ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Pat Murphy has been through this before.
The Milwaukee Brewers' manager knows the business side of baseball means he could lose ace pitcher Freddy Peralta this winter. The 2024 and '25 National League Manager of the Year tried to look at the situation with a little philosophy and a little humor.
“I watched some of these contracts out here,” Murphy said Tuesday at the winter meetings. “He’s due to be a wealthy man, have a lot of acreage if he wants it, maybe beachfront acreage … wherever he wants it in multiple islands.”
Murphy knows those islands probably won't be in Wisconsin.
Peralta, 29, is under contract through 2026 but because he can become a free agent after the 2027 season, his name has been mentioned in trade chatter this fall. The two-time All-Star has risen from rotation depth to front-of-the-staff force over the past several seasons. In 2025, Peralta led the NL in wins with 17, posted a 2.70 ERA and finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting. He helped lead the Brewers to an NL Central title and the National League Championship Series.
He is exactly the type of veteran pitcher who draws attention in trade talk, especially on a team operating under small-market realities.
Milwaukee has navigated this crossroads of talent and payroll before, and Murphy has lived through it in the dugout.
He talked openly about the human side of it all.
“I love being part of his career,” Murphy said. “I’ve seen every pitch he’s made in the big leagues. It’s personal to me. And I love the man. And I hope he’s a Brewer.”
Murphy has already experienced the same cycle with Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams, two star pitchers whose rising salaries pushed them out of Milwaukee’s plans. Burnes, a four-time All-Star, was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in February 2024. Williams followed, dealt to the New York Yankees in December of the same year.
Unlike most managers, Murphy did not try to hide from the realities of roster turnover.
“Yeah, they’re hard,” he said. “You know the player, you know what he brings, and you know your connection with him. And when he’s not there for you, you’re like, God, I miss him.”
He paused, then spoke to the reality of managing in the modern game.
“And then you just turn the page, keep going. That’s part of our world,” he said.
Murphy was asked whether Milwaukee’s front office, known for creativity if not financial muscle, can pull off another balancing act.
“I think they know what they’re doing,” he said. “My role is to take whatever guys we have. I hope Freddy is one of them.”
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Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy speaks during a news conference at Major League Baseball's winter meetings, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy speaks during a news conference at Major League Baseball's winter meetings, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
OSLO, Norway (AP) — A planned news conference on Tuesday by Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado was canceled after a several-hour delay, a day before the award ceremony in Oslo.
Machado, who last appeared in public 11 months ago, had been due to hold a traditional news conference the day before the formal award ceremony. But the lunchtime event was delayed without explanation, until the Norwegian Nobel Institute said three hours after the scheduled time that “it will not take place today.”
“María Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway, will be,” the institute said in an email. "We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony."
The institute did not specify whether the news conference would take place at a later point.
Machado’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the opposition leader’s location and planned attendance at Wednesday’s ceremony.
The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado won the opposition’s primary election and intended to run against President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Meanwhile, Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The following day, Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term.
The Venezuelan opposition's presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election, Edmondo Gonzales, center, at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP)
Ana Corina Sosa, center, daughter of Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Machados, arrives at the Grand Hotel in Oslo on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
FILE - Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
