After the 2025 season, the Milwaukee Brewers had a lot to celebrate despite being swept in the National League Championship Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Manager Pat Murphy win his second straight National League Manager of the Year Award — becoming just the second manager in the league to do so.

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But president of baseball operations Matt Arnold also won his second straight Executive of the Year Award, becoming the only executive to do so since the award was established in 2018.

Arnold’s penchant for facilitating shrewd moves to keep the Brewers in a position to win despite being a small market franchise have put him in the position to win consecutive times.

And he had to make a difficult choice that he believed was best for the organization in the long run when he made the trade to send Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers to the New York Mets on Jan. 21.

Peralta had just turned in the best season of his career after going 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA. The Brewers chose to exercise his $8 million club option early in November, but the trade rumors surrounding his name remained rampant. Eventually, those rumors were realized.

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Peralta is not the first high-level pitcher Arnold has chosen to trade away. Nearly two years before the Peralta trade, Arnold moved Corbin Burnes, the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner, to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for left-hander DL Hall, infielder Joey Ortiz, and a 2024 Competitive Balance Round A draft pick.

Ortiz has since become an infield starter for the Brewers, and Hall has become a bullpen piece. The Brewers also received exciting, high-level prospects in Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat resulting from the Peralta and Myers deal. However, it does not make these types of decisions any easier for Arnold.

“Yeah, really tough,” Arnold told Foul Territory TV. “I mean, you move guys like that mean a lot to the franchise, mean a lot to the room, you know? Don’t take that lightly at all. We’ve had to do this for a number of years here with Devin Williams and Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, et cetera.

“Like those are really hard on the franchise,” Arnold said. “And I think, you know, we have a great support group around to try to insulate ourselves with good coaches and good, you know, obviously good character guys that we have in the room.”

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For Arnold, the process is a balancing act.

“I think a lot of times when you make those kinds of moves, it’s also saying we want to bet on the people that are still here, you know?” Arnold said. “It’s not anything against the people that are leaving, but we really want to do what we can to bet on the people in the room.

“And then also bring in talent to help us win now and tomorrow, you know? And that’s always the balance that we’re trying to… We’re trying to walk that line every single day here with the Brewers.”

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