3 Freddy Peralta trade packages Brewers fans can dream of after Edward Cabrera news

The price for starting pitching on the trade market has been set, and it's significant. Prior to the holidays, the Baltimore Orioles gave up a massive haul of talented prospects and a draft pick for the Tampa Bay Rays' controllable starter Shane Baz. Despite having three years of team control remaining, Baz is no sure thing, with injuries and inconsistency plaguing his four seasons in the major leagues.

Then, on Wednesday of this week, the Chicago Cubs sent their top prospect (and MLB Pipeline's No. 47-ranked prospect in all of baseball) Owen Caissie and two other talented prospects to the Miami Marlins in exchange for the electric right arm of Edward Cabrera. Though Cabrera certainly has the tools to become a frontline starter if he can put it all together in the coming years, plenty of question marks exist in his profile, but the same can be said for Caissie, who made his MLB debut in 2025 and is likely to be on the Marlins' Opening Day roster this coming year.

The two trades give Matt Arnold and the Milwaukee Brewers' front office two reference points should they elect to trade their ace, Freddy Peralta, before the end of the offseason. Though Peralta would be far more impactful to an acquiring team in 2026 than either Baz or Cabrera, it's important to keep in mind that the Brewers would be trading just one year of his services as opposed to the three years of control that the Rays and Marlins traded away. However, as the 2026 season draws nearer and teams grow more and more desperate, the trade price for Peralta will only continue to rise. In the end, it's fair to assume that the trade return the Brewers' ace commands will resemble the ones that Baz and Cabrera netted.

Putting specific trade packages together is a tricky task because the front office's internal evaluation models, especially when it comes to prospects, often differ from the ones that popular rankings sites produce. Even still, it's fun to imagine other teams’ top prospects or talented controllable assets joining the Brewers' organization, though the sting of losing Peralta is likely to offset that joy significantly.

Trading Peralta should not be taken lightly; he's been a huge part of the Brewers' recent run of success and an important part of the organization as a whole. But Brewers fans can't ignore the reality that the front office's forward-thinking strategy has led to seven postseason appearances in the last eight years. Should Milwaukee elect to continue that strategy, here are three trade packages that could at least lessen the pain of losing Peralta this winter. The prospect rankings in each package are courtesy of MLB Pipeline.

1. Brewers trade RHP Freddy Peralta to New York Yankees for RHP Carlos Lagrange (NYY No. 2/MLB No. 74), SS Dax Kilby (NYY No. 7), and OF Brendan Jones (NYY No. 15)

Carlos Lagrange is a 6'7" right-handed starter whose fastball sits in the upper 90s and can touch 102 mph. Sound like someone you know? After signing with the New York Yankees as an international free agent in 2022, Lagrange has steadily made his way through the organization's farm system, finishing the 2025 season in Double-A. Understandably, given his high velocity, there's been some inconsistency in his performance through the minor leagues, but the upside is undeniable. He pairs his 70-grade fastball with a plus sweeper and a decent cutter-changeup combo. Unsurprisingly, his electric arsenal has produced eye-popping strikeout numbers, including 168 punchouts in 120.1 IP last season. Much like Jacob Misiorowski, if Lagrange can rein in his command, which he did a better job of in 2025, it's exciting to think about the flamethrowing duo that the two could form in Milwaukee's rotation for years to come.

The Yankees didn't make a selection in the first 20 picks of the 2025 MLB Draft, a result of the team's bloated payroll (the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets also forfeited their picks for the same reason), but their first selection this past summer was prep shortstop Dax Kilby, whom they selected with the 39th overall pick. Despite being just 19 years old, Kilby already has a very mature approach at the plate, which he showcased in the 18 games of Low-A ball he played during the second half of the summer; Kilby recorded an impressive .457 OBP in that small sample of games. Yes, the Brewers have plenty of middle infielders in their minor league system, but Kilby is the type of talent you don't turn down if the Yankees offer him in a hypothetical deal.

Brendan Jones is quite possibly the most Brewersy non-Brewers prospect in baseball. Not only was he a late-round pick who worked his way up to the 15th-ranked prospect in the Yankees' farm system, but he rarely chases at the plate, he's incredibly fast, and he's a plus defender with the ability to play all three outfield spots. He certainly lacks in the power department, but he's the type of "high-floor" prospect the Brewers have often targeted in trades in recent years. He advanced to Double-A during the 2025 season and is expected to make his MLB Debut in 2027.

The obvious downside of this deal is the lack of MLB-ready talent, something that the Brewers have prioritized in recent trades. However, the talent that Milwaukee would be acquiring has ridiculous upside, and with the Brewers having a swath of big-league caliber arms ready to step into the rotation in 2026 following Peralta's departure, prioritizing talent over MLB readiness might be the way to go in a deal with the Yankees.

