Carolina-Wilimington in 2019, Jones has appeared in nine MLB games over the last two seasons: six with the Colorado Rockies in 2024 and three with the Chicago White Sox in 2025. Jones has a career minor-league slash line of .262/.346/.434 with 51 homers and 194 RBIs in 380 games across six seasons, but his calling card is his speed and defense. He has 172 steals in 197 attempts, with a career-high 46 swipes in 2024. He signed about a month ago, but the Brewers' transaction log called Saturday's move a signing as well. Both moves are on Jones's MLB.com player page. There will be more spring invites handed out, especially to some of the Crew's top prospects, as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting in less than a month. Image courtesy of © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images View full article