SPORTSLINE
The Milwaukee Brewers.
Freddy Peralta is the second-longest tenured Brewer, and they are lucky to have him. The Milwaukee Brewers are fortunate to have one of the most consistent starters in the National League this season. Starter injury plagued the team early on, but Freddy Peralta held down the fort. The one-time All-Star seems poised to earn his second nod this year. He has started 14 games so far this season and has a 2.69 ERA and 78-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 77 innings pitched to show for it. He’s eaten up innings and is currently leading the league with his 14 starts. Right-hander Freddy Peralta is in the final guaranteed year of his deal, though the Brewers have a club option to keep him around for 2026. Another extension would cost far more.
At the time of the first one, Peralta wasn’t even established as a bona fide major league starter. With the trade deadline approaching, Peralta is someone who has been speculated about as a potential trade candidate, although that doesn’t seem likely. Peralta has not only established himself as a starter, but he’s proven himself to be a great one. He stayed primarily in a relief role in 2020 but has been almost exclusively in the rotation since then, with just one relief appearance in both 2021 and 2022. On the whole, from 2021 to 2025, he has thrown 638 2/3 innings for the Brewers with a 3.40 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate, and 9% walk rate. He hasn’t been on the injured list since 2022. He is at a point where he could rightly ask for a nine-figure deal.
The Milwaukee Bucks.
After winning their first championship in 50 years in 2021, the Bucks had a strong showing in the 2022 playoffs, but their attempt at a title defense was foiled in the second round against Boston. Milwaukee went 58-24 and claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference ahead of the 2023 playoffs. The Bucks were eliminated in five games, while the Heat made a surprising run to the NBA Finals. Entering the 2024 playoffs, the Bucks had home-court advantage in their first-round series vs. Indiana, but Antetokounmpo didn’t play at all due to a calf injury, and Lillard missed a couple of games as well due to a sore Achilles. They wound up being eliminated in six games by the upstart Pacers. Despite a stellar showing from Antetokounmpo, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round for the third straight time, this time in five games. Lillard is on a maximum-salary contract, which is projected to pay him about $54.1MM in ’25/26, with a $59.5MM player option for ’26/27. He turns 35 years old next month and will likely miss all of next season. The severity of Lillard’s injury and Milwaukee’s third consecutive first-round exit have led to rampant speculation about Antetokounmpo’s future.
There has been no indication to this point that he’ll end up requesting a trade. Kevin Porter Jr. is expected to decline his player option and hit free agency, opening the door for the Milwaukee Bucks to take Hunter Sallis in the NBA Draft. Porter was a nice addition at the trade deadline, offering a much-needed scoring punch off the bench and helping the roster become younger and more athletic. However, the Bucks shouldn’t look to overpay to bring him back.
The Green Bay Packers. The news that was expected for most of the offseason, Jaire Alexander’s pending release from the Green Bay Packers, has arrived. Ultimately, the two sides could not find a compromise to stay together for another year. The team indicated they were frustrated with the weekly waiting game to see if Alexander was healthy enough to play or would be willing to play at less than 100%. Green Bay was not prepared to pay him the $17 million he was due in 2024, and apparently, a potential trade was nixed because the acquiring team felt the same way, with Alexander unwilling to restructure to allow the trade to happen.
From a monetary standpoint, the Packers save $17 million this year and $19.5 million next year, but on the field, the corner position quickly becomes one of the bigger question marks on the roster. They clearly feel confident in the group they have, but keeping hold of Alexander, despite the recurring injury issues he has endured, would have raised the ceiling of the group and added another layer of depth to help them get through the season. In terms of true cornerbacks, the Packers’ depth chart now consists of a former fifth-round pick in Hobbs, a sixth-round pick in Hadden (by Kansas City), three seventh-round picks in Valentine, King, and Hadden, and a former UDFA in Nixon. Those six players count less than $16.5 million against the cap this year, a lower combined cap hit than Alexander’s by itself.
