Owners of MLB’s best regular-season record and a franchise-record 97 wins in 2025, the Milwaukee Brewers crashed out of last year’s playoffs in quite humiliating fashion. It’s one thing to be knocked out by the eventual World Series champions — and it’s no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers had a particularly potent roster — but the extent to which Milwaukee was outclassed in the NLCS undeniably began the winter on a sour, sobering note that made the regular season’s resounding success a distant memory. The Brewers were outscored 15-4 during this four-game sweep. Worse yet, they hit a total of .118/.191/.193, which equated to a paltry .384 OPS which was the second lowest score ever by a team in a championship series.
After a summer filled with magical moments and an early postseason triumph over the rival Cubs, the Brewers fell short in what would have been only the second World Series appearance in franchise history. At the same time, their huge sample of victories in previous months was another reminder of the organization’s unique ability to remain ultra-competitive on an annual basis, regardless of payroll or roster turnover. Still, the fact that Milwaukee has come close multiple times over the past decade without actually reaching the Fall Classic raises the question of what this organization can do to ensure the final destination is finally reached.
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To that end, the offseason represents an opportunity for contenders to make the necessary upgrades to advance the following season. But the Brewers haven’t acted with any sort of urgency this winter — a stark contrast to the transactional activity of another team that suffered playoff heartbreak against the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, who responded to their World Series loss with several major signings. Meanwhile, the Brewers’ free agency activity has included retaining Brandon Woodruff via qualifying offer and signing outfielder Akil Baddoo to a shared agreement this does not guarantee a place on the list. That’s it.
Of course, the difference in market size and spending power must be recognized when comparing Milwaukee’s offseason to those of their rivals, but the Brewers’ relative passivity still makes for an interesting organizational response to what happened in 2025. They’re not alone in this category, but the Brewers’ outsized success in the regular season, followed by a particularly nasty playoff exit, makes their timid hot-stove strategy worthy of closer examination.
As pitchers and catchers head to Maryvale, Ariz., in just over a month, here are four big questions hanging over the Brew Crew:
1. Will they trade Freddy Peralta?
Amid a starting pitching market that hasn’t really moved this offseason, the Brewers have one of the league’s most valuable trade chips in Peralta, who is coming off the best season of his career and is only set to make $8 million in 2026 before hitting free agency. Most players in Peralta’s position and his caliber seem like the last player a team would consider trading, given his value, but the Brewers have consistently demonstrated a willingness to shed key players before their contracts expire in an effort to recoup valuable future assets; Peralta’s former rotation partner Corbin Burnes is the most glaring recent example.
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Reproducing Burnes’ bet now appears to be a possibility several teams inquire Peralta, and there’s an argument that Peralta could fetch even more in a trade than what Burnes gave up to Baltimore (shortstop Joey Ortiz, left-hander DL Hall and the draft pick ultimately used on first baseman Blake Burke, who reached Double-A in his first full professional season in 2025). Peralta isn’t as accomplished overall as Burnes was at the time of his trade, but he is I just had a better seasonand his modest salary is far more attractive than the roughly $16 million Burnes was set to earn in his final year of arbitration.
Assuming super-ace Tarik Skubal isn’t dealt, Peralta probably is the best pitcher remaining on the free agent or trade marketscomparing favorably not only to other trade candidates such as MacKenzie Gore and Edward Cabrera, but also to top free agent weapons such as Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Zac Gallen. It’s not hard to see why teams would be willing to pay a premium price to land Peralta, even for just one season, and such deals might prove too enticing for the Brewers to pass up.
That said, trading another longtime fan favorite is not a decision to be made lightly, even if Milwaukee has done this dance before. And executing such a trade while significantly improving the roster for 2026 is a delicate balance to strike — if that’s even possible.
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2. What are Jacob Misiorowski’s expectations in 2026?
