William Contreras’ heroic postseason performance should have Brewers rethinking typical trade strategy

A little over one year ago, I made a plea urging the Milwaukee Brewers not to trade Freddy Peralta ahead of his contract season. The thinking was simple: He was the team's ace, and after years of dealing away elite pitching talent, the organization needed to keep at least one frontline arm in their quest for that elusive title.

Of course, my wise words were not taken into consideration, as Matt Arnold sent Peralta packing to New York. And yet, even though neither Jett Williams nor Brandon Sproat played much of a role for the Brewers this year, the Crew still defied the odds and went on to win the World Series for the first time ever.

There are a lot of people responsible for that championship-winning effort, though much of the praise belongs to World Series MVP William Contreras, who might have earned more style points than any catcher in baseball history this week thanks to his utter dominance of the brand-new ABS system.

The reason I bring up Peralta here -- besides the fact that he was on the other side with the Rays -- is because Contreras, who has a $14.5 million club option for 2027 that is likely to be exercised, is now entering his final year before free agency.

And once again, with feeling this time, I beg the Brewers not to trade him.

William Contreras has earned exemption from Brewers' usual strategy of trading pending free agents

Let's pull from the NFL to really get a full understanding of what letting Contreras go would mean. The Seattle Seahawks, their reigning Super Bowl champs, let their own final-round MVP (Kenneth Walker) leave in free agency immediately after his coronation. They opted to save room in the budget to re-sign others, letting the running back walk... right into the waiting arms of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Seahawks' offense has been all over the place as a result this year, while the Chiefs (even though Seattle just shut them down last week) are 5-1 and playing their best ball since Patrick Mahomes was winning MVP awards. Clearly, letting the heart and soul of the offense leave has been a difficult hurdle for the reigning champs to overcome.

That's a pretty apt description of what Contreras means to the Brewers, not to mention the fact that catchers, like running backs, have historically been undervalued because of the position they play. It's true that giving a backstop nearing his 30s top-of-the-market money tends not to work out, but Contreras is such a rare breed that he might just buck that trend. At the very least, he's earned the right to decide what his future looks like without having to worry about being traded.

Maybe it's sentiment; maybe it's fear for what the optics of trading your first-ever World Series MVP would look like. Either way, Contreras has earned his place in Brewers history -- it's only right that he gets a little preferential treatment.

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