ORIGINAL MILWAUKEE BREWERS STORY PUBLISHED BY MATTHEW TRUEBLOOD ON BREWER FANATIC.
MILWAUKEE — One way or another, the Milwaukee Brewers will likely need to make some important trades this winter. This is how they’ve built contenders since 2018, and it’s a disproportionately powerful tool for a small-market team.
Consummating deals requires a good fit between teams in terms of needs, competitive circumstances, and excess talent. Let’s find those fits for the Brewers.
Kansas City Royals
It would make sense for the Crew to have some interest in Kansas City’s MJ Melendez or Carlos Hernandez before the trade deadline. Hernandez crashed and burned at the end of the year, and Melendez is a defensive mess who has been hampered offensively by the team’s inability to give him any runway at a given spot.
Both would be buy-low options, and Melendez is an especially intriguing one. The Brewers’ catching coaching triad could still mill him into a backstop, at which point he’d have major value given his raw power from the left side of the plate. He won’t turn 25 years old until November.
The offseason creates some openings that probably didn’t exist in the summer, too. There are already rumors that the Royals could trade Salvador Perez (and the modest amount they still owe him over the final two years of his contract) as part of diving deeper into a rebuild under their new front office.
RELATED: Trading away Corbin Burnes is an idea the Brewers should explore
They also have a couple of pitchers who could be candidates for a change of scenery — most notably, Brady Singer: the right-handed sinkerballer who was once a first-round pick, but whose four-year career has been uneven.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ bevy of young outfielders would certainly hold some appeal for Kansas City, but depending on the shape of any deal, it might make more sense for one of the team’s many solid lower-level pitching prospects to go the other way.
Boston Red Sox
These two teams completed a minor deal at the trade deadline, with Luis Urias landing unexpectedly with Boston. The fit for a winter trade would seem to be more conventional.
The Red Sox have big holes both in their middle infield and atop their rotation. Manager Alex Cora announced that Chris Sale is the team’s likely Opening Day starter for 2024, which is both telling, and given Sale’s recent health record, a hilarious act of hubris. Corbin Burnes would be a perfect fit for the Sox’s needs.
So too would be Willy Adames. Boston got nothing good out of the amalgamation of Enrique Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, Pablo Reyes, Trevor Story and others this season, and they have no immediate, exciting answer at either second or third base. Adames would bolster their defense and significantly lengthen their lineup.
Obviously, the Milwaukee Brewers shouldn’t be in the business of strictly selling on players like Adames and Burnes right now. The Red Sox could offer controllable but readymade players who would soften the blow if such a trade did occur.
In good trade talks, Kutter Crawford might shake loose from the Boston rotation. Venezuelan rookie outfielder Wilyer Abreu made a strong impression and has a Brewers-friendly overall profile. There are paths to a compelling trade there.
We’re still a few weeks away from seeing real offseason action. These three are just part of a larger subset of teams whom Matt Arnold figures to talk to several times over the winter. Who jumps out to you here? What other teams are you keeping an eye on, as you glance ahead to the Hot Stove?
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