Brewers Mock Trade Would Cut Ties With $18 Million Slugger To Pirates

Will the Brewers end up making a trade?

Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images / Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Will the Milwaukee Brewers cut ties with one of their best sluggers before the 2025 season kicks off?

Milwaukee has already shown that it isn't afraid to pull off a trade involving a key member of the organization. The Brewers traded All-Star closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees in exchange for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin.

There has been some chatter since that first baseman Rhys Hoskins could be available. This is just speculation at this point, but he's due to make $18 million in 2025 after opting into his player option.

If he were to get moved, that could free up some cash for the Brewers to use elsewhere. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller made a list of seven hypothetical trades and suggested a deal in which the Brewers would send Hoskins to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"When the Brewers signed Rhys Hoskins last winter, surely they were hoping he would play well enough on his $12M salary in 2024 to opt out of the rest of the $34M contract," Miller said. "Instead, they are (unless they can trade it away) now stuck with his $18M salary for 2025, as well as the $4M buyout of the $18M mutual option for 2026...

"If the Brewers are willing to at least buy down the salary a bit, though, the Pirates could be an interested party. They've become big fans of taking one-year flyers on guys coming off of disappointing seasons—see: Aroldis Chapman, Martín Pérez, Rowdy Tellez and Yasmani Grandal last winter, Rich Hill in 2023, Jose Quintana in 2022—and they could definitely use at least one more 1B/DH option, even after the recent acquisition of Spencer Horwitz...The Trade: Milwaukee sends 1B Rhys Hoskins and $8M cash to Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh sends IF Tsung-Che Cheng to Milwaukee"

Could a deal of this nature work? It would pave the way for the Brewers to look elsewhere on the open market to fill the first base spot.

More MLB: Brewers Should Replace Devin Williams With Ex-Cardinals $2.6M All-Star