Brendan Kuty of The Athletic reports that the Yankees have ‘heavy interes’ in RHP Freddy Peralta who has long been a rumored target for the team.
His services are being chased by numerous clubs including the Mets and Dodgers, who have the farm systems to present a real threat to the Yankees and keep him away from the Bronx.
The ace in the hole for the Bronx Bombers is their Minor League pitching talent and Major League depth, which can allow them to put a fairly sizable offer on the table if their interest matches the public reporting.
Whether they pull down this trade or not is a mystery, but what could this kind of deal look like between the Yankees and Brewers?
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Which Players Could the Yankees Entice the Brewers With?
Freddy Peralta is drawing interest from plenty of teams across the league and the Brewers do not have to trade him away, which is going to lead to the winning bid being a significant one.
This is still a rental starting pitcher who profiles more as the 20th best pitcher in the game rather than a true no. 1, but I expect a top-100 caliber prospect to be dealt alongside a Major League ready starting pitcher.
Luis Gil is a pitcher rumored to be of interest to the Brewers so he’ll be included in a hypothetical deal, and the other pitcher who I would include is RHP Carlos Lagrange.
It’s a hefty price to pay to some for one year of a starting pitcher, but you are also getting his Qualifying Offer rights which will let you get a fourth-round pick if he were to depart in free agency.
Furthermore it gives you a super rotation with Max Fried, Freddy Peralta, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Cam Schlittler headlining their potential rotation options for the 2026 season.
The issue the Yankees will face in this kind of deal is fending off other aggressors, as teams such as the Mets specifically have a lot they could offer in a deal.
Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat have formed a big-three at the Major League level as all of them are top-100 prospects who could have a big impact on the 2026 squad.
With veterans like David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, and Sean Manaea, one of those three pitchers could become very expendable in trade talks.
Prospects such as Jonathan Santucci and Will Watson are also easy to replace for this Mets’ development group which has assembled the best farm system in baseball according to Baseball Prospectus.
I obviously don’t expect McLean or even Tong to be made available here, but a deal including Sproat and Watson as headliners would have as much appeal as a Gil-Lagrange offer, and David Stearns has the depth to add a nice third piece.
This is also an organizational preference thing; if the Brewers believe Carlos Lagrange to be a top-50 prospect in the game then you’ll have a chip that’s really hard to beat.
If Milwaukee views Gil as the pitcher we saw in 2024 and thinks 2025 is an aberration, that changes things as well, but that’s information we will only find out after Peralta is traded.
Brian Cashman is going to be heavily criticized if the right-hander is traded anywhere other than the Yankees, but I’ll have a hard time being upset at him if a team like the Mets land him.
The Yankees have the chips to land him, but they can’t control what other teams who have more can do to lure Milwaukee into making a deal.
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