Cubs give Brewers massive assist with Freddy Peralta trade after deal with Marlins

Throughout the offseason, amid the myriad of trade rumors surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers' ace, Freddy Peralta, the widely accepted belief is that Milwaukee's front office won't agree to a deal unless they are overwhelmed by a trade offer. At the beginning of the offseason, such an offer looked unlikely, as is often the case immediately after a front office sets its high price tag and is met with opposing teams rolling their eyes at the idea of meeting it.

However, as the offseason progresses, and teams miss out on the free agent targets they were certain they would land, desperation grows and, as a result, so do the offers. In Peralta's case, another factor is at play: his salary. Teams who have spent aggressively this offseason can still afford the reasonable $8 million price tag associated with Peralta, as can the small market teams, which should lead to plenty of interest in the Brewers' ace and potentially a bidding war that could certainly result in an offer Matt Arnold and company are comfortable accepting.

Further evidence of this growing desperation is provided by the trades that teams in need of starting pitching have agreed to in recent weeks. The first such example was the Shane Baz deal that the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays executed just before the holidays. Baz, who is by no means a sure thing, but does have three years of team control remaining, yielded the Rays a massive prospect haul from the acquiring Orioles, establishing a trade price for starting pitching that should at least have the Brewers strongly considering moving their ace this offseason.

Then, earlier today, the Brewers' arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, executed a similar deal. Chicago sent their top prospect, Owen Caissie (MLB Pipeline's No.47-ranked prospect in MLB), their No. 11-ranked prospect Cristian Hernandez, and an intriguing, high-upside prospect in Edgardo De Leon to the Miami Marlins in exchange for starting pitcher Edward Cabrera. With three years of team control remaining, Cabrera was never going to come cheap, but Chicago's top prospect, who likely would have been their Opening Day right fielder assuming the team doesn't sign a top-tier outfielder in the coming weeks, is a steep price to pay.

Freddy Peralta's trade price continues to rise following the Cubs' deal for Edward Cabrera

It's obviously a good news-bad news situation for the Brewers. Their top threat in the NL Central just added an electric arm to their starting rotation, who has a 2.29 ERA in four starts against Milwaukee throughout his career. However, in doing so, the Cubs not only created plenty of uncertainty in their 2026 outfield (not to mention their outfield beyond next year), but they also established an even higher price for the Brewers' ace should they elect to move him this offseason.

Not only that, but the Cubs took another trade target off the board for the same teams who are likely to be targeting Peralta. Most notably are the New York Yankees, who Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported were interested in both Cabrera and Peralta. With Cabrera now off the board, the Brewers' price for Peralta in their discussions with the Yankees and other interested teams just went up.

A Peralta trade would also be a good news-bad news development for Milwaukee, seeing as they would lose their ace for the 2026 campaign, but might now receive a trade package that is so overwhelming that it remedies the sting of losing the fan favorite Peralta for the final year of his contract.

Brewers fans might be inclined to believe that the Cubs executing a blockbuster deal decreases the likelihood of a Peralta trade, because Milwaukee now faces stiffer competition in the NL Central, but Arnold and his team have built a perennial contender by not reacting irrationally to the moves of their division rivals.

In the end, the same position that the Brewers took at the beginning of the offseason remains the stance they assume on January 7: to move on from Freddy Peralta, the most reasonably priced ace on the trade market, they will need to be overwhelmed by a trade offer. However, the Orioles deal for Baz and now Chicago's deal for Cabrera have certainly increased the likelihood that such an offer will present itself to Milwaukee's front office before the end of the offseason.