Brewers rumors: A new (un)surprising team has entered the Freddy Peralta sweepstakes

It feels like every week a new team gains popularity on Freddy Peralta's trade market. Earlier this offseason, the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox looked like clear landing spots for the Milwaukee Brewers' ace. Then, the New York Yankees emerged as the favorites, before a trade for Ryan Weathers quickly quieted the noise. Following their signing of infielder Bo Bichette last week, the New York Mets look like an obvious destination now that they have a surplus of infielders to trade for starting pitching. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who apparently don't have enough star power on their roster for their liking, are also reportedly interested in Peralta's services.

However, the famous Ken Rosenthal, revealed another potential Peralta suitor that should come as both a surprise and the most obvious development of all time to baseball fans. In Rosenthal's latest column for The Athletic, published early this morning, the MLB insider noted that the San Diego Padres are interested in Freddy Peralta.

Technically, the exact language that Rosenthal used was that the Padres are "among the clubs to check in with the Milwaukee Brewers on a trade for righty ace Freddy Peralta," which doesn't necessarily indicate that San Diego is seriously interested in the Brewers' right-hander, but rather that AJ Preller and his team are doing their due diligence.

Regardless, this report wouldn't have found its way into Rosenthal's popular offseason articles over at The Athletic had there not been at least some genuine interest coming from San Diego's end, which is surprising and very unsurprising all at the same time.

Despite a lack of viable trade assets, the ever-active Padres' front office is interested in Freddy Peralta

Let's start with why this update is unsurprising. Preller, who is the Padres' President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, has built a reputation as one of the most active and riskiest executives in baseball. Since taking over as the head of San Diego's front office, Preller has acquired Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Josh Hader, Juan Soto, Mason Miller, and many others. Seems great, right?

Well, among the prospects that Preller has traded away to acquire the many stars that he's brought to San Diego since taking over in 2014 are C.J. Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, Max Fried, Trea Turner, Leo De Vries, Andrés Muñoz, Owen Caissie, Robert Gasser, David Bednar, and many, many more, including Brewer legends Jake Bauers, Owen Miller, and Joe Ross. Sure, the Padres have been a competitive team since 2020, making the postseason in four out of six seasons, but as a result of their front offices' frequent activity in the trade market, San Diego's farm system is in constant disarray.

Currently, their farm system is the thinnest it has been in quite a while, which is why their supposed presence in the Peralta sweepstakes is surprising and almost laughable. The lack of assets remaining that the Brewers would be interested in makes it difficult to even imagine what a trade with the Padres would look like.

At the top of the San Diego's farm system is catching prospect Ethan Salas, who has had a rough start to his professional career after being the top-ranked international prospect in 2023. Following him are three young arms in Kruz Schoolcraft, Humberto Cruz, and Kash Mayfield, who are all several years away from their MLB debuts, and the Brewers are reportedly targeting MLB-ready talent. The hard-throwing pair of Miguel Mendez and Bradgley Rodriguez are MLB-ready but both appear destined for the bullpen, and it's difficult to imagine a reliever headlining the return for Peralta. Maybe the Brewers could re-acquire shortstop prospect Jorge Quintana, who has gained some hype since Milwaukee sent him to San Diego in the Nestor Cortes-Brandon Lockridge trade deadline swap -- that almost certainly won't be happening.

On the Padres MLB roster, there are few, if any, players who make sense as a headliner in a hypothetical Peralta deal. The only one who makes some sense is starter Randy Vásquez, who has five years of team control remaining and holds a 4.04 ERA through his first 51 starts. Though Vásquez was a highly-ranked prospect when the Yankees sent him to San Diego in the Juan Soto trade, his first few seasons in MLB indicate that he's unlikely to be much more than a back-end starter, especially if he were added to the Brewers' crowded pitching staff.

Therefore, while Preller being interested in making a trade is not surprising whatsoever, what is surprising is the fact that the Padres believe they have the resources to even make a call to Milwaukee to inquire about trading for Peralta. Crazier things have certainly happened, especially with the Padres' front office, but seeing these two teams link up in a Peralta blockbuster this offseason would be quite the surprise.