It will certainly be a new era of Milwaukee Brewers baseball when the team takes the field for the first time in 2024. Last season, the team made a big deal about promoting “The Freshmen” docuseries on social media, a series of videos that highlighted their young rookie players like Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Brice Turang, and Sal Frelick.
Perhaps they did so knowing that 2024 would see those players as some of the lone holdovers on a roster that is going to be upended this offseason. Craig Counsell ditched the organization in favor of the Chicago Cubs and has been replaced by his own bench coach, Pat Murphy. Additionally, the team has promoted Rickie Weeks to associate manager after working for two years in player development.
In other words, they promoted two coaches that know the young players and can help them be in the best position to succeed.
But what about the group of homegrown prospects that came before them? Players like Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, and Devin Williams? Well, from the sounds of it, Milwaukee is open to trading just about any of them, and a recent report states that interest is high in Woodruff in particular.
The Milwaukee Brewers Are Looking to Trade Brandon Woodruff
As Brewers fans know, Woodruff missed most of 2023 with injuries, and a recent should ailment required surgery that will keep him out for at least the first half of the 2024 season.
However, Woodruff is also in the final year of club control and is a two-time All-Star. According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, multiple teams are interesting in trading for Woodruff and the Brewers are actively shopping him:
In other words, teams may want to trade for Woodruff and have him bring a boost to their starting rotation in the second half of the season while they make a potential playoff push. Additionally, Woodruff’s injury history will not make him very expensive when it comes to making him a qualifying offer after the 2024 season.
The challenge for Milwaukee, of course, is finding the best deal. Due to the injury, they are not going to get the kind of prospect haul they will get when/if they trade Burnes. However, a healthy Woodruff is still one of the best starters in all of baseball.
It will be interesting to see what Arnold can swing in a trade, if one even happens.
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