Brewers 2024 Winter Meetings: Full Details and Matt Arnold's checklist heading in

#2 - Find a trade partner for Devin Williams

The Brewers can posture all they want that they'll look to keep Devin Williams into the season and re-evaluate at the Trade Deadline if they want to move him in his final year of team control. In all likelihood the Brewers will be competitive in 2025 making a trade of an elite closer a terrible idea in the middle of the season. They made that mistake once before and it's not a mistake the Brewers want to make twice.

Keeping Williams through to free agency is possible, but is that the best use of his value? If the Brewers are going to trade Williams, the best time is now.

There are sure to be a number of teams seeking a dominant All Star closer this offseason that have the ability to pay the Brewers what they want in return. The Phillies, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, and Rangers are teams that figure to be in the market, though there hasn't been much in hard intel about trade talks with any of these clubs. That's not atypical as the Brewers tend to operate in silence in trade talks.

Matt Arnold could also check these first two boxes at the same time with a trade for Williams supplying the answer on the left side of the infield the Brewers need. Williams plus a prospect for Alec Bohm can be a win-win proposal for both Milwaukee and Philadelphia, for example. Whether it's Bohm or some young, controllable infielder still early in their career, the Brewers would be smart to kill two birds with one stone here.

A Williams trade is sure to make headlines at the Winter Meetings, or whenever it may happen this offseason, but the smart play for Arnold could be to move quickly. The relief pitcher market can move quickly as it usually doesn't involve high dollar figures and teams look to grab the top arms early. For the Brewers to get the best possible return on Devin Williams, they're going to want the most amount of teams possible still needing an elite closer.

Other top names on the relief market include Tanner Scott, Clay Holmes, Jeff Hoffmann, Carlos Estevez, Blake Treinen, and Jordan Romano. Once those players find new teams, that's one potential bidder for Williams that's out of the market.

The more teams that are in the market for a closer, the more likely the Brewers find someone that will give them what they want. Finding a trade partner for Williams should be a priority at these Winter Meetings.