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MLBTR Podcast: Megapod Trade Deadline Preview

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss various trade deadline topics, including…

Check out our past episodes!

  • David Robertson, Trade Chips For The O’s and A’s, And What The Rangers Could Do – listen here
  • Rays’ Ownership, The Phillies Target Bullpen Help, And Bubble Teams – listen here
  • Firings in Washington, Bad Braves, And An AL East Shake-Up – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Imagn Images

Brewers Have Interest In Ryan O’Hearn

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The Brewers are among the teams with interest in Orioles first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He adds that Milwaukee was one of the clubs in contact with the Diamondbacks about another lefty-hitting first baseman, Josh Naylor, before Arizona dealt him to Seattle.

O’Hearn is arguably just behind Naylor as the next-best impending free agent lefty hitter on the trade block. The 32-year-old O’Hearn was a first-time All-Star this season. He tore the cover off the ball for the season’s first two months, batting .333/.420/.542 with nine homers and eight doubles through the end of May. He’s down to a far less impressive .215/.318/.331 slash since the beginning of June. O’Hearn has been plagued by a meager .245 average on balls in play over this most recent stretch. His strikeout and walk profile remains strong, but his power output has dropped significantly. He only has three longballs over the past two months.

The slump is naturally a slight hit to O’Hearn’s trade value as Thursday’s deadline approaches. He’ll nevertheless be a popular target for teams looking for a boost against right-handed pitching. O’Hearn has a patient plate approach and has good if not elite batted ball metrics. He carries a strong .283/.348/.463 batting line when holding the platoon advantage going back to the start of 2023.

Baltimore is all but guaranteed to trade O’Hearn, who is a couple months from free agency. They presumably wouldn’t want to make him a qualifying offer, and they could give 23-year-old Coby Mayo everyday first base reps for the stretch run. O’Hearn is playing on an affordable $8MM salary, leaving roughly $2.5MM to be paid from the deadline on.

That should be a manageable sum for Milwaukee. They took on some money to fortify the backup catcher spot with tonight’s Danny Jansen trade. Jansen is another right-handed bat on a team that skews a little bit towards that side of the plate. They’re without lefty-hitting first baseman/corner outfielder Jake Bauers right now due to a shoulder impingement. O’Hearn is a better hitter than Bauers regardless. Andrew Vaughn has been playing first base every day with Rhys Hoskins also on the injured list. Vaughn has raked through his first 14 games in a Milwaukee uniform but hit .189/.218/.314 across 48 contests with the White Sox earlier in the year.

Brewers Designate Eric Haase For Assignment

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The Brewers announced that they’ve designated catcher Eric Haase for assignment. That clears active and 40-man roster space for newly-acquired backup catcher Danny Jansen.

Haase’s position on the roster was clearly tenuous once the Brewers lined up the Jansen trade. The righty-hitting Haase has backed up William Contreras all season. He hasn’t gotten much playing time. Contreras leads MLB in starts behind the dish, leaving Haase in the lineup on just 19 occasions. He’s batting .229/.289/.357 with a pair of home runs in 77 trips to the plate.

It’s not easy to get into any kind of offensive rhythm with such infrequent playing time. Haase has power but has always had a lot of swing-and-miss in his game. That’s a common profile for a backup catcher, but the 32-year-old isn’t the plus defender that teams tend to prefer from their #2 backstop. While Jansen’s recent defensive grades haven’t been great either, he had a stronger reputation with the glove earlier in his career than Haase has ever had.

Haase is out of options, so a DFA was the only way to take him off the big league roster. Milwaukee has a couple days to try to find a trade partner. They’d need to place him on waivers if there’s no trade by Thursday evening’s deadline. Haase is playing on a $1.35MM arbitration salary. He has enough service time to refuse an outright assignment but would forfeit what remains of that salary to do that, so he’d likely accept an assignment to Triple-A if Milwaukee manages to sneak him through the waiver wire.

Brewers Acquire Danny Jansen

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The Rays and Brewers announced a trade sending catcher Danny Jansen from Tampa Bay to Milwaukee in exchange for infield prospect Jadher Areinamo. The Rays are including some cash to help pay down the remaining $2.667MM on Jansen’s one-year, $8MM contract. It’s a homecoming for Jansen, who’s a native of Appleton, Wisconsin. The Rays’ changes behind the plate don’t stop there, as they’re reportedly in agreement to acquire Marlins catcher Nick Fortes in a separate trade (full breakdown on that swap available here).

