The Milwaukee Brewers have had an interesting offseason. Most of their work has been done via trades. The two most recent trades sent Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets and Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. Without Durbin, they need somebody to fill the void at third base.
In the Peralta trade, they brought back infielder Jett Williams and pitcher Brandon Sproat, two of the Mets’ top prospects. Fans are understandably a little confused by the Durbin trade, wondering who will take the third base job.
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Fortunately, former Brewers pitcher Corey Knebel has an idea, and he expressed excitement over Williams and what he could potentially do.
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Could Williams be solution at third base?
Feb 23, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; New York Mets second baseman Jett Williams (90) catches a ground ball and retires Washington Nationals second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. (not pictured) during the third inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
“Looking at Jett’s perspective here, he sees this as an opportunity to go out and prove himself,” Knebel said. “Maybe Matt Arnold is seeing something there and [Pat] Murphy has seen it too. They’re not going to just sit there, ‘poor me’, right? It’s ‘let’s go find a third baseman. Let’s see who we’ve got internally, see what we can do.’ If not, Matt Arnold may have something else up his sleeve.”
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Knebel clearly is excited about what Williams brings to the table and believes that he could easily take the starting third base job. Another thing Milwaukee could do is make Williams the everyday shortstop and shift Joey Ortiz over to third base.
But Knebel may know something that fans don’t. Perhaps Murphy and Arnold do see something in Williams that could translate into him claiming the starting third base job out of spring training.
The Durbin trade was not made lightly, but the Brewers wouldn’t have made that trade if they didn’t believe they had a solid internal option waiting in the wings, and this could ultimately be Williams’ opportunity to prove himself as the best option available.
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And if it doesn’t work out, the Brewers can use David Hamilton, who was acquired in the Durbin deal or potentially use some prospects to go out and acquire a third baseman.
The trade may not be popular, but if it means the Brewers believe in Williams to be the one to take the job, then it makes sense to do it. The Brewers clearly see something that they like.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/brewers/onsi as Brewers Legend Makes Bold Prediction About Prospect Acquired from Mets.