Guardians lowkey helped Brewers' 2027 outlook with 2026 trade deadline deal

The Cleveland Guardians’ trade deadline deal with the Brewers earlier this year was a classic case of two small-market teams betting on the systems they’ve put in place. 

The Brewers were betting their hitting system would be able to get more out of Bo Naylor (the players the Guardians sent away) while the Guardians were hoping their pitching lab would be able to get more out of Craig Yoho along with squeaking more value out of Blake Perkins. 

Neither club got much from the trade in 2026, but that could change next season thanks to Naylor’s impending role change with the Brewers. 

Bo Naylor could play a big role for the Brewers in 2027

While it may seem like there may not be a ton of room for Naylor on the 2027 iteration of the Brewers considering William Contreras just put together a great season as their starting catcher that ended with him winning World Series MVP, but the landscape behind him is pretty barren. 

Gary Sánchez was the Brewers primary backup during 2026, but he played in just 86 games and is set to be a free agent. Now there should be room for Naylor, who spent most of the season in Triple-A but appeared in three games at the end of the season and mashed a homer in one of his seven plate appearances. 

He was on the Brewers’ taxi squad in the postseason but was never promoted to any of their active rosters. 

While the Guardians had high hopes for Naylor during the start of his time with their club, most of time in the bigs was plagued by inconsistency. He opened the 2026 season on the Guardian’s roster but was demoted to Triple-A at the start of May after Cleveland acquired Patrick Bailey. 

Milwaukee is as good of a landing spot as any for Naylor given he had a couple months to work behind the scenes with Brewers pitchers and can find some soft landing spots for at-bats and game action next season as a backup. He also still has three years of arbitration remaining, so it’s not like the Brewers need to worry about losing him any time soon. 

That said, it also seems like there’s a chance he could be thrust into a bigger role depending on what the Brewers decide with Contreras. The Brewers hold a $14.5 million club option on Contreras for 2027 in what would be the final year of his arbitration control. The Brewers have made their hay trading their stars before they hit free agency, which is the exact situation Contreras is in now. 

It’s hard to imagine the Brewers would trade Contreras, but Naylor is a clear insurance option if they would choose to do so. 

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