Catching wasn’t a prominent need for the Brewers entering the season. William Contreras has emerged as one of the best backstops in the sport, slashing .283/.363/.472 from 2022-24. His once-panned defense has improved to premium levels in Milwaukee. However, Contreras has been playing through a fracture in his left middle finger and struggled considerably at the dish this season, slashing just .242/.342/.340 this season. Backup catcher Eric Haase hasn’t picked up the slack with the bat. Over the past month, Contreras and Haase have combined to hit .228/.294/.289.

As the Brewers’ catchers have struggled to increasing levels, Jansen has picked up the pace. He’s hitting just .204/.314/.389 on the season overall, but that’s dragged down by a brutal start to the year. Since May 11, he’s batting .232/.321/.486 in 163 trips to the plate.

Notably, while Jansen is hitting only .197 against lefties, he’s still getting on base against them at a big .356 clip and slugging .465 versus southpaws. Contreras is hitting .223/.373/.266 against lefties on the season. Haase is batting only .160/.192/.280 in his 26 plate appearances against left-handers. Jansen struggled against lefties mightily early in his career but has above-average on-base and power numbers against them each year since 2022. In that time, he’s slashing .216/.344/.442 when holding the platoon advantage

Jansen has graded as a plus defender in the past, but his framing and throwing grades have dwindled in recent years. Milwaukee has a knack for vastly improving catcher defense — framing in particular — which could bode well for a Jansen rebound in that regard. He’ll presumably move into a timeshare behind the plate with Contreras, who is penciled into tonight’s Brewers lineup. That could spell the end of Haase’s time on the roster, but it’s certainly possible the Brewers will carry three catchers or that they’ll give Contreras some extended downtime to allow his ailing left hand to heal.

Areinamo, 21, was an amateur signee out of Venezuela during the 2021-22 international signing period. Baseball America ranked him 10th among Milwaukee prospects on their latest midseason update of the system. He sat 17th at FanGraphs in mid-May and is currently 24th at MLB.com.

Though he’s primarily been a shortstop in High-A this season, Areinamo has more experience at second base than at short. He’s also dabbled at the hot corner. He’s turned in a .297/.355/.463 batting line in 415 plate appearances and popped 11 home runs on the year. Areinamo also has 24 doubles, a pair of triples and 15 stolen bases — albeit in 23 tries (65.2% success rate).

Scouting reports on Areinamo tout his plus hit tool but question an overaggressive approach that could be exposed as he moves up the ladder and faces more advanced pitching. Accordingly, he’s fanned in just 11.6% of his plate appearances in what is his second run through the High-A level. Listed at just 5’8″ and 160 pounds, Areinamo unsurprisingly possesses what scouts feel is below-average power. He has a chance to develop into an everyday option at second base, where his average arm profiles better than it does on the left side of the infield. He could also wind up being a contact-oriented utilityman who bounces between several positions.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the Rays and Brewers were finalizing a Jansen trade. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that the deal was done and that the Rays were in the process of adding another catcher. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that Areinamo was the prospect return for the Rays and that Tampa Bay was including some cash in the swap.

Latest On Brewers’ Deadline Decisions

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The Brewers have vaulted to the top of the National League standings. They won 11 in a row earlier this month to give themselves very strong odds of at least securing a Wild Card berth. They’re a half-game up on the Cubs in the NL Central and slightly ahead of the Dodgers, Phillies and Mets in the race for first-round byes.

For as well as they’ve played of late, there hasn’t been much clarity on what they’re prioritizing at the deadline. That’s largely because they’re deep across the board, making it more difficult to identify specific areas to upgrade. Their bullpen runs seven or eight deep. The rotation is strong enough that they kicked Tobias Myers to Triple-A and/or long relief and traded Aaron Civale to the White Sox. Assuming Sal Frelick returns in short order from a hamstring strain, they’re well set around the outfield. Rookie Caleb Durbin has solidified third base, and they’re even getting strong fill-in work from Andrew Vaughn across the diamond while Rhys Hoskins is on the shelf.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote earlier this week that Milwaukee’s strength could allow them to have a fairly quiet deadline. Passan noted that they’re not actively seeking an upgrade at shortstop over Joey Ortiz, who is hitting just .217/.273/.316 over 342 plate appearances. That’s not especially surprising in a market devoid of everyday shortstops. The 27-year-old Ortiz didn’t hit at all for the first two months of the season, but he owns a .269/.310/.418 slash going back to the beginning of June.

