Brewers rumors: A new Brewers reliever is drawing trade interest at Winter Meetings

On the final day of the 2025 Winter Meetings, the free agent market that has moved the most is the relief pitcher market. Relievers are often the first players to sign during the winter, but this year they are bringing in contracts previously reserved for the league's best position players or elite starting pitchers. After former Milwaukee Brewers front office head, David Stearns, and his new team, the New York Mets, shocked the baseball world by reuniting with Devin Williams on a three-year, $51 million deal, Williams' predecessor, Edwin Díaz, set a new high for annual salary by a relief pitcher, signing a three-year, $69 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Elsewhere, players like Kyle Finnegan, Emilio Pagán, Phil Maton, Raisel Iglesias, and Gregory Soto have earned sizable paydays, with the lowest average annual salary of the group being Maton's $7.25 million salary over the next two years with the Chicago Cubs. To say the relief pitcher market is a healthy one is an understatement.

While the Brewers certainly won't be shopping for the remaining top-tier relievers who could bring in money that rivals the top salaries on Milwaukee's roster, they are still impacted by the high salaries that relief arms are bringing in this offseason. With several trade candidates in their bullpen, players who hold far lower salaries for the 2026 season than the ones being agreed to by their free agent counterparts, the Brewers could certainly capitalize on their bullpen depth and the restrictive relief pitcher prices this winter.

On Day 1 of the Winter Meetings, rumors surfaced that Milwaukee was already fielding calls for their 2025 All-Star closer, Trevor Megill, with both the Mets and New York Yankees identified as teams who were interested in his services. However, Megill apparently isn't the only reliever other teams have been calling about. According to Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic, Nick Mears is also "generating trade interest" this offseason.

According to The Athletic, Nick Mears has emerged as a trade candidate this offseason

In addition to relaying information from their sources that Mears is drawing trade interest this offseason, Rosenthal and Sammon noted that his projected 2026 arbitration salary, generated by MLB Trade Rumors, is just $1.6 million. While that number is far less than the salaries that free agent relievers have been commanding this offseason, making Mears an attractive trade candidate for the more cash-strapped teams, it also means that moving Mears wouldn't have a significant impact on the Brewers’ supposedly tight 2026 payroll.

Moving Mears would instead be a way for the Brewers to capitalize on a relief pitcher market that favors teams with talented, inexpensive arms, while also potentially adding more roster flexibility to their 2026 bullpen. As noted by Jack Stern of Brewer Fanatic several weeks ago, the Brewers are lacking in relief pitchers who possess minor league options in the 2026 season, which could prevent them from shuffling through fresh arms in their bullpen, a strategy they have come to embrace in recent years. Mears is one of those option-less relievers, making him a candidate to be moved this offseason.

Losing Mears would certainly be a blow to the Brewers' 2026 'pen; Mears not only put together one of the best first two months of any reliever in baseball in 2025, but he was constantly called upon to put out fires, entering games with players on base and escaping jams in true Houdini fashion. That said, many of Mears' impressive underlying metrics that led the Brewers to acquire him during the 2024 season regressed in 2025, leaving Matt Arnold and company wondering if now is the right time to move on from the 29-year-old right-hander.

There should be plenty of interest in Mears and his reasonable 2026 salary, meaning the Brewers can wait to be overwhelmed by a trade offer before they decide whether or not to move him. Once again, the Brewers find themselves in a favorable position this offseason where a move is not needed on Milwaukee's end, allowing them to demand an overpay in order to move one of their coveted trade candidates.