2. Brewers trade RHP Freddy Peralta to Atlanta Braves for LHP Cam Caminiti (ATL No. 1/MLB No. 72), OF Connor Essenburg (ATL No. 9), RHP Drew Hackenberg (ATL No. 10)

This trade package comes from our friends over at HouseThatHankBuilt.com, which is FanSided's Atlanta Braves-focused site. The article, free to read and linked below for your convenience, acknowledges that with Atlanta's thin farm system it's almost a guarantee that top prospect Cam Caminiti will be included in any hypothetical trade package, and even then, the Braves might have a hard time competing with other, more prospect-rich organizations.

This Braves trade package could be enough to land Freddy Peralta

As noted, the Braves' top prospect, Caminiti, is the clear headliner of this hypothetical trade for Peralta. Caminiti, who is just 19 years old, was taken 24th overall by the Braves in the 2024 MLB Draft, and up to this point, that decision has looked like an excellent one. Pitching most of the 2025 campaign in Low-A, Caminiti posted a 2.08 ERA in 13 starts, while striking out 75 batters in just 56.1 IP. A fastball that can reach the upper 90s, a rarity for a left-handed starter, was the main reason for the impressive strikeout numbers, but Caminiti pairs it with solid secondary offerings, including an improved changeup that should help his success against right-handed batters.

After Caminiti is where things get a little dicier. Atlanta doesn't have much to offer in the position player prospect category, but one intriguing name that the Brewers could target is 2025 5th-round pick Connor Essenburg. At just 19 years old, Essenburg was potentially going to be a two-way player at Kentucky, where he was committed, but the Braves convinced him to sign and develop as an outfielder. As noted by MLB Pipeline, "his aggressive swing, bat speed, and strength give him 20-homer upside." An impressive athlete with, unsurprisingly, a very strong throwing arm, Essenburg wouldn't be a bad prospect for the Brewers' to add to their farm system.

Drue Hackenberg's Double-A numbers from 2025 don't suggest that he's a prospect any MLB organization would be itching to add to their farm system; he posted a brutal 6.99 ERA in 18 starts in Double-A last year. However, Hackenberg spent some time on the injured list in 2025, and he's just one year removed from an impressive 2024 campaign that saw him rise all the way up to Triple-A. The 2023 2nd-round pick has a full arsenal of pitches, including the three fastball shapes that Milwaukee covets. Assuming he ends up being closer to the pitcher he was in 2023 and 2024, Hackenberg would be an intriguing addition to the Brewers' farm system.

3. Brewers trade RHP Freddy Peralta to San Francisco Giants for SS Josuar Gonzalez (MLB No. 82/SF No. 2) and LHP Carson Whisenhunt (SF No. 7)

What's better than having Jesús Made in your farm system? Having two Jesús Mades in your farm system. Josuar Gonzalez certainly isn't at the level of Made just yet, but he's on a comparable path and the similarities between the two are eerie. Just like Made, Gonzalez is an 18-year-old switch-hitting shortstop from San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic. He is also known for his exciting blend of speed and power, and just put together an impressive debut season in the Dominican Summer League. He's a year behind Made in terms of development, but the upside is obvious and might actually be too much for the Brewers to pry him away from San Francisco with the 2x All-Star Peralta.

Therefore, just one other prospect is included in this hypothetical trade offer, but he's certainly no "throw-in." Carson Whisenhunt debuted in 2025, meaning he offers the MLB readiness that teams often covet in blockbusters such as this one. Though his big-league numbers certainly don't jump off the page -- 5.01 ERA in 23.1 IP -- Whisenhunt, who throws from the left side, possesses a unicorn changeup that received a grade of 70 from MLB Pipeline on the 20-80 grading scale. He lives in the mid-90s with his two-seam fastball, which certainly needs some improvement in regard to its movement, but it's not difficult to see an effective big-league pitcher in Whisenhunt's profile.

San Francisco doesn't necessarily need Peralta, especially after adding both Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle this offseason, but Buster Posey has had an aggressive start to his tenure as the head of the Giants' front office, and playing in the same division as the Dodgers only puts more pressure on him and his team to make blockbuster deals like this.

Overall, the Brewers aren't going to move Peralta for nothing, especially after the deals for Baz and Cabrera revealed the price of top-tier starting pitching on the trade market. The lack of MLB-readiness in some of these deals might turn the Brewers away, but executing any of them would mean that Milwaukee is adding some serious talent to their organization in exchange for one season of Peralta. There's certainly no guarantee that Peralta gets moved this offseason, but the cost for reasonably priced, All-Star caliber starting pitching is high, and Milwaukee would be wise to at least entertain the idea of moving on from their ace.