Brewers Rumors: Matt Arnold Pursued Blockbuster Trade For Mets Superstar At Trade Deadline

Whatever you think of Brewers GM Matt Arnold, don't ever accuse him of not dreaming big. While the Brewers ultimately pulled off trades for Carlos Santana and Mark Canha in a trade deadline that many deemed underwhelming, behind the scenes Arnold was making a push for a much bigger upgrade to the offense.

First base was a big need for the Brewers at the Trade Deadline and the Brewers GM was looking to get arguably the biggest superstar at the position, taking advantage of an unexpected team becoming sellers.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Brewers and GM Matt Arnold were making a massive push to acquire superstar 1B Pete Alonso from the New York Mets.

The Mets are one of the biggest disappointments in baseball this year. They ran up a record payroll behind owner Steve Cohen's influx of cash. They were supposed to be World Series contenders. Instead, they crumpled and became sellers at the Deadline, sending out veteran co-aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Reportedly, Pete Alonso was another superstar New York considered moving, but ultimately held on to. The Brewers were the ones pushing hard to convince the Mets to trade away their star first baseman.

According to Rosenthal's report, the Brewers were in discussions with the Mets about Alonso both before and even after acquiring Carlos Santana. The price was going to cost Milwaukee at least one of their top five prospects (Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Jeferson Quero, Jacob Misiorowski, Tyler Black). Rest easy, because Chourio was reportedly NOT in consideration.

Reportedly, the talks were advanced enough where they were considered "within field goal range" of being completed. That's not quite the one yard line, but that's pretty close for one of the top bats in all of baseball.

Alonso is one of the top power bats in the game. He slugged 53 homers in his rookie season in 2019, had 40 homers last season, and is already up to 39 long balls this year. He's having a slightly "down" year this year, hitting just .226, but he still has a .860 OPS, which is right in line with his production the past two years. For his career, Alonso is a .254 hitter.

Talks could potentially be revisited this offseason. Alonso has one year remaining before free agency and while his arbitration salary will be high, the Brewers were willing to take on that kind of salary getting that far into trade talks.

What could make these talks more interesting is if former Brewers GM David Stearns does indeed go to New York after the season to take the reins of the Mets front office. He knows the Brewers and their farm system as well as anyone and could look to make a trade with his old club. The Mets have said themselves they don't plan on competing in 2024, which could make a trade of Alonso more likely.

Matt Arnold is swinging big. He swung big and connected on the William Contreras trade, and he was looking to make a similar splash at the Trade Deadline. The fact that he came up empty on Alonso in July isn't necessarily a sign that he failed, but is likely more due to the Mets' unwillingness to part with Alonso.

Arnold appears to have a larger sense of urgency to improve this team and get them to a World Series sooner than later. Alonso in a Brewers uniform would be a massive get. We'll have to keep a close eye on what happens with Alonso this offseason because the Brewers are quite interested in him.