NL Central rival entertaining another teardown is making the Brewers look great

Look, no one enjoys seeing the Milwaukee Brewers sit back and watch all of the top talent in free agency and the trade market go elsewhere. The Brewers' lack of financial muscle is a constant struggle that cost them Corbin Burnes last offseason, Willy Adames this offseason, and may still yet cost them Devin Williams. The organization generally makes it work each season, but there is no denying that it feels harder for Milwaukee to field a contender than most clubs year in, year out.

However, the Brewers continue to get a helping hand from the other teams in the NL Central. The Cubs are working hard to acquire Kyle Tucker to be sure, but it may cost them a haul and require that they also get rid of Cody Bellinger. The Reds have been involved on some players, but little has come of it. The Cardinals are having to overhaul their roster and organization as they only just realized that fielding a bunch of senior citizens is not a roster-building strategy.

Then we have the Pirates who, in theory, should be a threat given the number of high draft picks they have had in recent years and who have some guy named Paul Skenes at the front of their rotation. However, the Pirates keep doing Pirates things as, despite having a clear window to make noise in the division, they are instead considering trading two of their better pitchers instead.

Pirates' penny-pinching ways continues to benefit the Brewers' NL Central dominance

Brewers fans can certainly understand what it is like for a team to trade players once they get expensive, but the Pirates are in a different stratosphere with this sort of thing. Milwaukee still manages to consistently field at least a good baseball team despite their financial pressures. However, the Pirates seem hellbent on spending as little money as possible and could not care less about the opportunity in front of them or even fielding a competent team.

In fairness to the Pirates, making Mitch Keller available isn't COMPLETELY insane, although it still terrible. He is making around $17 million in 2025 and gets raises the next two seasons. As a guy that is generally good for around a 4 ERA each season, the value there to Pittsburgh is questionable and given the going rate for starters and their existing rotation strength, trading him could at least be defended.

That is not the case for Jared Jones who Pittsburgh also seems to be floating in trade talks. Jones is one of the more exciting young pitchers in baseball with triple digit heat and isn't even arbitration eligible until 2027. Unless Jones' injury this season is part of larger medical concerns, the Pirates trading him this offseason would be actual malpractice unless they got an insane haul for him.

This works out great for the Brewers. With the Pirates consistently snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, every single other team in the NL Central has real questions heading into 2025. With the amount of turnover Milwaukee could see this offseason, they will take any help they can get.

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