Even as the Milwaukee Brewers have downplayed potentially trading ace Freddy Peralta, there’s reportedly growing interest among several contenders across the league.
The 29-year-old ace has pitched to a 3.30 ERA over his past five seasons, including a career-best 2.70 ERA in 2025, garnering enough votes to finish fifth in the NL Cy Young race, the first time he’s ever received even one vote. Across his eight-year career, Peralta has made 211 appearances (162 starts) with a 3.59 ERA, 3.66 FIP, and 1,153 strikeouts across 931 innings.
Entering the final season of his contract extension, Peralta will make just $8 million this year, a hefty bargain for a top-of-the-rotation arm like himself. Additionally, Peralta would likely net any team an additional first-round pick as he’ll almost certainly be offered (and decline) a qualifying offer next offseason.
The Brewers have a recent history of trading players before the end of their contracts, including a midseason trade of Josh Hader in 2022 and offseason trades of Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams in each of the last two winters. However, they did hold on to franchise cornerstone Willy Adames through the end of his contract in 2024, as he then signed with the Giants last December.
In terms of roster fit, Peralta would obviously slot into the top of any team’s rotation, and there’s no such thing as too many pitchers. Just ask the Brewers, who currently have 13 realistic options for the rotation. You could also ask the Braves, who seemingly lost every single pitcher to injury in what turned out to be a dismal 2025 that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Rosenthal added that he expects the Brewers to trade Peralta, and he expects a return to exceed what they got for Burnes in 2024. For a refresher, that deal netted the Brewers pitcher DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz, who slotted in as their No. 5 prospect entering that season (Hall had already graduated from rookie status prior to the trade, though he ranked as Baltimore’s No. 7 prospect — just ahead of Ortiz at No. 8 — in 2023).
With that in mind, I’d expect Milwaukee’s asking price to be very high, especially if they’re leaning toward keeping Peralta. If the price is right, it should be something in the neighborhood of a back-end top 100 prospect paired with an established major leaguer (albeit with more contract runway). There could also be draft compensation involved, as any draft pick associated with a Peralta QO would go to his new team.
Have your thoughts changed on a Peralta trade? Weigh in in the comments!
