How Brewers could get tempted to trade .831 OPS outfielder to Guardians

The Milwaukee Brewers are a World Series contender this season, so it would be a bit of a surprise if they wound up trading away anyone from the Major League roster.

However, if there were an are of the roster where some big leaguer could be dealt, it would be the outfield. It's a crowded room right now, and the organizational depth might help open the door to a deal as well.

ESPN's Jeff Passan believes the Brewers could be tempted to trade away their .831 OPS outfielder, Garrett Mithcell, to the Cleveland Guardians this summer.

Brewers could get tempted to trade Garrett Mitchell per ESPN's Jeff Passan

"With Luis Lara's promotion, though, they've now got a center fielder under long-term contract, and with Milwaukee's depth in the outfield - Lara, Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, plus Jett Williams and Josh Adamczewski nearly big-league ready - Cleveland has a good enough farm system to tempt the Brewers into moving Mitchell."

This would be a very interesting move for the Brewers, as trading away Mitchell, one of their better hitters, in the middle of a World Series-contending season, would be a shocker.

Mitchell has a .276 batting average with eight homers and an .831 OPS this season with 1.8 bWAR in 254 at-bats. Trading him would be a very bold decision from the Brewers.

He's under club control through the 2028 season as well, so there's little reason for the Brewers to trade him as if he were a rental hitting free agency after 2026.

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Sure, the Guardians could put together a very strong offer for Mitchell, but regardless of how good that offer might be, if such a deal can't help the team in 2026, it might not be the best move for Milwaukee.

They have Chourio, Frelick, and Lara as outfield options in the big leagues right now, and they could decide to trade for a different outfielder this summer alongside a Mitchell trade.

But any possible scenario involving trading away Mitchell this summer makes very little sense and would be too complicated and too risky to pull off.

If the Brewers were sellers, a Mitchell trade would make sense. But, they sit atop the NL Central, and such a trade, as Passan alludes to being a possibility if the Guardians make a big offer, would not make sense for Milwaukee this season at all.

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