We’ll return to rolling out the Top 100 next time, but the news cycle demands that we make room to discuss two important transactions in the prospect world.
If you happen to be a Brewers fan, I don’t really know what to say that might make you feel better about trading Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers for RHP Brandon Sproat and SS Jett Williams. Maybe you’ve internalized the message that your team is so poor that it can’t afford the final season of a good player contract, or so bad at finding prospects that they have to make these types of trades to keep the system stocked. You may be completely in tune with this transaction.
I think $8 million or a postseason starter is incredibly cheap. Sure, he only generated 3.6 FWAR in 2026, which is only worth about $40 million by regular season calculations.
Milwaukee was great at winning during the regular season. I’m sure the win-share math on this trade works from a long-term, regular-season perspective, where no one cares if you never win a World Series.
In my opinion, the postseason is different. A starter like Peralta pushes a team like New York into actual contention and the loss of that piece means Milwaukee would enter October without an ace.
I can’t shake the feeling that this trade feels like a guy brought a new guy into a dynasty league and then made a friendly deal with him. Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns stayed on for a full season after leaving his position in September 2022. That entire time he mentored current Brewers PoBO Matt Arnold. It was this reason in particular that prompted me to predict this transaction last week in Prospect News: Never Met a Pricier Maybe or Bichette, Please when I wrote “If he returns to Stearns, he could call his old club and figure something out for Freddy Peralta, which feels like enough to finish strong in a strange offseason. It’s unclear what the Brewers would want.”
It feels like a pretty strong finish to me, especially when combined with their trade for CF Luis Robert. They had three excellent pitching prospects and gave up the fewest of the three, at least to me. They have a plethora of young infielders who are being blocked by veterans and are giving up one. In return, they get four years of cheap control over a pitcher who generated a 3.00 ERA in 138 innings as a rookie in 2024.
Oh, and they also get Freddy Peralta, the star of a team that won the most games in the National League last year. I see people calling him a starter at number three, and that’s just wrong. In what world does a contending team have two starters better than Peralta? Sorry, distracted by straw men. What do people call him a third starter? He’s the ace of the New York City Metropolitans for God’s sake!
And what will he make next winter if he stays healthy? Let’s say he posts a 2.90 ERA in 190 regular season innings. Will hit free agency at age 30. He’s in the same league as Tarik Skubal, who can go either way, but it feels like it’s a rising tide that raises all ships. Could Peralta make a deal for $40 million per year? I think so. Which means the Brewers would have generated approximately $30 million in consolidated value on his contract by retaining him through 2026.
In the playoffs, that math is irrelevant. You don’t compare guys to replacement level players. You measure boys against regular players in first division ball clubs.
SS Jett Williams is getting a nice value boost, both in the short and long term.
Here’s what I wrote about Williams in the Mets prospect report:
“Registered at 5’7” 175 pounds, Williams is a spark plug in the mold Jose Altuve or Corbin Carollwhich provides some context for how fantastic he will have to be to play at his size every day. In 130 games across two levels, he hit 17 home runs and stole 34 bases, but he was much better in the 96 Double-A games than in 34 Triple-A games. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but he’s going to have to be pretty good to crack this lineup, and I’m a little worried he might go the way of the Drew Gilbert and ultimately traded.”
Oh yeah, he got traded. That escalated quickly.
This is what I wrote about Sproat:
“All the cool kids loved Sproat heading into the season, but the skeptics among us became more accurate than the enthusiasts, as is so often the case in life. He’s still a solid prospect, of course. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, he’s strong and balanced in his delivery, which has helped him develop command of his impressive arsenal, highlighted by a mid-90s fastball that plays well in the zone and plays well. goes along with his cutter, slider and changeup.
I don’t think he’ll open the season in their rotation, but he’ll certainly throw a lot of innings for them in 2026.
The other big pitching deal to discuss was Mackenzie Gore going from Washington to Texas in exchange for a five-way package of Gavin Fien, Abimelec Ortiz, Alejandro Rosario, Devin Fitz-Gerald and Yeremy Cabrera. Gore should be able to pitch much better for a capable defensive and competitive team in a cozy setting for left-handed pitchers. I saw someone move quickly yesterday to get him into a 15-team dynasty league, sending Ozzie Albies, Seth Lugo, Alek Thomas and Austin Hays to Gore and Lars Nootbaar.
The Nationals can grow more branches on the Juan Soto trade tree. I’ll post the four profiles from my top ten here for them. Cabrera just missed, but I like him enough as a fairly standard power-speed outfielder who posted a 120 wRC+ in 102 games as a 19-year-old in Low-A.
2. 2B Gavin Fien | 19 | A | 2030
Texas took this 6’3″, 200 pound, right-handed power bat 12th overall and signed him for $4.8 million. They sent him down to Low-A for ten games at the end of the season, and while he didn’t hit much, the experience jumping from high school to pro ball in one summer should help him heading into 2026.
7. 1B/OF Ortiz Abimelec | 24 | AAA | 2026
At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds from the left side, Ortiz is more athletic and looser than he first appears, and I’ve long thought he’s underrated in dynasty circles, in part because many public rosters place a heavy emphasis on defense. In 130 games in Double and Triple-A, Ortiz hit 25 home runs and hit .257/.356/.479 with a 22.1 percent strikeout rate.
8. RHP Alejandro Rosario | 23 | A+ | 2028
The last time Rosario was on a field in 2024, it was all incredible, leading him to a 0.93 WHIP and 2.24 ERA in 88.1 innings across Low-A and High-A. He missed all of 2025 with an elbow injury that would require Tommy John surgery and theoretically still does, but this entire story is shrouded in HIPAA mystery, and Rosario will reportedly miss all of 2026. There isn’t much clarity on how to play this one for our game other than to wish this kid the best. From his perspective, it seems like a frightening situation.
10. 3B Divine Fitz-Gerald | 20 | A | 2029
Fitz-Gerald is a kind of American version of Rodriguez as a sum-of-his-parts type who always feels at home on a baseball field. A 5’10” and 185-pound switch-hitter, he has a good approach from both sides of the plate and is hitting .302/.428/.482 with eight home runs, six stolen bases and just 24 strikeouts against 28 walks in 41 games across two levels. In a system that gives little consideration to position players, Fitz-Gerald could quickly climb the organizational ladder.
Ortiz is the big winner of our game here. Texas is a tough park for power, and Washington tends to be friendly to lefties. Plus, he should have a chance to break camp into the big league starting lineup, which would be pretty hard to imagine in Texas.
Rosario could be a nice addition if they can solve his mysterious elbow problems. He’s finally getting that Tommy John surgery, so he’ll be out of action for a while.
Thanks for reading!
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