The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a 97-win season; the most in franchise history. Now, Milwaukee will continue navigating the Winter Meetings and figure out the best way to ensure success moving forward.  

There are a lot of questions surrounding the future of ace Freddy Peralta and the roster. Decisions will begin with president of baseball operations Matt Arnold, who was recently named Executive of the Year at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas. 

Recenlty, Arnold sat down with MLB Network at the Winter Meetings in Orlando to discuss multiple topics including scouting, roster moves and his relationship with back-to-back NL Manager of the Year Pat Murphy. 

“We get in the room we talk about guys we talk to our scouts we talk to our coaches,” Arnold said. “I spend a lot of time with Pat Murphy saying, hey, what do you need? What's the most important thing you can you need on this roster to help the team? And it's a collaboration effort. It really is.”  

“You know, a lot of fans get attached up high profile names. I think what gets lost is the scouts that drafted them, the player development guys that grinded it out through the minors with these guys.” 

The Brewers are a small market team, and do not have a large payroll as a result. Therefore, only two players, Christian Yelich and Rhys Hoskins, are making more than $10 million per year. The Brewers have also moved on from players like Willy Adames, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams. 

“When you when you move really important players off your roster it's really tough and we've had to make those tough decisions for a number of years and it's certainly not easy but you have to have the type of people around the group and the players that are still there,” Arnold said. “Just pick up the slack you know, and I think it starts with the guys in the minor leagues that are coming through and then the coaching staff just to It's still the confidence in everybody there.” 

Another contract negotiation coming up is Murphy’s, whose current three-year deal ends after the 2026 season. Arnold could not disclose contract discussions, but he hopes to keep Murphy in the organization. 

“(I) obviously can't talk about contract situations with anybody, but I will tell you, like, I've worked with Murph for 10 years, and I love working with Murph. I mean, what you see is what you get. Blue collar approach, how we play the game, I mean, why we've been good.” 

“I think Murph has been right in the middle of all of it for a long time, and I love working with him. I hope we can work together for a really long time.” 

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