While they don’t need to add an everyday player, Milwaukee could stand to upgrade the bench. Utility infielders Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler aren’t providing anything offensively. Backup catcher Eric Haase rarely plays, but he’s hitting .224/.278/.358 and has never been a well-regarded defender. FanSided’s Robert Murray suggested this afternoon that Milwaukee could look to upgrade at that spot — though William Contreras shoulders as heavy a workload as any starting catcher in MLB. Miami’s Nick Fortes, Tampa Bay’s Danny Jansen and Cleveland’s Austin Hedges are among the catchers who could be available.

While the Brewers obviously aren’t deadline sellers, there’s at least one veteran player whom they could trade away in the coming days. Joel Sherman of The New York Post pointed out this morning that the Brewers may prefer to deal Nestor Cortes rather than find a spot for him in the rotation. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested similarly tonight.

Cortes has been on the injured list since early April with a flexor strain. He has been on a rehab assignment since July 2 and built up to 5 2/3 innings in yesterday’s start for Triple-A Nashville. Pitchers can spend a maximum of 30 days on a rehab stint. Milwaukee needs to activate Cortes by the beginning of August.

They don’t have a clear rotation spot available. Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Jacob Misiorowski and Quinn Priester are locked into the top four spots. Cortes could displace Jose Quintana, but it’s not clear that’d be an upgrade after a nearly four-month absence. Using a six-man rotation would require dropping to a seven-man bullpen. Milwaukee could shop Quintana as well, but Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes that might be difficult to sell to the clubhouse.

While Cortes is a respected veteran in his own right, it’d probably be easier to explain trading him when he’s been limited to two MLB starts this year. Quintana has taken the ball 14 times. Cortes is playing on a $7.6MM salary in his final season of arbitration. He’ll be owed nearly $2.5MM for the stretch run. Quintana is making a $2MM salary and on the verge of unlocking $125K incentives for every other start up to 24 appearances — up to $625K in total. He’s also owed a deferred $2MM buyout on a 2026 mutual option.

Brewers PBO Matt Arnold Downplays Freddy Peralta Trade Possibilities

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Because Freddy Peralta is in the final guaranteed year of his contract, the Brewers right-hander has been mentioned as a speculative trade candidate for some time, given how the Brew Crew have often dealt star players before they reach free agency.  Peralta is still under team control via an $8MM club option for 2026, though that option year only adds to the righty’s trade value, as rival teams would be willing to give up more to have Peralta for two pennant races instead of one.

Then again, that $8MM price tag for a frontline pitcher also makes Peralta incredibly valuable to the Brewers themselves, as Milwaukee again finds itself in the thick of playoff contention.  Speaking with Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold praised Peralta as “one of the most important parts of our organization” and made a trade sound very unlikely, if not entirely impossible.

“Obviously it’s important for us to never close the door, but Freddy means the world to our franchise and all of us,” Arnold said.  “I would expect him to be a big part of this going down the stretch.  It’s something that we can never exclusively say no on anything.  But he just means so much to so many people here.  I’m thrilled to have him as a part of this team.”

While the Brewers have enough rotation depth that they could conceivably trade a starter to address other needs before the deadline, it is fair to say that Jacob Misiorowski is probably the only pitcher more untouchable than Peralta.  Over 116 2/3 innings this season, Peralta has produced a 2.85 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate, and excellent hard-contact numbers.  The bottom-line numbers are a bit more flattering than the reality, as Peralta has a 3.78 SIERA and his 8.4% walk rate is nothing special, plus his strikeout rate is actually a career low.

Still, Peralta is the type of pitcher any club would feel comfortable starting in a playoff game, and he would be Milwaukee’s top starter for heading into what the team hopes will be another dose of October baseball.  As deep as the Brewers’ rotation may be, it would suddenly look a lot thinner without Peralta stabilizing things up top.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers Trade Deadline Outlook, for MLBTR Front Office subscribers]

A trade probably wouldn’t be on the radar at all if it wasn’t for the Brewers’ past history, and the team’s payroll limitations.  The contract extension Peralta signed prior to the 2020 season has proven to be a huge bargain for the Brewers, and the reported lack of talks involving a new contract could be a hint that Peralta ultimately isn’t in Milwaukee’s long-term plans.

This could explain Arnold’s hesitance to absolutely rule out the possibility of a Peralta trade, just in case a rival team stepped forward with an incredible offer.  But with the Brewers rolling and making a run at another NL Central crown, it’s hard to imagine that anything short of an outlandish trade package would get Arnold to budge on moving his ace.  The specter of the 2022 deadline trade of Josh Hader still looms in recent memory, as the Brewers’ controversial decision to deal the closer seemed to sap the morale of a team that was leading the division at the time, and Milwaukee ended up missing the postseason entirely.

