For months, the talk surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers has been “when are they going to trade Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Willy Adames?” After missing the the playoffs in 2022 and an ugly arbitration hearing with Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, it truly is a matter of when (not if) Milwaukee moves their star pitcher. Adames has stated that he wants to be in Milwaukee for the rest of his career, but the Brewers also may not be willing to pay him what he is worth. Woodruff may be the only one of the three they can afford to keep, but no contract talks have been rumored.
With three of their best players running out of years of club control, many believe Brewers will trade one or all of them ahead of the 2024 season. If Milwaukee falters and falls far behind of the playoff hunt ahead of the trade deadline, they could even be moved then. On the other hand, with such a short time remaining with these three outstanding players, why not go all in for a World Series run?
The Milwaukee Brewers Are Projected to Trade for Lucas Giolito
This is the thought of Bleacher Report writer Kerry Miller, who wrote an article suggesting landing spots for nine players likely to be traded this season. Miller selected the Brewers as the projected landing spot for Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito:
“Everyone has been assuming/projecting that Milwaukee—with what feels like the entire roster hitting free agency within the next two years—might have a fire sale and see how much it can get in return for 1.5 seasons of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Willy Adames, etc. But wouldn’t it be more fun if the Brew Crew goes all-in on winning now by bringing in Giolito and putting together one of the best top-to-bottom rotations in the majors? They could still get a solid return for trading away Burnes and Co. during the offseason.”
But what would it cost? Milwaukee has already begun bringing up their top prospects, and they are playing well. It would not be wise to move a top prospect for a rental such as Giolito. Miller thought of that too:
“Lucas Giolito to the Milwaukee Brewers for OF Hedbert Perez and RHP Cam Robinson. The asking price for a two-month rental of a starting pitcher isn’t what it used to be. Pittsburgh packaged José Quintana with Chris Stratton last year for a decent corner infield prospect (Malcom Nuñez) and a starting pitcher who had a 4.65 ERA at the MLB level (Johan Oviedo). The cost for Noah Syndergaard was an outfielder with a career .129 batting average in the majors (Mickey Moniak) and an outfield prospect who isn’t even top 30 in the Angels farm system (Jadiel Sanchez).”
With Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer already in the Majors, and Sal Frelick knocking on the door, there would have been little hope that Perez would get regular playing time in Milwaukee, and that is if they didn’t also have Jackson Chourio, the number one prospect in all of baseball (who is also an outfielder). Using Perez in a trade like this would be beneficial for both parties.
Adding Giolito would come at some risk for the Brewers. While he was one of the best pitchers in the American League for three seasons from 2019-2021 (three top 11 Cy Young finishes), he had a down year in 2022 and is off to another slow start in 2023. That being said, sometimes a change of scenery is all that is needed.
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