Brewers Rumors: 5 Trade Targets For The Crew At The 2022 Winter Meetings

Brewers Winter Meetings Trade Target #2: Tigers LHP Gregory Soto

The Detroit Tigers have a solid group of relievers in the back end of their bullpen, yet are nowhere near contending. Reports are they are willing to trade from their group of relief arms. Joe Jimenez, Alex Lange, and Gregory Soto all shared late inning duties for the Tigers, with Gregory Soto earning the bulk of the saves (30).

The Brewers already have an excellent closer in Devin Williams, but with Josh Hader now in San Diego, they lack a clear backup option at closer should anything happen to Williams. Matt Bush is currently slated to be the setup man, but building that late inning bridge to Williams and adding high quality arms should be a priority for GM Matt Arnold.

What the Brewers also lack is left-handed relief options. Currently, the only left-handed reliever on the 40 man roster is Hoby Milner. The departures of Hader and more recently Brent Suter have put the Brewers in a situation where they lack left-handed options and they need to address that.

That makes Gregory Soto a very attractive trade candidate for the Brewers. While Jimenez and Lange are also quality relievers in their own right that would make great additions to the Milwaukee bullpen, they are right-handed and would leave the Brewers still needing another left-hander.

Soto, 27, posted a 3.28 ERA in 60.1 IP in 2022 and is entering his first season of arbitration eligibility. He's projected to earn $3.1MM in 2023 and has three seasons of team control remaining, becoming a free agent after the 2025 season.

With the free agent relief market quite active and perhaps the prices a little inflated, that could push the Brewers to look at the trade route to improve their bullpen once again.