Brewers rumors: Milwaukee reportedly interested in Cubs' former backup catcher

Now that the Milwaukee Brewers have taken care of their most notable move of the offseason, a trade of their soon-to-be-departing ace, Freddy Peralta, their attention turns to rounding out their roster before spring training commences next month. Though it's uncertain just how aggressive Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office will be in the coming weeks, there's one area of the roster that will absolutely be addressed to some extent: catching depth.

Currently, the Brewers have just two catchers on their 40-man roster: 2x All-Star William Contreras and top prospect Jeferson Quero. The latter has yet to make his MLB debut, and while many evaluators believe he's ready for the big leagues, the Brewers are unlikely to enter the 2025 season without at least some insurance at the backup catcher position.

However, there are still two paths the Brewers could take when it comes to adding some catching depth to their roster. If they believe in Quero, all that is required is to add a backstop on a minor league deal, who is willing to spend much of his season in Triple-A, awaiting either an injury or underperformance to be called up to the big-league squad. If Milwaukee is less certain about Quero's abilities, then the front office could add a more established veteran catcher on a major league deal, which is made easier by the fact that a 40-man roster spot was opened as a result of the Peralta trade. Additionally, Milwaukee theoretically now has a little more wiggle room in their budget should they look to make a more impactful addition at the backup catcher position.

A recent report from Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com notes that Milwaukee is interested in free agent catcher Reese McGuire, who spent the 2025 campaign with the Chicago Cubs.

Brewers reportedly interested in Cubs' former backup catcher Reese McGuire

McGuire, who will turn 31 before the start of the 2026 season, almost certainly falls into the "minor league deal" category, which would reinforce the Brewers' belief in Quero, seeing as he and Contreras would remain the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. A free agent for the first time in his career last season, McGuire landed a minor league contract with the Cubs, and nothing about his 2025 season indicates that he is now worth a major league deal.

Appearing in just 44 games for the North Siders last year, McGuire slashed .226/.245/.444 for a decent OPS+ of 94, suggesting he was 6% worse than the league-average hitter. The batting average and on-base percentage are rather poor, but his .444 slugging percentage should stick out. Despite collecting just 140 plate appearances, the left-handed McGuire did crush nine homers. Extrapolate that over a full season, and his inability to get on base becomes more bearable.

However, the rest of his eight-year MLB career doesn't inspire much more confidence. Though his numbers look decent from his few seasons in MLB, which were spent with the Toronto Blue Jays, McGuire has never logged more than 89 games in a single season, making it rather difficult to draw conclusions from the small sample size. In his career, he's an 84 OPS+ hitter, who has been inconsistent at the Triple-A level as well.

Defensively, he's not bad; according to FanGraphs' defensive WAR model, McGuire has never posted a below-average season. However, his defense isn't enough to outweigh his inconsistency at the plate and force the Brewers to hand him a major league deal.

So why is Milwaukee interested in McGuire?

Well, in the last few years, the Brewers have adopted a strategy of buying low on players who were once highly ranked prospects or first-round picks. Look no farther than last year, when the Brewers made not one but two in-season trades for former first-round picks (technically Shelby Miller is a former first-round pick too, but the Brewers didn't buy low on him). Both Quinn Priester and Andrew Vaughn were selected in the first round of the MLB Draft. Their teams eventually gave up on them after periods of underperformance, and the Brewers were there to "buy low" and turn them back into the players that teams knew they could become when they were drafted.

It's been a long time since the Pirates drafted McGuire with the 14th overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, but he's nevertheless a former first-round pick selected out of high school just like Priester and Vaughn. At one point, a team, the Pirates, saw enough potential in McGuire's profile to spend a first-round pick on him, and maybe, just maybe, that potential could be tapped into during his age-31 season. A sudden breakout is unlikely, but if the Brewers can land him on a minor league deal, what's the risk? If it requires a major league deal to land him, the situation looks far less appealing.