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

Brewers Winter Meetings Trade Target #5: Braves C Manny Pina

Bring Manny home! The Brewers let Manny Pina walk in free agency after the 2021 season and the Braves quickly snatched him up to a multi-year contract. Pina ended up missing most of the 2022 season due to injury, only playing in five games.

But the Braves are still very deep at catcher, and according to Ken Rosenthal, they are drawing trade interest from other teams in Manny Pina. They have Travis d'Arnaud and William Contreras already and if all three are healthy, someone is an odd man out. Rosenthal said the most likely course of action Atlanta would take at catcher is trading Pina.

Where better to trade him to than the Milwaukee Brewers?

He already knows the staff and the clubhouse. He was an important vocal leader in Milwaukee for a number of years and bringing him back would be a boon to the group. Matt Arnold has already brought back one former catcher this offseason in Payton Henry.

Pina's contract carries a $4.5MM salary for 2023 and a club option for $4MM in 2024. Would that be risky coming off a season almost entirely lost due to a wrist injury? A little. But the cost to acquire Pina will be much, much lower than the cost to get any of the previously mentioned catchers: Kirk, Jansen, and Murphy. Provided Pina is healthy, he still likely presents an upgrade over the Crew's current situation at catcher.

Pina would be an excellent mentor to Mario Feliciano and he could pass the reins to Feliciano for 2024 while any of the other trade targets would block Feliciano from becoming a starter for several years.

If the cost to acquire the other catchers on the market are too high for the Brewers liking, Manny Pina would be a solid backup plan for them at the 2022 Winter Meetings.