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Freddy Peralta was a hot name at the Winter Meetings, and it looks increasingly likely that the Brewers will trade their ace prior to his final season of team control. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported that the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Giants and Astros all expressed interest in acquiring Peralta, while our own Matt Trueblood added the Braves and Padres to that list. It would be a bold all-in decision for the Brewers to keep Peralta, but if (as expected) he is to be traded, here are a few returns we might see.
- Mets receive: Freddy Peralta
- Brewers receive: RHP Brandon Sproat (MLB Pipeline #5 prospect in organization), SS Elian Pena (10), RHP Peter Kussow (27)
The Mets came out of the Winter Meetings with a lot of negative publicity, after watching the Dodgers and Orioles sign franchise mainstays Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso, respectively. Acquiring Peralta would give the Mets and former Brewers GM David Stearns an experienced No. 1 starter to lead his young rotation. In return, the Brewers receive three players, headlined by Sproat, an athletic 25-year-old pitcher who can hit 100 MPH on the gun and sits around 96. Sproat struggled to generate strikeouts at his previous rate this season, in 121 innings at Triple-A and a brief 20.2 innings in the majors. Still, he has electric stuff; the Brewers can help him regain his dominance.
Pena received the largest non-Roki Sasaki International bonus last winter, at $5 million, and is a robust hitting infielder who had a strong season in the Dominican Summer League. Kussow was the Mets’ 2025 fourth-round draft pick from Arrowhead High School in Wisconsin, where he was a standout pitcher. Overall, the Brewers would receive an MLB-ready pitcher who should contribute to the team quickly, and two very talented 18-year-olds to develop. —Telemachus Rafaelidys
- Orioles receive: SP Freddy Peralta
- Brewers receive: OF Dylan Beavers (MLB Pipeline #83 overall prospect, #2 in organization), UTIL Jeremiah Jackson
I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m quite bad at putting together mock trades. I’ve never worked in a baseball front office, nor have I ever worn a suit while attending a baseball game in person. Nonetheless, I think I’ve gotten good enough at the part where I point at good players and say “hey, they’d be awesome to get in a trade!” It’s the other part—the mental simulation of haggling; the imagining of leverage and negotiation—that I really struggle with. So if this trade seems unfair, it probably is, but that’s what makes this so much fun.
A few years ago, Baltimore’s core of next-level position player prospects seemed to be the future of the AL East, but with disappointing results from pretty much everyone except Gunnar Henderson and a rotation that included 41-year-old Charlie Morton on Opening Day, this was a wash of a year. However, the Orioles now seem to be going all-in this offseason.
They followed up trades for Taylor Ward and Andrew Kittredge with a $28-million free-agent contract for Ryan Helsley and a $155-million deal for Pete Alonso. Even after acquiring Shane Baz, the thing they’re missing is starting pitching, which has only marginally improved since the beginning of the offseason; they sent Greyson Rodriguez to the Angels to land Ward.
In exchange for Peralta, the Brewers are still in need of more pop in their lineup. Only three players (Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Chourio, and Christian Yelich) slugged above .450 last season, and although Milwaukee made their small-ball approach work, their weakness was exploited by the Dodgers in a lopsided NLCS matchup.
Dylan Beavers is Baltimore’s #2-ranked (and MLB’s #83-ranked) prospect, and had a solid showing across 35 games in the big leagues last year, posting a 125 wRC+. What’s more exciting is the 152 wRC+ he posted across 418 plate appearances with Triple-A Norfolk. While slashing .304/..420/.515 with the Tides, he also had a 16.3% walk rate against an 18.2% strikeout rate. His approach at the plate could be a major improvement over Isaac Collins in left field. Now that the Orioles have an excess of talent in the outfield with prospects like Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Ike Irish on the way, perhaps they’d be willing to part with him.
Jeremiah Jackson was Mr. Do-it-All in 2025, primarily playing outfield for the big-league club but spending most of his time in Triple A playing shortstop and third base. Like Beavers, he had good power results, posting a 117 wRC+ with a .447 slugging percentage across 183 major-league plate appearances. He also posted a 182 wRC+ with a .673 slugging percentage across 171 plate appearances in Triple A. His career walk rate is just 6%, but he cut down on strikeouts significantly while in the minors last year, so he is trending in the right direction.
This may seem like a lot to ask for one year of one pitcher, but it’s important to note that Peralta will be owed just $8 million from his club option in 2026 and has been a consistently solid starter since becoming a big-league mainstay in 2021. If Baltimore truly wants to be competitive in what may be the toughest division in MLB, this could be the deal that takes them to the next level. —Jason Wang
After seeing what the Orioles had to give up for the Rays’ Shane Baz, the package for Peralta should include an MLB-ready player, along with prospects that we can see make their debuts as soon as 2027.
With the Red Sox showing interest in improving their rotation for this season, Peralta’s $8 million salary is a nice, cheap rental, if not a player worth extending to keep the rotation strong beyond 2026. The club already added Johan Oviedo from the Pirates, as well as Sonny Gray from the Cardinals. So why not keep plucking from the NL Central and grab the Brewers’ ace? He would easily slot into a prospective playoff rotation for them, and would be an upgrade over Patrick Sandoval, who is still coming off Tommy John.
The Brewers would get a controllable asset back in Harrison, who, yes, is another left-hander when they already have five in the bullpen. If the Brewers see Ángel Zerpa, DL Hall, or even Aaron Ashby as potential starters taking the Jose Quintana role, however, a spot opens up for Harrison to slot in their place in long relief.
The real prize in this package is Kyson Witherspoon, whom the Red Sox drafted in the first round in last year’s draft. He has multiple plus pitches, including a mid-90s fastball, a sharp slider, and a cutter that is in the upper 80s and pretty consistent. He’s still working on his changeup, but he does have a pretty decent curveball that’s been given a 60 grade by MLB Pipeline. The downside is he hasn’t made a professional debut, only starting in rookie ball this season. But don’t be surprised if he becomes a top prospect in the future.
Nelly Taylor, on the other hand, fits the mold and type that the Brewers organization has looked for for a while now. He’s an aggressive, above-average runner who won Minor League defensive player of the year in his first full pro season. He’s likely going to play center field, and would be a nice depth piece in a farm system that doesn’t exactly need immediate help in the outfield. Seeing as his bat speed has continued to improve over the last few seasons, maybe Taylor would see a path to the big leagues within the next season or two. —Ryan Pollak