Bleacher Report’s latest Brewers trade prediction makes little sense at this point

Dating back to the middle of the 2025 season, the narrative surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers' offense is that they need more power. Despite holding the best record in baseball during the 2025 regular season, the Brewers ranked 22nd in MLB in home runs and 12th in slugging percentage.

The calls for Milwaukee's front office to add some pop to the lineup grew louder after the Brewers' offense went dormant in the National League Championship Series, resulting in a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here's the issue for the small-market Brewers: power is expensive on the free agent market. On top of that, there weren't many spots in the lineup that were "up for grabs" heading into the 2026 season, especially once the club confirmed that they were sticking with Joey Ortiz at shortstop for the upcoming campaign.

With a young core of position players and without the financial resources to sign an impact bat, some speculated that the Brewers would package a few of their talented prospects in a trade for a slugger, who would immediately solidify the middle of their order. Though the Brewers have since made clear that they are committed to their rising group of infield prospects, some are still predicting them to trade for a bat before Opening Day, but the name proposed by Bleacher Report makes little sense at this point in the offseason.

Bleacher Report predicts a Mark Vientos to the Brewers trade that would stray from the front office's recent comments

When the Brewers traded Caleb Durbin, and subsequently replaced him with one-year rental Luis Rengifo, it was clear that the front office was banking on the organization's rising group of infield prospects who are expected to impact the big-league roster as early as the second half of the 2026 season. President of Baseball Operations Matt Arnold said as much when talking to the media following the Durbin deal.

It's not necessarily surprising from the prospect-rich Brewers, who make a living off of capitalizing on the surplus value that players offer in the first six years of their careers. Certainly, trading Durbin came as a surprise, but Milwaukee committing to their rising group of prospects is by no means uncharacteristic of the small-market Brewers.

Therefore, at this point in the offseason, the Brewers trading for a controllable infielder like Mark Vientos, as Bleacher Report recently suggested, would come as a shock. Sure, the Brewers could still use a little more pop in their lineup, and Vientos, who has a career slugging percentage of .438, could certainly offer that. However, with Vientos, whose three-year MLB track record is inconsistent to say the least, lacking a clear defensive home, and the Brewers committed to their prospects, making another trade with the New York Mets at this point in the offseason makes little sense.

Not only is Vientos a shaky defender, who profiles best as a first baseman going forward -- where the Brewers have a platoon of Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers in 2026 -- but he's also no guarantee at the plate. He strikes out a ton, doesn't walk much, and even the power that he displayed in 2024 took a big hit in 2025. There's a reason the Mets have added players like Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, and Bo Bichette to their infield group this offseason.

Overall, while trading for Vientos might have made some sense before the Brewers made it clear that they are committed to their incredibly talented group of infield prospects, acquiring him now would simply block that rising group of players, while adding a player who doesn't fit Milwaukee's mold just to force some more power in the lineup. Therefore, while the phone lines between Arnold and his former boss, David Stearns, are always open, don't expect Vientos to be a topic of their conversations at this point in the offseason.