Yankees just got worst competition possible for Freddy Peralta trade

The New York Yankees' interest in Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta has been known for some time. Even as the Brewers have insisted that they are not actively shopping the 29-year-old ace, the rumblings surrounding him have only heated up as the winter has progressed, and the Yankees were one of the first clubs to jump into the mix.

However, New York hasn't been able to get close to a deal. That's partly because they're far from alone in their pursuit of Peralta. The New York Mets and Boston Red Sox are other clubs that have long been sniffing around his market. Other potentially interested teams, like the San Francisco Giants and the Houston Astros, may have dropped out of the race thanks to some recent moves, but that doesn't mean things will settle any time soon, as a couple of new teams have jumped into the fray.

Those two clubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, are reportedly new entrants into this contest. And for the Yankees, they might be the most dangerous competition yet.

Dodgers and Braves jumping into Freddy Peralta sweepstakes is worst possible news for Yankees

What should be clear by now is that the Yankees won't be getting Peralta for a song, as some MLB insiders have suggested. This list of contenders circling overhead is too long, and the asset pool they have at their disposal is too deep.

And while Peralta is in his final year of team control, unlike the much more controllable Shane Baz and Mike Burrows, it's very much a seller's market when it comes to starting pitching.

The Dodgers and Braves should scare you the most. Both clubs are smooth operators on the trade market and often get what they want. In the case of the Dodgers, their embarrassment of riches extends to their farm system, where they ranked as the best in the game per MLB Pipeline's midseason rankings.

Furthermore, neither of these clubs loses trades often. It almost feels like they could put easily together an offer that would beat out the Yankees, yet at the end of the day we'd see them give up very little of actual consequence to nab Peralta.

There is something working in the Yankees' favor, though. Both of these clubs, as well as the Mets, are NL contenders trying to make their way through the same crowded field that the Brewers are. While that doesn't automatically disqualify them if one of those teams were to offer the clear best package, Milwaukee is another shrewd operator that understands the implications of giving away Peralta to a chief rival.

All of this is to say that if the Yankees are serious about Peralta, they're going to have to pay up. The Brewers are said to be high on Spencer Jones, and that's a good starting point, but Jones alone won't get the job done. If Brian Cashman tries to get too cute, he'll find Peralta being shipped off to one of these competitors, forcing him to turn his full attention to a much worse fit in Edward Cabrera.

It's been a quiet winter, but if the Yankees can rise to the occasion and beat out the opposition for Peralta, suddenly the tenor of the offseason will change dramatically.