In his role as president of baseball operations for the Milwaukee Brewers, Matt Arnold has had to make some difficult decisions. 

Most recently, he decided to trade Freddy Peralta, a bona fide ace, and Tobias Myers to the New York Mets for Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.

Through his tenure, Arnold has also moved off highly skilled pitchers like Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams, but one of the harder trades Arnold had to make did not have to do with any of those three players. 

In a recent appearance on Foul Territory TV, Arnold expressed the difficulty behind trading Peralta and his relationship with him. In that same segment, he described the choice to trade reliver Josh Hader as the most difficult of the big names the team has moved off in recent years. 

“I think they're all different,” Arnold said. “They're all challenging in their own ways. I think probably the Hader one just because it happened in season. You know, the others were more in the offseason. 

“And when you do something like that with your closer in season, I totally understand the ramifications around that and how challenging that can be to digest for everyone, for our fans, for our clubhouse, for our front office, like everybody, I think those are certainly challenging," Arnold said.

"But you're able to zoom out a little bit and sort of understand what that pain looks like,” he added. 

Hader was traded to the San Diego Padres in August 2022 for a number of players, one of which is left-hander Robert Gasser, the only player still with the ballclub from the trade. 

“And so again, it's just finding that right balance, but going through those processes, especially in season, are certainly challenging,” Arnold added. 

Arnold also discussed why certain trades take a long time to facilitate. 

“Some of it's probably just deadlines,” Arnold said. “Deadlines are powerful in this game. 

"And so, when you have team moments where you're about to report to camp, or you're about to start the season, or there's a trade deadline, those deadlines are impactful to speed up conversations," he said. "But ultimately, they're all different and unique, and you're always one phone call away. 

“You can feel like you're far apart, and then one phone call can change that," Arnold said. "So, you're layering in that conversation you're having with the other team, but then at the same time, you're also talking to the rest of the market and seeing what happens, and things can emerge.” 

From Arnold’s perspective, there are various factors to consider. 

“Maybe there's an injury, or there's a situation where somebody else makes a trade, and there's a need there, and somebody else emerges that was in the mix that you didn't anticipate, and you just want to be thorough," he said. 

“And so, I don't know if we, you don't want to miss out on anything and move too fast, but you don't want to move too slow and also miss out on something either," Arnold said. 

"So, it's just trying to find that right balance and do what's best, really for both sides," he added. "I think when you make a trade, whether it's a Durbin trade or a Freddy Peralta trade, hopefully it works out for both sides.” 

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