The Brewers may have another front office bridge to the Athletics, and that kind of connection has a way of turning into real business.
Milwaukee already knows what that looks like. Since David Stearns left after the 2022 season and eventually took over the Mets’ baseball operations department, he and his successor, Matt Arnold, have already lined up on a couple of trades, including last year’s Freddy Peralta blockbuster. That kind of familiarity can grease the skids when two organizations are trying to make a deal work.
Now there’s a new link to watch. Former Brewers vice president of player development Cam Castro was hired as the Athletics’ general manager, and he arrives after seven years in Milwaukee in a range of roles.
He joins an A’s organization that looked like it was trending upward in 2025 before dropping 98 games in 2026. With Castro and newly hired president of baseball operations Taylor Smith in place, the Brewers could be a logical trade partner as the Athletics sort through their next steps, especially with Las Vegas looming for 2028.
If that relationship does lead to a deal, Milwaukee should have a few names circled.
Jack Perkins is the kind of buy-low arm that can make sense for a team that values pitching depth. The Brewers don’t exactly need to force another starter into the 2027 mix, but over 162 games, depth gets tested in a hurry.
Perkins, 26, struggled in 2026 with a 6.10 ERA over 121 innings, but the underlying stuff still pops. He posted a 34.3% chase rate, which sat in the 85th percentile, and a 25.9% strikeout rate, good for the 73rd percentile.
He can throw just about every pitch shape you’d want to see, and while left-handed hitters handled his fastball this year, his secondaries are already grading as above-average offerings. If he can cut down the homers and keep building out the cutter to better handle lefties, there’s real upside here.
He also comes with five years of team control, which only adds to the appeal.
J.T. Ginn is the more polished option, even if the ceiling may not be quite as loud.
The 27-year-old right-hander turned in a 3.71 ERA across 138.1 innings in 2026, but the bat-missing numbers don’t jump off the page the way Perkins’ do. His fastball sits in the low 90s, about 3-4 ticks below Perkins, and his five-pitch mix doesn’t create a ton of separation.
Still, Ginn’s sinker is a real weapon, and it helped him post a 46.3% ground ball rate, which landed in the 72nd percentile. Put him behind Milwaukee’s infield defense, and that profile starts to look a lot more interesting.
He’s under team control for four more seasons, has three minor league options left, and just posted the best big-league season of his career. If the Athletics don’t see him as part of their future, the Brewers should be paying attention.
Then there’s Elvis Alvarado, who brings a different kind of look entirely. He’s a reliever, not a starter, but the raw ingredients are hard to ignore.
The 27-year-old averaged 98.7 mph on his four-seamer in 2026, and he delivers it from a low 22-degree arm slot with plenty of arm-side run. He pairs that with a gyro slider he throws about 20% of the time, plus an occasional sinker and a split change he added this year to keep lefties honest.
The results were strong in the swing-and-miss department: a 28.4% strikeout rate, which sat in the 86th percentile, and a 31.4% whiff rate, which landed in the 89th percentile. The issue is control, along with hard contact.
His walk rate ranked in the 18th percentile, so there’s work to do. But with five years of contract control and one minor league option remaining, Alvarado has the kind of back-end bullpen upside that could be worth the gamble.
If Milwaukee and the Athletics do end up talking this offseason, these are three names that fit the moment.
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