{"id":552505,"date":"2026-02-03T16:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/552505\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:33:30","slug":"mlb-insider-grades-milwaukee-brewers-offseason-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/552505\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Insider Grades Milwaukee Brewers&#8217; Offseason Moves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s little doubt that the Milwaukee Brewers are going to be a team to watch in the National League Central Division this season.<\/p>\n<p>They put together a 97-win season in 2025 and reached the National League Championship series before getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, the Dodgers went on to beat the <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/bluejays\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Toronto Blue Jays;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> and win a second straight World Series title.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>With ace starter Freddy Peralta now with the <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/mets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New York Mets;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New York Mets<\/a>, what did the Brewers do in the offseason to help themselves improve?<\/p>\n<p>Longtime MLB Insider Jim Bowden put together an extensive list of how all 30 MLB teams did in the offseason, along with a prediction on where teams would finish in their divisions, for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6989271\/2026\/02\/02\/mlb-offseason-grades-takeaways-2026-predictions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Athletic;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bowden has spent time as an executive and general manager in the MLB ranks, so he has quite a respected voice around the majors.<\/p>\n<p>In looking at the Brewers&#8217; offseason, Bowden gave the Brewers a B+ grade. He pointed out that the ballclub signed outfielder Akil Baddoo to a one-year, $1.25 million contract. Milwaukee right-handed pitcher Brandon Woodruff accepted a one-year, $22.025 million deal after going to salary arbitration.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>As far as offseason acquisitions go, the Brewers picked up right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat and infielder\/outfielder Jett Williams from the Mets for Peralta and right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers. Also, Milwaukee got left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa from the <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/royals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kansas City Royals;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Kansas City Royals<\/a> for right-handed pitcher Nick Mears.<\/p>\n<p>After offering details like these, Bowden had a number of comments around the key takeaways from what the Brewers have accomplished to this point.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;General manager Matt Arnold won his second consecutive Executive of the Year Award but don\u2019t expect a three-peat with both Andrew Friedman of the Dodgers and David Stearns of the Mets having excellent offseasons,&#8221; Bowden wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Brewers did what they probably had to do and traded away Freddy Peralta, who can elect free agency next offseason, and got a spectacular return from the Mets: Two top-100 prospects, Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams,&#8221; Bowden continued.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sproat is a middle-of-the-rotation type bulldog who is ready for the majors and Williams should compete for an everyday job, in either the infield or outfield (or maybe he\u2019ll play a mix of both),&#8221; Bowden wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I liked the pickup of Angel Zerpa to boost the bullpen, but the Brewers paid a big price to get him,&#8221; Bowden continued. &#8220;I was surprised they extended Brandon Woodruff the qualifying offer based on his injury history, but if Milwaukee is to repeat as NL Central champions, it\u2019ll need him after trading Peralta.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now, Bowden also stated that the biggest question facing the Brewers this season is their ability to hold off fellow NL Central teams the <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/cubs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Chicago Cubs;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Chicago Cubs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/reds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cincinnati Reds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Cincinnati Reds<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/pirates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pittsburgh Pirates;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>. Can Milwaukee fend off challenges to their supreme reign in the division?<\/p>\n<p>All of this remains to be seen. But Brewers manager Pat Murphy knows that his team will need to exceed last season&#8217;s results in a big, big way.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s almost time for Spring Training, so everyone will get a chance to see how the players report and whether they are in good shape or not.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news!<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.<\/p>\n<p>Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There&#8217;s little doubt that the Milwaukee Brewers are going to be a team to watch in the National&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2401],"tags":[10912,28235,5,6303,127,136,24,50,753,12887,3804,55,57,843,59,4280,4,2424,61,4363,64,2006,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-552505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-brewers","8":"tag-akil-baddoo","9":"tag-angel-zerpa","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-brandon-sproat","12":"tag-brandon-woodruff","13":"tag-brewers","14":"tag-chicago-cubs","15":"tag-cincinnati-reds","16":"tag-freddy-peralta","17":"tag-jett-williams","18":"tag-jim-bowden","19":"tag-kansas-city-royals","20":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","21":"tag-milwaukee","22":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","23":"tag-milwaukeebrewers","24":"tag-mlb","25":"tag-national-league-championship-series","26":"tag-new-york-mets","27":"tag-nick-mears","28":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","29":"tag-tobias-myers","30":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116007666064019751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}