Red Sox Could Acquire Brewers Ace In Surprising Blockbuster Trade

Boston's front office is a force to be reckoned with at the moment

Jul 28, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Milwaukee Brewers hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox are bound to make a big trade before July’s deadline.

Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been bold and effective in recent months, and he’s put the Red Sox back into the contender conversation, at least on paper.

The Red Sox still have a few roster issues to sort through. Depth chart logjams in both the infield and outfield are preventing baseball’s No. 2 overall prospect Roman Anthony, along with his fellow stud prospect Marcelo Mayer, from taking their rightful places on the Major League roster.

Boston’s pitching staff isn’t a finished project, either. There are multiple questions about the bullpen, and Breslow also won’t rule out adding another impact starter, especially with three members of the Red Sox’s projected rotation having begun 2025 on the Injured List.

The writing is on the wall. Boston is likely going to trade one of its talented position players soon -- be it Ceddanne Rafaela, Trevor Story, or someone else -- in exchange for pitching.

Would a Rafaela-centric package be able to land Boston a top-end starter? No, but if Breslow was willing to include some non-Anthony/non-Mayer top-end prospect capital along with Rafaela, many teams would come calling.

As such, Breslow should monitor the Freddy Peralta situation with the Milwaukee Brewers, with Peralta surprisingly being called a potential trade chip this week by Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller.

“Should the Brew Crew fall hopelessly out of contention, trading away Peralta could be one heck of a way for them to expedite a rebuild that they have somehow been postponing for a few years now,” Miller wrote.

“Peralta is making just $8M this season with an $8M club option for 2026, which is a preposterously low price point for one of the three pitchers (along with Zack Wheeler and Dylan Cease) who has recorded at least 200 strikeouts in each of the past two seasons.”

“If Milwaukee thinks it will bounce right back into the postseason mix next year, the underpaid ace of this staff won't be going anywhere.”

“But if it's willing to move a very good pitcher a year before it won't be able to re-sign him anyway—a la Corbin Burnes last offseason—let's just say there would be a lot of interested parties here.”

“Peralta has made two starts, going 13.0 innings with a 2.08 ERA, 0.54 WHIP and 11.1 K/9, with an 0-1 record to show for it.”

Getting Peralta would be a dream scenario for the Red Sox. Having a Garrett Crochet-Walker Buehler-Peralta trio in the playoffs would give Boston a strong chance to win the World Series, provided its offense is healthy.

To pry Peralta away from the Brewers, Boston would probably have to put together a package featuring Rafaela, prospect capital, and one of its young, Major League-ready starters (Richard Fitts or Quinn Priester), and even that might not be enough.

On the other hand, would packaging Rafaela and Tanner Houck for Peralta be an oversell by Boston?

Tons of fascinating questions could arise for Breslow if Peralta hits the market at any point.

Peralta is highly likely staying put in Milwaukee, but if the Brewers have a nightmare few months, anything could happen.

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