{"id":564078,"date":"2026-02-10T12:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/564078\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:45:14","slug":"brewers-trade-of-caleb-durbin-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/564078\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewers’ Trade of Caleb Durbin Raises More Questions Than It Answers – Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCaleb Durbin<\/a>\u2019s long-term future with the Brewers was likely to be a supporting role, rather than a multi-year residency as the starting third baseman. While his 105 wRC+ and 2.6 fWAR as a rookie demonstrated his high floor, Durbin was unlikely to improve upon that production. His hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and expected wOBA on contact were all in the bottom 4 percent of big-league hitters. As a short player without much power, he has already maxed out his abilities.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven that low ceiling, Durbin was likely to become replaceable sooner, rather than later. Surprisingly, the Brewers feel they can replace him now. On Monday, they dealt him to the Boston Red Sox (with Andruw Monasterio<\/a>, Anthony Seigler<\/a>, and their competitive balance round B pick in the 2026 Draft) for left-handers Kyle Harrison<\/a> and Shane Drohan<\/a> and infielder David Hamilton<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWith pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training this week, the deal leaves the roster in an odd place. The Brewers now have even more bodies in what was already a crowded rotation picture, and the three players who combined for 85% of last year\u2019s innings at third base are gone. For that matter, Vinny Capra<\/a> and Oliver Dunn<\/a> are gone, too. They combined for just over 200 innings at the position last year.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe rotation additions might seem redundant, but the Brewers don\u2019t view them that way. Acquiring even more controllable starters remained enticing to them after they traded away Freddy Peralta<\/a> last month. While Peralta\u2019s 65 ERA- last year was seventh among qualified starters, replacing his volume will be the greater challenge. He started at least 30 games in each of his last three seasons in Milwaukee, including 33 in 2025. That kind of durability has become increasingly rare in modern baseball, where frequent arm injuries limit availability and starters work fewer innings even when healthy. The Brewers will need a collection of arms to backfill Peralta\u2019s innings.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s no longer just the five-man rotation where every guy\u2019s going to give you five innings anymore,\u201d president of baseball operations Matt Arnold<\/a> said on Monday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of your entire staff.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brewers have seen firsthand how quickly injuries can chew through a depth chart. A slew of spring training ailments contributed to a pair of season-opening blowouts in New York and left Elvin Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> starting their home opener. Excluding openers, Milwaukee used 14 different starting pitchers last season and 13 the year before.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe know we\u2019re going to have injuries,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cYou guys saw what we were dealing with at the start of last year, when not everybody\u2019s 100%. That\u2019s going to happen again, and we know that. But having a number of guys here, like Harrison and Drohan, really does raise the floor for us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile there\u2019s no such thing as having too much pitching, the Brewers are testing how much pitching is the best use of a team\u2019s resources\u2014and how many starters they can realistically develop in that role at once.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMilwaukee\u2019s 40-man roster currently contains as many as 15 potential starters, although Aaron Ashby<\/a>, DL Hall<\/a>, and \u00c1ngel Zerpa could remain relievers after the additions of Harrison, Drohan, and Brandon Sproat<\/a>. With another crop of prospects (Tate Kuehner<\/a>, Brett Wichrowski<\/a>, and K.C. Hunt<\/a>) progressing to the upper minors, finding consistent starts for nearly 20 pitchers between the majors and Triple-A Nashville could get tricky.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the left side of the infield is unclear. After acquiring Jett Williams<\/a> in the Peralta deal and Hamilton (Monasterio\u2019s likely replacement) for Durbin, the Brewers have enough players to man the dirt, but only Joey Ortiz<\/a> has experience at third base. Arnold also pointed toward infield prospects like Jesus Made<\/a>, Cooper Pratt<\/a>, and Andrew Fischer<\/a>, each of whom is carving a rapid path toward the big leagues.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of these types of guys coming in our system that we feel can absolutely handle the left side of the infield and have really high upside,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cAnd so we feel like we have the ingredients now to weather the loss of somebody like Caleb Durbin.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, as things currently stand, the Brewers will have to fill third base with an infielder who does not profile well at the position. They could use their rotation depth to trade for a more proven option, such as Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes<\/a> or Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams<\/a>. Ram\u00f3n Ur\u00edas<\/a>, Enrique Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, and Jose Iglesias<\/a> are among the lower-cost free agents still available.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThey could decide against further additions, though. Paredes would supply the power the Brewers need, but he lacks the speed, defense, and versatility they usually prioritize. Those veteran free agents are not clearly better than their internal options. Furthermore, reporting from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<\/a> suggests that the Brewers\u2019 stated confidence in their current infield is genuine, not just posturing for trade talks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tArnold said the Brewers remain open to outside acquisitions, but if the current mix holds, they will use spring training to test different arrangements and determine the best one.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re not really married to any one particular permutation of the infield here,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there are a number of different ways we could sort this out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOne option is handing third base to Williams. At 5-foot-7 and with a suspect throwing arm, the 22-year-old profiles best at second base or in center field. Durbin is, notably, the same height and had the same defensive concerns as a prospect, but Matt Erickson<\/a> successfully converted him to a capable third baseman last year.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tArnold confirmed that Williams will receive reps at third this spring, along with shortstop, second base, and outfield. The Brewers are also open to trying Ortiz (who could slide back to third) and Brice Turang<\/a> (a former shortstop) at other positions, based on how Williams or other players look defensively.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe want to put him in a position to succeed, because he hasn\u2019t played third base yet,\u201d Arnold said of Williams. \u201cBut he certainly has the ingredients to do so. So we\u2019re going to give him some reps there, along with other guys as well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brewers either have another move in the hopper that will tie their infield together, or they\u2019re taking a pair of calculated gambles. There\u2019s a world in which injuries make nearly 20 starters the right number to fill innings, while some combination of Ortiz, Williams, and Pratt provides solid production at shortstop and third base. There\u2019s another in which the Brewers don\u2019t have enough innings for their myriad arms, as the left side of their infield struggles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caleb Durbin\u2019s long-term future with the Brewers was likely to be a supporting role, rather than a multi-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2401],"tags":[5,136,3615,17761,893,12887,2168,843,59,4280,4,44914],"class_list":{"0":"post-564078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-brewers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brewers","10":"tag-caleb-durbin","11":"tag-david-hamilton","12":"tag-isaac-paredes","13":"tag-jett-williams","14":"tag-kyle-harrison","15":"tag-milwaukee","16":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","17":"tag-milwaukeebrewers","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-shane-drohan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116046405535565889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564078","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=564078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}