While the Brewers have a young and talented roster, improvements can always be made. GM Matt Arnold has shown that he’s unafraid to make a move during the Winter Meetings if the right offer presents itself. Maybe Arnold will want to bring in some competition, or a platoon player, for shortstop Joey Ortiz going into next year? Maybe he’ll choose to shore up the backup catcher position until Jeferson Quero is ready? Maybe he’ll make a splash trade for a young, controllable star?

If any of that happens, who might the Brewers consider giving up in a trade?

Tyler Black: The twenty-five year old Black was a top-50 prospect in baseball less than two years ago, but injuries and underperformance have tanked his stock since then. Black is also a below-average defender (at best) at first base and significantly below-average in left field. He’s not beating out Andrew Vaughn or Jake Bauers next year, and Milwaukee now has a few corner infielders in the minors (Luke Adams, Blake Burke, Brock Wilken, even Andrew Fischer) who might be ready sometime in 2027.

Black probably isn’t in the Brewers’ plans anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s done as a prospect. He has an elite eye at the plate, which is something you can’t teach, and has hit at every level of the minor leagues. Black also didn’t look bad during his two brief stints with the Brewers last year. Former top prospects usually get second chances, and Black could be an enticing change-of-scenery candidate for a team that can afford to be patient with him.

Carlos Rodriguez: Like Black, Rodriguez was also at one point a top organizational prospect, but he may end up as the odd man out among the wealth of young pitching options the Brewers currently have. C-Rod won’t get a rotation spot ahead of Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, Quinn Priester, or Chad Patrick — and those are just the guys already in the major leagues.

While Rodriguez hasn’t impressed (6.95 ERA) in limited time in the majors, he’s been a steady contributor in the minor leagues (3.56 career ERA) since making his debut in 2022. He might be an enticing trade target as a player who’s produced (as part an organization known for developing pitchers) but doesn’t currently have a path to a rotation spot. Rodriguez is worth keeping, but the Brewers don’t really need him either.

Prospects: As the resident minor league writer here at BCB, I don’t want to see any of the Brewers’ top prospects traded. With that being said, Milwaukee does have a wealth of talent in the minor leagues right now. The Brewers’ farm system is among the best in baseball per nearly every organization/website/magazine that covers the minors. Their top three prospects (Jesus Made, Luis Peña, and Cooper Pratt) are all shortstops, and they just picked another shortstop — Brady Ebel — with their second pick in the first round. Brice Turang has second base locked up for the foreseeable future, and Milwaukee also has (as mentioned earlier) a few quality corner infield prospects. Simply put, there isn’t space for all of them.

Made is probably off limits, but Peña or Pratt are still both highly-regarded enough to net a real return. It’s possible that Milwaukee is lower on one of them than the media is (remember Yophery Rodriguez?) and would include them in a trade. Trading Wilken might make sense, but he probably has the most raw power in the farm system and isn’t worth nearly as much as Peña or Pratt anyway.

To be clear, Milwaukee would probably only consider trading Pratt/Peña if the return was someone both really good and fairly inexpensive (Byron Buxton/Joe Ryan? Mackenzie Gore? In my wildest dreams, Gunnar Henderson or Geraldo Perdomo?). Still, the Brewers have the depth to sacrifice a couple of their top ten or so prospects and still have one of the best farm systems in baseball. If (and only if) there’s a move out there that makes next year’s team significantly better, it might be worth it to move on from Pratt or Peña.

Freddy Peralta: This hurts. I don’t need to tell you how good Peralta was last year, nor how good he’s been since making his major league debut back in 2018. In a perfect world, he’d be a Brewer for life. History has shown that the Brewers, as a small-market organization, have often chosen to maximize the value of their star players a year or so before they hit free agency. Peralta is coming off a career season and could net a significant return.

Milwaukee traded Devin Williams, Corbin Burnes, and Josh Hader a year (or in Hader’s case, a year and two months) before they hit free agency. If the Brewers had simply kept each player and let them walk in free agency, they would never have acquired: Caleb Durbin, William Contreras (indirectly), Joey Ortiz, DL Hall, Robert Gasser, and breakout prospect Blake Burke.

Peralta’s making $8 million next year, but he’ll command a whole lot more than that as a free agent after the 2026 season. He’ll also be 30 by the time he hits free agency. Milwaukee has a lot of young, controllable pitching depth. Losing Peralta would hurt, but it wouldn’t tank the rotation entirely. If the Brewers get an offer they can’t refuse, they might have to pull the trigger.

Extremely unlikely, but not impossible:

Isaac Collins: I hate to even include Collins because of how well he played for a significant portion of the season. Part of the reason he didn’t play much in the playoffs was Jackson Chourio’s hamstring injury — forcing Chourio over to left field so Blake Perkins could man center. Another reason may have been that Collins hit .191 (.664 OPS) in the month of September. His numbers took a downturn after returning from paternity leave in mid-August. Collins’ defense also seemed to regress slightly over the course of the year.

I think Collins could be a starting outfielder, the ceiling that he’s shown (for weeks at a time) is tantalizing. I also don’t think he’s better than Sal Frelick or Chourio. Garrett Mitchell still exists, too. Jake Bauers isn’t Collins defensively, but he’s good enough in left field and had a solid offensive season last year. I guess Christian Yelich can play left too, although at this point in his career he’s mainly a DH. Other than those guys, the Brewers don’t have a l0t of outfield depth. Braylon Payne (No. 9) is their only highly-regarded true outfield prospect.

So, might the Brewers trade Collins? I’m going to answer that question with another question. Do the Brewers think that Collins’ rough finish to the year was a result of pitchers figuring him out? I’m inclined to say no — it makes just as much sense to me to attribute Collins’ downturn to the birth of his first child, as newborn babies don’t exactly make it easier to sleep well, eat well, and relax. That’s why this scenario is, as I put it, extremely unlikely. However, if the answer is yes, the Brewers might want to consider selling high after Collins finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.

Garrett Mitchell: This would definitely be selling low. Mitchell is a talented player who has performed when on the field. The problem is that he’s almost never on the field. If Milwaukee thinks this is as high as his value will ever be, maybe they consider moving him.

I think this scenario is extremely unlikely — if only because he’ll produce if he stays healthy. Even if Milwaukee was set on moving him, they would probably just wait until the trade deadline (or the end of the season) in hopes that his play in 2026 improves his trade value. If he gets hurt again, or underperforms, his value wouldn’t sink all that much lower. If he has a breakout season and/or stays healthy, he’d be worth a lot more. Cost-benefit analysis says that the Brewers shouldn’t trade him, but who knows?