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Brewers Rumors: Milwaukee named a surprisingly real suitor for top trade market arm

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Reviewing The Brew

Chicago White Sox v Miami Marlins / Rich Storry/GettyImages

For most Milwaukee Brewers fans, the expectation was that the Brewers wouldn't do anything particularly splashy this offseason. The team already let Willy Adames leave for the Giants and they could easily trade Devin Williams this offseason as well. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, the payroll crunch is constant and their path to contention seems to be hoping their budget moves and youth is enough.

At least that is what we all thought. However, a report from MLB insider Jon Morosi this morning turned that entire narrative on it's head as the Brewers are pursuing a trade for Garrett Crochet. There is a lot to unpack here.

Brewers reportedly very much engaged in trade talks for Garrett Crochet

Well, things have escalated quickly. Crochet is easily the most exciting player on the trade market at the moment. His combination of pure stuff, young age, and production to the tune of a 3.58 ERA with 209 strikeouts in 146 innings in 2024 has most of the league interested in him. The White Sox very clearly would love to trade Crochet for a haul of prospects, but Milwaukee had not been mentioned as a realistic landing spot until now.

However, the fit for the Brewers makes a lot of sense the more you think about it. Milwaukee could certainly use a frontline starter and Crochet would come with two years of cheap team control as he is only estimated to get $2.9 million in arbitration in 2025. A really good player who isn't making real money? That sounds like it is right up the Brewers' alley.

What we don't know is how competitive Milwaukee is in these talks especially with the rising cost of pitching this offseason. The Brewers would certainly have to raid the top of their prospect rankings to even be in the conversation here, but a lot of other teams including the Reds, Red Sox, and Braves among others have all expressed interest in Crochet as well. Even if Milwaukee comes up short here, it is heartening to see that the Brewers' front office is at least entertaining swinging big down at the Winter Meetings.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.