Brewers expected to consider trading likely Cy Young candidate

The Brewers hold an $8M club option on Freddy Peralta’s services for 2026, which represents the team’s last bit of control from what was initially a five-year, $15.5M extension signed by the right-hander back in February 2020.  With Peralta now slated for free agency during the 2026-27 offseason, it is possible he has already thrown his last pitch in a Brewers uniform, as The Athletic’s Andy McCullough writes that Milwaukee is “expected to at least field offers for” Peralta’s services.

The news comes as no surprise, since as of last June, Peralta and his agents at Klutch Sports hadn’t gotten anywhere with the Brewers on another contract extension.  Milwaukee president of baseball operations Matt Arnold didn’t even entirely rule out the possibility of the Brew Crew moving Peralta at this past trade deadline, even if Arnold stressed that such a deal was quite unlikely with the team in the midst of what ended up as a successful run at another NL Central title.

Because the Brewers obviously plan to be contenders again in 2026, there is plenty of logic in simply keeping Peralta atop their rotation.  The righty enjoyed what was in many ways his finest season, posting a 2.70 ERA over a career-best 176 2/3 innings.  Peralta’s stellar numbers included a 28.2% strikeout rate and 34.5% hard-hit ball rate, and though his walk and barrel rates were below average, that has been the norm for Peralta throughout his career.

Peralta got some good strand-rate and BABIP luck in 2025, which explains why his 3.68 SIERA was almost a full run higher than his ERA.  However, Peralta’s career 3.61 SIERA and 3.59 career ERA are virtually identical, and there is every reason to believe he can continue performing like a solid front-of-the-rotation arm for years to come.

A modest $8M price tag for such frontline pitching only adds to Peralta’s trade value.  Every team can fit Peralta into their budget at that price, so apart from the clubs that are in clear rebuilding mode, virtually every other team in baseball will have reason to check in with Arnold about Peralta’s availability.  The Crew would certainly land a substantial trade package in return for Peralta, which is why Arnold can’t help but listen to offers.  As Arnold put it back in July when describing his team’s stance on trade offers, “Obviously it’s important for us to never close the door…It’s something that we can never exclusively say no on anything.”

Since Milwaukee is also operating under its standard limited budget, Peralta and his $8M salary arguably carry more value to the Brewers than any other contender.  Peralta’s contract has proven to be a tremendous bargain for a club that has often traded away star players before free agency, as the option years in Peralta’s deal kept his salary in check.  As McCullough notes, other ex-Brewers like Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, or Devin Williams were more expensive due to rising arbitration salaries, plus a starter like Peralta making $8M is a much different scenario than a closer like Hader or Williams earning a hefty portion of a mid-sized payroll.

Brandon Woodruff and Jose Quintana each have mutual options in their contracts, but are expected to become free agents this winter.  If those starters left and Peralta was traded, Milwaukee’s 2026 rotation lines up as Quinn Priester, Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick as the likely top four starters, with Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers, Carlos Rodriguez, or Aaron Ashby also in the mix for rotation work.  It’s not a bad group, but there is a distinct lack of MLB experience, and signing a lower-cost veteran arm (i.e. Quintana) would raise the rotation’s floor but not necessarily the ceiling.

Reading about the possibility of a Peralta trade only adds to the sting of the last week for Milwaukee fans, as the Brewers were unceremoniously swept out of the NLCS by the Dodgers.  Brewers fans know the drill by now when it comes to trading star players, of course, and the club’s run of success over the last decade has been due in part to the front office’s ability to successfully reload the roster.  Looking back at Hader’s trade to the Padres in 2022, for instance, that deal brought the Brewers back Gasser, as well as Esteury Ruiz, who was later flipped as part of the three-team swap that brought William Contreras to Milwaukee.