The Milwaukee Brewers did it again. They traded away their best pitcher — Freddy Peralta — and the immediate reaction around the league is the same as it always is with Milwaukee: Wait… how are they comfortable doing this? And then, inevitably: How are they still this good?
The Brewers have basically made a cottage industry out of flipping cornerstone talent without detonating the entire operation. Corbin Burnes. Josh Hader. Devin Williams. Now Peralta. Different contexts, same underlying belief: if you’re good at replenishing, developing, and reallocating value, you don’t cling to players just because they’re the best you have at that role.