Brewers rumors: Milwaukee reportedly targeting surprise position group this offseason

Only one position has really been on the minds of Milwaukee Brewers fans so far this offseason: starting pitcher. The Brewers' front office not only faces the consequential decision of whether or not to trade their All-Star ace, Freddy Peralta, before the final season of his contract, but they also have a qualifying offer extended to their longest-tenured player, Brandon Woodruff, that will have to be decided upon by 3:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday afternoon.

With Peralta and Woodruff occupying much of the Brewers fanbases’ collective headspace, little has been discussed in regard to how president of baseball operations Matt Arnold and his team will reinforce Milwaukee's position player group for the 2026 season. That is, in large part, due to the fact that a vast majority of the team's 2025 position player group is under team control for the 2026 season, and after a record-breaking season, not much work is needed on the Brewers' lineup. However, opportunities still exist for improvement, and after a postseason that exposed some of Milwaukee's offensive weaknesses, there's certainly no reason to ignore the position player group this offseason.

Earlier in the offseason, Reviewing the Brew's Tyler Koerth identified both the outfield and shortstop as positions where the Brewers need to improve over the 2025-26 offseason, noting that while Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick are locked into starting spots on the grass, who mans the third outfield position remains up in the air. Arnold and company need to decide if they are going to stick with their internal options at each position for the 2026 season or if a change of course is needed during the winter.

However, on Friday morning, one MLB insider reported that Milwaukee is shopping in a different trade market, one that might surprise Brewers fans, especially those with a keen eye on the organization's farm system.

MLB insider Jim Bowden reports that the Brewers looking to the trade market for catching depth this offseason

One position with some uncertainty, but not a great deal of uncertainty for the Brewers this offseason is catcher. Milwaukee rosters one of the best catchers in baseball, William Contreras, and has him under team control through the 2027 season. While there was some very quiet speculation that the Brewers might look to trade Contreras this offseason, all signs are pointing to the 2x All-Star being Milwaukee's starting backstop when Opening Day rolls around next March.

Behind Contreras is where some uncertainty starts to surface. The Brewers currently only have one other catcher on their 40-man roster, which is bound to change before spring training arrives. Luckily, that other catcher is Top 100 prospect Jeferson Quero, who enjoyed several months atop MLB Pipeline's list of the Top 30 Brewers prospects. After a 2024 season that was lost to a shoulder injury, Quero returned halfway through the 2025 season and displayed the impressive toolset that made him climb through the prospect rankings several years earlier.

Despite Quero having yet to make his MLB debut, many Brewers fans were expecting him to be the team's backup catcher in 2026, as he has little left to prove in the minor leagues and already occupies a spot on the 40-man roster. However, on Friday morning, a report from The Athletic's Jim Bowden explained that the Brewers have been exploring the trade market for a catcher early on in the offseason. In an article for The Athletic, Bowden wrote, "the Nationals have joined the Rays, Padres, Astros, Brewers and Rangers in making calls to improve their depth at the position."

It makes sense that the Brewers would be looking to add another catcher this offseason, as teams seldom have just two on their 40-man roster at any point in the year, but it seems as if they should be exploring the veteran free agent market rather than the trade market. After reporting that the Brewers were making calls for a catcher, Bowden went on to note that "The teams getting the most calls and texts about catchers are the Orioles (on Adley Rutschman), the Royals (on prospect Blake Mitchell), the White Sox (on Edgar Quero) and the Mariners (on prospect Harry Ford)."

It wouldn't be shocking for the Brewers to add a catcher to their roster at any moment, but it would be shocking if they added one of the names listed above. Adding any of Rutschman, Mitchell, Edgar Quero, or Ford would create unnecessary redundancy in the Brewers' catching room that becomes even more unnecessary when the fact that Contreras plays nearly every game is added to the picture. Therefore, making a trade for one of the players listed above would almost guarantee the organization moving on from either Jeferson Quero or Contreras before the offseason is over.

It's possible that the front office has some concerns about Quero after his major shoulder surgery, but even still, a trade for a controllable catcher this offseason would certainly come as a surprise. The Brewers’ prospect capital, if they are willing to spend it, would likely be better used on another position group.

Therefore, while it's almost a certainty that the Brewers will add a catcher to their 40-man roster in the coming weeks, if they added one of the names included in Bowden's report, it would signify an offseason shake-up that no one saw coming.