Arnold seemed to acknowledge that history in telling Hogg that “I think we have a really good group, and chemistry matters.  You can remove a piece of this and it changes the dynamic, potentially.  We’re certainly sensitive to that.  At times we’ve had to make unpopular decisions just to make sure our team is variable for not just this year but a long time.  It’s important to try to find that right balance, and we’re trying to do that every single day.”

Brewers Place Jake Bauers On 10-Day Injured List

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The Brewers announced that first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement.  Infielder Tyler Black has been called up from Triple-A to take Bauers’ spot on the active roster.

With Rhys Hoskins sidelined until roughly mid-August due to a Grade 2 thumb strain and a bone bruise, losing Bauers further depletes Milwaukee’s first base picture.  The Brewers called up Andrew Vaughn to pair with Bauers in a righty-lefty platoon, and on paper, that platoon can be preserved with the left-handed hitting Black now in the majors to join forces with Vaughn.

It helps that Vaughn has been on fire at the plate during his brief time with the Brew Crew, and Black is a former top prospect who might yet break out in his first taste of MLB action in 2025.  Black had a modest .561 OPS over his first 57 career plate appearances in 2024, and his work this season was put on hold when he fractured his right hamate bone at the end of Spring Training.  Black didn’t make his season debut until mid-May, and he has hit only .191/.301/.303 over 103 plate appearances at Triple-A Nashville, perhaps indicating that he isn’t back to 100 percent.

Bauers has been used primarily as a platoon bat over his two seasons in Milwaukee, though he has still hit a modest .198/.306/.359 over 497 PA in a Brewers uniform.  More details on Bauers’ injury and recovery timeline should be known later today, but barring a minimal 10-day absence, he’ll be out of action beyond the July 31st trade deadline.

First base figured to be a target area for the Crew even before Bauers’ injury, even if the club’s preferred goal was probably a player that can play first base amongst other positions, rather than a pure first base-only type.  The Brewers still have plenty of time before the deadline to monitor Hoskins and Bauers’ recoveries, and to see if Vaughn can keep rolling.  Beyond just first base, the Brewers could make more of a move to obtain a left-handed hitting outfielder, with Bauers and Sal Frelick both hitting the IL in the last few days.

Brewers Re-Sign Bruce Zimmermann To Minors Deal

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TODAY: Zimmermann has re-signed with the Brewers on a new minor league deal, as per his MLB.com profile page.  The southpaw has again been assigned to Triple-A Nashville.

JULY 16: Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann has opted out of his minor league deal with the Brewers, reports Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors. The southpaw is now a free agent and free to sign with any club.

Zimmermann, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in the winter. Since then, he has been pitching for Triple-A Nashville. His season-long numbers are middling but he’s been in a good groove lately.

On the whole, he has made 13 starts and six relief appearances with a 4.35 earned run average in 89 innings. His 18.1% strikeout rate was a bit subpar but his 5% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate were both better than average. Through June 10th, he had a 5.90 ERA, but he has lowered that by putting together a good stretch of outings more recently. In his most recent 31 innings, he has a 1.45 ERA.

The Brewers are loaded with rotation options, so much so that they recently bumped Aaron Civale to the bullpen. He informed the club that he would prefer to be traded, and they obliged by sending him to the White Sox. Even with that trade, the Brewers have solid guys like Chad Patrick and Logan Henderson pitching in Triple-A. Nestor Cortes and Robert Gasser are working back from the injured list and could further crowd the picture.

Given that context, it’s understandable that Zimmermann would choose to pack his bag. He can likely find a greater path to the big leagues in another organization. Given his solid results and the high number of injuries around the league, someone should want him as a depth option. Some teams will also be trading away pitching in the coming weeks and will need to backfill roster spots.

Prior to this year, Zimmermann had spent most of his time with the Orioles. He got major league time with the O’s in four straight seasons from 2020 to 2023, totaling 158 1/3 innings pitched. He had a 5.57 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 41.1% ground ball rate in that time. He was outrighted during the 2024 season and elected free agency at the end of that campaign, which led to his deal with the Brewers.

