MLB Rumors: Brewers Looking To Trade Another Player In Salary Purge

The Milwaukee Brewers are in a tough situation in the National League Central. While the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals are expected to be big-spenders in this year's offseason, the Brewers seem to be going in the other direction—purging salary. According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the next to go is second baseball Kolten Wong.

The Hunter Renfroe deal is a salary dump: An organization pitching-starved, pitching-thin gives up three arms to the Brewers, who had been shopping Renfroe aggressively; he could make $11m in arb in '23. The expectation among rival teams is that Kolten Wong will be the next to go

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 23, 2022

Olney pointed to this week's Hunter Renfroe trade to the Los Angeles Angels as a "salary dump" for the Brewers. Renfroe is scheduled to make about $11M in arbitration next season. 

Wong just recently had his $10M club option for the 2023 season picked up by Milwuakee, but it's possible that it was solely under the guise of using him as trade bait. Olney says that rival teams expect the second baseman to be traded next. 

The 32-year-old Wong had a nice season at the plate in 2022, batting .251 this season with a career-high 15 homers to go along with 47 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. His .339 on-base percentage and .430 slugging percentage were both slightly above his career norms. 

But on defense, he suffered a puzzling down year. The two-time Gold Glove winner had 17 errors to match his career high.

Photo: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports