MLB Rumors: New Team Enters the Freddy Peralta Sweepstakes

January 21, 2026 ,
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta walks off the field during 2025 game.

The San Diego Padres are deep in the Freddy Peralta conversation, with Ken Rosenthal reporting they have checked in with the Milwaukee Brewers as the market for the right hander keeps widening. 

Peralta has already been tied to a long list of contenders this winter, and the Padres have now entered the sweepstakes. 

He is due just $8 million in 2026 on an option year, which is the kind of number that barely exists for top of the rotation arms anymore.

Why the Padres are circling Freddy Peralta

San Diego’s rotation has been living on uncertainty, and 2026 is shaping up the same way unless they add another dependable starter. 

They lost Dylan Cease and Michael King to free agency at season’s end, Yu Darvish had UCL surgery that will wipe out his entire 2026, and even after bringing King back, the rest of the picture is full of question marks. 

Nick Pivetta has been in trade chatter thanks to his back loaded deal, Joe Musgrove is working his way back after missing 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the depth options behind them come with real volatility. 

If the Padres want to keep pace in the National League West, they need more than hope. 

Why Milwaukee can demand a serious return

Since the start of 2021, Peralta has logged 738.1 innings with a 3.30 ERA and an elite 29.6% strikeout rate, and he just put together a 2025 season that looked like a true peak, posting a 2.70 ERA over 176.2 innings with a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate. 

He is also a two time All Star who has made at least 30 starts and struck out 200 or more hitters in each of the last three seasons.

That is why this is not a simple match, even if the $8 million salary fits San Diego’s tight spending lane. Milwaukee does not have to trade him, and if they keep him through 2026, they could still land a compensatory draft pick if he rejects a qualifying offer next winter. 

At the same time, the Brewers have shown they will cash in on stars as free agency approaches, and with broadcast revenue uncertainty and payroll pressure hovering, Peralta sits right on that line where an offer could actually force their hand.

Photo Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

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