Brewers Star Slugger Deemed 'Most Likely' Trade Candidate

The Milwaukee Brewers have won three straight games going into the team's series finale against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

Milwaukee has had an up-and-down start to the season and currently is sporting a 24-25 record. The Brewers have the talent needed to make a run at the top spot in the National League Central again, but injuries and inconsistent play have impacted the team to this point.

It's still too early to know what will happen at the upcoming Major League Baseball trade deadline as it will pass on July 31st. But, speculation already has started to pick up steam. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller made a list of the "most likely" trade candidates for each organization and for Milwaukee mentioned first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

"Another tough one here on the 'buyer or seller?' front, with the Brewers one game below .500 and not that far gone in the NL Central race," Miller said. "Sweep the four-game set in Pittsburgh this weekend and contending seems more viable, especially considering the stockpile of starting pitchers likely to return from the IL in the next month or so. Got to lean 'seller' for now, though, in which case the small-market Brewers will be highly motivated to unload Rhys Hoskins into what definitely looks like a sellers' market at first base.

"Hoskins is making $18M this season—which will be roughly $6M prorated at the deadline—with an $18M mutual option (or $4M buyout) for 2026. Thus, if they don't need to eat any money in order to move him, the Brewers could save themselves $10M. That's a pretty big deal for a team that otherwise only has Christian Yelich making at least that much money this season. As far as the market goes, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco desperately need some help at first base, where Hoskins' .854 OPS is a whole heck of a lot better than anything else likely to hit the trade block."

Hoskins has looked like a star this year. He has appeared in 46 games for the Brewers and is slashing .297/.402/483 with six home runs, 26 RBIs, and nine doubles. There were rumors this past offseason that the Brewers could look to move him, but nothing came to fruition. Now, he's bounced back and is looking like an integral piece of the offense. Will he make it through the season in Milwaukee, though?