Brewers Rumors: Brewers Are Engaging Teams In Talks To Trade Away Corbin Burnes

It seems like things could be moving in trade talks surrounding Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, at least according to the latest rumors.

A report from ESPN's Jeff Passan on Friday states "The Milwaukee Brewers have engaged teams in recent days on right hander Corbin Burnes".

Historically, the Brewers have made a distinction between incoming calls and outgoing calls. They're always willing to listen, yes, as any smart team should, but that doesn't mean they're engaging in any talks or making any outgoing calls. According to this report, the Brewers have now started to engage in talks.

This report seems to confirm another recent rumor, that there were four teams, including the Angels, Dodgers, Giants, and Padres, that loved Burnes and were interested in acquiring him and that industry personnel believed he would be moved. Passan didn't name specific teams but it's likely that these four are among the teams the Brewers are engaging with.

This is a change, however, from a slightly less recent Ken Rosenthal report where he believed the Brewers had backed off the idea of trading Burnes away this winter after the non-tender departure of Brandon Woodruff.

A Burnes trade seemed like a strong possibility heading into the offseason, but the Brandon Woodruff injury and following non-tender surely complicates matters for the Brewers roster construction. Trading away Burnes would only create another hole in the starting rotation the Brewers would need to fill and they'd lose both their No. 1 starters in one offseason after pitching has been the strength of the roster for years.

Even though the Brewers could be subtracting Burnes, theoretically they could bring back one or even two pitchers to help fill up that rotation in a return package. That could solve their depth problem in the rotation, even it comes at the expense of the ceiling of the talent in the rotation.

Burnes is entering his final year of arbitration and the Brewers are faced with deciding between getting as much value as they can for Burnes now or keep Burnes for one final attempt at a World Series with him in 2024, then only receive a draft pick in compensation when he walks in free agency. An extension to keep Burnes in Milwaukee doesn't appear to be a viable option.

It looks like the Brewers are settling on the former option and trying to secure as much value for Burnes as they can while they can. The prices on the pitching market are astronomically high right now and even though it's just one year of Burnes available for trade, the Brewers could get a pretty strong return for him.

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