Brewers saved from themselves as rumored target, longtime rival leaves the NL Central

Six years ago, Paul Goldschmidt was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Cardinals and he's been a pain in the Milwaukee Brewers backside ever since. The Brewers, perhaps tired of seeing Goldschmidt torment them, were rumored to be interested in signing him this offseason.

In 132 career games against the Brewers, Goldschmidt hit .293/.385/.541 with 29 homers and a .926 OPS. He received MVP votes in his first four years in St. Louis, including winning NL MVP back in 2022.

However, Goldschmidt has shown clear signs of aging since that MVP campaign declining each of the past two full seasons. At 37 years old, the chances of Goldschmidt turning things around are quite small.

That's what made it all the more surprising to see reports from Bob Nightengale and others that the Brewers would be "all over" Goldschmidt this offseason if Rhys Hoskins didn't opt in to the second year of his contract. Then there were reports from Ken Rosenthal that the Brewers were open to trading Hoskins this offseason. A flip of Hoskins to open up a pursuit of Goldschmidt could theoretically have happened.

Instead, the Brewers were saved from that potential mistake and instead watch as Goldschmidt leaves the NL Central completely. Goldschmidt has agreed to a one year, $12.5 million contract with the New York Yankees according to reports.

Brewers saved from Paul Goldschmidt nightmare by the Yankees

During the 2024 season, Paul Goldschmidt was all out of sorts. His swings were looking bad and at one point he was in an 0-for-32 slump. That was a slump he got out of against the Brewers and then started to heat up a bit after that, typical for his history against Milwaukee.

Goldschmidt got going in the second half of the season, but still was well short of his typical output in that stretch and is clearly a player in decline. His age, his performance, there may be something left in the tank, but not much. The Brewers certainly shouldn't have been willing to pay $12.5MM to find out just how much is left in Goldy's tank, which again, likely isn't much. Luckily for them, the Yankees were willing to pay that.

The idea of moving on from Hoskins' contract because he had a down year in 2024 and instead replacing him with Goldschmidt would've been a major mistake by a Brewers front office that doesn't make many. Hoskins is younger with a much better chance of improvement in 2025 and getting back to his career norms. Goldschmidt is quite clearly in decline, and the team signing him is simply hoping his decline goes more slowly than it has been going the last two years.

It never made much sense for the Brewers to be involved in Goldschmidt's market, outside of signing him just so he couldn't hit home runs against you anymore, but he still likely would've negatively impacted the Brewers with declining play if they did get him.

Luckily for the Brewers, Goldschmidt is not going to be their problem, and he's not going to torment them anymore, outside of potentially on Opening Day when the Brewers start the season in New York against Goldschmidt and the Yankees.

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