The Brewers linked up with three familiar trade partners during the 2025-26 offseason

Executing a trade in Major League Baseball is no easy task. Matt Arnold said as much when addressing the media after the Caleb Durbin trade with the Boston Red Sox last week. Trades are not as simple as matching value on paper; each organization has its priorities and its own evaluations of players. On top of that, some organizations simply aren't as willing to make trades as others.

This notion that certain teams are blacklisted from other teams' trade talks is often discussed in regard to inter-divisional trades. It's not surprising that the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs aren't linking up for trades in the middle of their battle for the NL Central. That said, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been a frequent trade partner of the Brewers in recent years; the Brewers have acquired Carlos Santana, Jordan Lyles, and Bryse Wilson from Pittsburgh since 2019.

What is less publicized is the fact that certain teams have become frequent trade partners of others. Whether it be because the two front offices have a good relationship, the two teams are at opposite points of their competitive windows, or simply the fact that each team is more willing to swing a deal than the rest of the league, "trade cliques" have certainly formed in MLB.

Such was the topic of Zack Meisel and Yuriko Schumacher's trade deadline article for The Athletic titled "Cliques and rivalries: Which MLB teams are trading pals, and which ones trading foes?" The article includes an incredible chart that details which MLB teams trade with one another and which seem to avoid each other at all costs. The article is available (with a subscription) over at TheAthletic.com, and linked below for your convenience.

Cliques and rivalries: Which MLB teams are trading pals, and which ones trading foes?

It should first be noted that Meisel and Schumacher only include trades from the last five years (start of the 2019-2020 offseason to July 1, 2025) in their data, but the results still produce several unsurprising trends. The Brewers haven't swung a deal with the Cubs or the St. Louis Cardinals during that span, while executing six trades (now seven with the Danny Jansen deal included) with the Tampa Bay Rays -- where Arnold worked prior to joining the Brewers' organization.

The data also reveals that the three teams Milwaukee linked up with for trades this offseason -- the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox -- was no random occurrence. Milwaukee has frequently phoned these three teams in recent years when looking to execute a trade.

Brewers have frequently executed deals with the Royals, Mets, and Red Sox prior to this offseason

According to Meisel and Schmacher's data, the Brewers executed two trades with the Royals from 2020-2025:

1. 3/22/2025 -- Brewers trade Mark Canha to Royals for Player To Be Named Later (Cesar Espinal)

2. 12/14/2023 -- Brewers trade Ryan Brady and Cam Devanney to Royals for Taylor Clarke

However, if you go back just two more years, the Brewers also executed a major deal with Kansas City that landed Mike Moustakas in Milwaukee at the 2018 trade deadline. Back in the early 2010s, the Brewers traded Nori Aoki to the Royals for Will Smith and executed a blockbuster deal for Zack Grienke that saw Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi head to Kansas City.

Clearly, the Brewers and Royals' positive trade relationship has outlived several different front office leaders in both organizations, but their past relationship made their trade this offseason -- when Milwaukee sent Isaac Collins and Nick Mears to Kansas City for Ángel Zerpa -- slightly less surprising.

Then, one month later, the Brewers executed their biggest move of the offseason, trading Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers to the Mets for top prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams. The deal also reunited two familiar trade partners, who had already linked up for four trades in the last five years:

1. 7/21/2024 -- Brewers trade TJ Shook to Mets for Tyler Jay

2. 12/20/2023 -- Brewers trade Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor to Mets for Coleman Crow

3. 7/31/2023 -- Brewers trade Justin Jarvis to Mets for Mark Canha

4. 5/26/2021 -- Brewers trade Billy McKinney to Mets for Pedro Quintana

Similar to the Royals, if you go back to 2019, the Brewers also linked up with the Mets in a trade that sent Keon Broxton to New York for prospects, and a few years before that, Milwaukee acquired Neil Walker from the Mets. The added familiarity of having David Stearns -- Arnold's former boss -- now heading the Mets' front office made New York an unsurprising trade partner this offseason.

Finally, the Red Sox have also been a popular call for the Brewers in recent years. Prior to the Durbin deal, Boston and Milwaukee executed three trades since the 2020 season:

1. 4/7/2025 -- Brewers trade Yophery Rodriguez, Player To Be Named Later (John Holobetz), and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick to Red Sox for Quinn Priester

2. 8/1/2023 -- Brewers trade Luis Urías to Red Sox for Bradley Blalock

3. 12/1/2021 -- Brewers trade Jackie Bradley Jr., David Hamilton, and Alex Binelas to Red Sox for Hunter Renfroe

Back in 2016, the two teams also linked up for trades that sent Tyler Thornburg to Boston for Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon, and a deal that landed Aaron Wilkerson in Milwaukee. Boston has been one of the most active traders in the sport over the last five years, trailing only the Rays, Brewers, and Marlins when it comes to most trades executed in the time span that Meisel and Schumacher studied.

Though it's not always the case that teams are completely blacklisted by other teams when it comes to trades, understanding these trends can give fans a better idea of what trades are more likely to happen than others. That said, when it comes to the Brewers, the front office has shown a willingness to trade with just about every other organization -- other than the Cardinals and Cubs.