Bleacher Report's Brewers trade proposal for frontline starter crazy enough to work

With the free agent market seeing prices soar and the Milwaukee Brewers not wanting to pay even middling free agents at this point, it feels like any additions the Brewers make to their big league roster will have to come from trades. We already saw them do just that with the Devin Williams trade that brought back both Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin this offseason.

Unless Milwaukee can find a team willing to take Rhys Hoskins' money and send a big league talent in return somehow, it is unlikely the Brewers will be able to replicate the Williams framework. The vast majority of their current MLB roster are guys they definitely don't want to trade, so any trades would have to come courtesy of their minor league depth.

Recently, Bleacher Report took a look at Dylan Cease as a trade target and what teams should be offering to try and land him. One of their top teams that should be going after Cease was indeed Milwaukee and honestly, their proposed trade could actually work.

Brewers trading DL Hall and Jeferson Quero to land Dylan Cease isn't as bad as it seems

BR's Zachary Rymer put together a trade proposal that would send top catching prospect Jeferson Quero and LHP DL Hall to San Diego in exchange for Cease's final year before free agency. Yes, we know that is a hefty cost for one year of team control, but the idea actually has a lot of merit especially given that Cease is only making a modest $13.75 million in 2025.

The Brewers would be getting one of the better pitchers in baseball last year in Cease who posted a 3.47 ERA in 189.1 innings of work including a no-hitter. He misses bats at a high rate and is going to be looking to put up a strong season before he becomes a free agent. Talented and motivated are both big pluses in his column even if there is almost zero chance Milwaukee would be able to extend him beyond 2025 thanks to the presence of agent Scott Boras.

While Quero is a stellar catching prospect, he is pretty expendable for the Brewers. Assuming a world where Milwaukee is trying to extend William Contreras (and they absolutely should be), he is going to be the team's primary catcher for the foreseeable future. It is hard to see a scenario where Quero gets much playing time in the short-term and is probably more valuable as a trade asset right now especially to the Padres who need help at catcher while they wait for Ethan Salas to figure things out in the minors.

As for Hall, he is immensely talented, but he has not been able to translate that talent into results at the big league level with a career 4.74 ERA in 42 appearances and there is no guarantee he will be able to stay as a starter. There is a chance he could end up going wild with a new team, but he shouldn't be off limits in any trade talks especially if it would land the Brewers a frontline starter.

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