Beyond whether Milwaukee can extract enough value in a trade for Peralta, the other key consideration when evaluating such a move concerns the strength of the rotation with or without him. Keeping Woodruff via qualifying offer is a crucial piece of this puzzle, although his durability remains a serious question given his ailments in recent years, including a side strain that made him unavailable for the playoffs. The Brewers have also demonstrated the ability to turn pitchers who have failed to flourish with other organizations into impactful weapons in Milwaukee, with Quinn Priester and Chad Patrick the latest examples bolstering the club’s rotation depth and Tobias Myers another relevant figure in that regard.
However, few pitchers in the entire sport enter 2026 with as much intrigue as Misiorowski. The lanky right-hander, who turns just 24 in April, enjoyed a supersonic rise to stardom last season, a rollercoaster ride that also featured some notable points of adversity, but ended on an encouraging note considering his postseason appearance, when he struck out 16 batters while allowing just two earned runs in 12 innings over three appearances.
Fresh off his star role in 2025 – and after a notable increase in workload to a career-high 129⅓ frames across the minors, majors and postseason – what are the realistic prospects for Misiorowski’s sophomore campaign? Will he continue to strike out tons of hitters with his otherworldly stuff, or will he ultimately prove too wild to be a reliable rotation option, validating a concern that has followed him throughout his trajectory as a prospect?
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How much confidence Milwaukee has in Misiorowski to become its next frontcourt anchor could play a role in the team’s decision to trade or keep Peralta. And Peralta ramifications aside, Misiorowski’s development will be worth monitoring in 2026.
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3. Will the Brewers add a major league hitter?
Outside of Baddoo — an intriguing rebound target in the mold of some other rehab projects that have thrived in Milwaukee but who is far from a sure bet to contribute — the most important addition Milwaukee has made to its offensive unit this offseason is a some new hitting coaches (including former slugger Daniel Vogelbach). In fact, the Brewers technically subtracted more from their offense than they added, trading Isaac Collins to Kansas City after Collins’ improbable campaign in which he finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
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Left-hander Angel Zerpa — Collins’ return in this deal — may well make a big impact on Milwaukee’s mound, but he’s not going to help the team’s production efforts, and that raises questions about whether there will be any offensive improvements before Opening Day for an offense that ranks 11th in OPS and 22nd in home runs in 2025 and which caught fire against the Dodgers in October.
Perhaps reinforcements could arrive on the way back in a trade to Peralta (or in another trade), or there are still a good number of free agent bats available that could help the Brewers and won’t cost a tonlike Miguel Andujar or Austin Hays. First base – based on Milwaukee’s confidence in Andrew Vaughn’s rebirth – and left field are two places to watch for improvements, especially if the Brewers intend to stick with Joey Ortiz at shortstop, as has been reported.
4. What is Jackson Chourio’s ceiling?
If Misiorowski represents the most enticing and critical pitcher to project for Milwaukee, Chourio is arguably the bigger stick when it comes to assessing the overall strength of the position player group. After showing tremendous potential as a 20-year-old rookie, Chourio put together a sophomore season with eerily similar totals at the surface level – seriously, check out how almost identical it is his first two seasons were — but his underlying metrics regressed just enough to make Chourio’s sophomore campaign a modest disappointment, though nothing could dampen his prospects as a future star.
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Now, 2026 represents a crucial opportunity for Chourio to demonstrate that he is still on track to be a face-of-the-franchise type player, and he will need to prove it on both sides of the ball. He has obvious potential as a power and speed dynamo, but his value to Milwaukee in the long run will be dictated even more by how he progresses as a defender.
If Chourio proves he can play competent center field — where he started 91 games in the regular season before playing exclusively corner field in the postseason — it would reduce the pressure on his bat to hit at the superstar level while improving Milwaukee’s team flexibility. If he settles instead in left or right field, it will become essential for Chourio, the hitter, to increase his production.
Chourio has plenty of time to make the necessary adjustments to improve his game with the bat and glove — he’ll only be 22 in March, after all — but the speed and magnitude of those improvements will play a big role in Milwaukee’s plans and ambitions for the foreseeable future.