Photo courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images

Notable Draft Signings: July 18-19th, 2025

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Here’s a roundup of players from the recent draft who were signed or agreed to terms in the past two days. For an arbitrary cutoff, this post will focus on players taken before the second round or any later picks who signed a bonus of $2MM or more. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

  • The Cubs have signed outfielder Ethan Conrad to a bonus of $3,563,100, per Jim Callis of MLB.com. Conrad was selected 17th overall, a pick that comes with a $4,750,800 slot. Since the Cubs are saving over a million on their first-round pick, they should have lots of leeway to lock up the remaining players in their class.
  • The Tigers have signed shortstop Jordan Yost with a $3.25MM bonus, per Callis. Yost went 24th overall, a pick that comes with a slot value of $3,726,300. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit has also agreed to terms with their second pick, catcher Michael Oliveto. Selected in the competitive balance A round, 34th overall, his $2.45MM signing bonus is below his $2,827,300 slot value. Between Yost and Oliveto, the Tigers have saved close to a million bucks, which can be redirected to the other guys they drafted.
  • The Orioles have signed catcher Caden Bodine with a $3,113,300 bonus, per Callis. Callis also relays that shortstop Wehiwa Aloy has signed for $3,042,800. Bodine and Aloy were taken 30th and 31st respectively, with the compensation picks the O’s received for Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander rejecting qualifying offers and signing elsewhere. Both bonuses were full slot value for their respective picks. The O’s also signed first-rounder Ike Irish to a bonus right around slot value, so they’ve played things pretty straight-up with their top three picks.
  • The Brewers announced that they have signed shortstop Brady Ebel, the son of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel. The younger Ebel was selected 32nd overall, the pick the Brewers received for Willy Adames rejecting a qualifying offer and signing elsewhere. That pick comes with a $2.97MM slot value. The signing bonus has not yet been publicly reported. [UPDATE: Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reports that Ebel signed for a below-slot $2.75MM bonus.]
  • The Mariners have agreed to terms with 19 of their draft picks, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Top pick Kade Anderson’s bonus was previously reported. The M’s also gave catcher Luke Stevenson a bonus of $2.8MM and shortstop Nick Becker $2.75MM. Stevenson was taken in the competitive balance A round, 33rd overall. This bonus comes in just barely above the $2.76MM slot for that pick. Becker was selected in the second round 57th overall, a pick that comes with a slot of $1.64MM. Anderson’s bonus was about $700K under slot and it seems the M’s redirected those savings to get Becker to sign. Callis reported the Stevenson bonus earlier today.
  • The Yankees have signed shortstop Dax Kilby to a $2.8MM bonus, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. Kilby was selected 39th overall, though that was actually the club’s top pick. Their first-rounder was pushed back ten spots because they went over the third competitive balance tax threshold last year. Slot for the pick was $2,509,500, so they went a bit over to get him to sign.
  • The Rays signed outfielder Brendan Summerhill to a $1,997,500 bonus, per Callis. He was selected 42nd overall, in competitive balance round A. Slot value for that pick was $2,331,000, so the Rays saved a bit on this one. The Rays also went below-slot to sign first-round Daniel Pierce, so they have lots of extra powder for the rest of their class.
  • The Cardinals signed shortstop Ryan Mitchell to a $2.25MM bonus, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Mitchell was taken in the second round, 55th overall. The slot for that pick is $1,720,300, so the Cards went about half a million above to get this one done. They saved close to a million when signing first-rounder Liam Doyle, so it seems some of those savings were used to ink Mitchell.

Photo courtesy of Dylan Widger, Imagn Images

Brewers Place Sal Frelick On Injured List

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The Brewers will open the second half without their starting right fielder. Milwaukee placed Sal Frelick on the 10-day injured list, backdated to July 15, due to a left hamstring strain. Blake Perkins was recalled from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot.

Frelick suffered the injury in Milwaukee’s final game before the All-Star Break. He first showed some discomfort on a stolen base and came out of the game after making a sliding catch in the following half-inning. Isaac Collins finished the game in right field and gets the start tonight against Dodgers righty Emmet Sheehan. The switch-hitting Collins has a solid .259/.363/.389 line with five homers in 228 plate appearances. He’d mostly been playing left field, where Jake Bauers and potentially Perkins could get more playing time.

This interrupts an excellent season for the 25-year-old Frelick. He has seven home runs and is hitting .294/.354/.404 across 385 trips to the plate. Frelick has stolen 17 bases in 21 attempts and is playing his usual plus defense in right field. The Brewers haven’t provided a timetable on his return, though it’s perhaps encouraging that they waited a few days to monitor his progress before making the injured list decision.

Milwaukee concluded the first half on a seven-game win streak. They’re a season-high 16 games above .500 and have pulled within a game and a half of the Cubs in the NL Central. The Brewers hold the first Wild Card spot in the National League and are 4.5 games clear of the Giants, the top non-playoff team in the NL.

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