Pat Murphy wasn’t the only key Milwaukee Brewers decision maker to bring in back-to-back major awards.
The same week that Murphy won a second straight National League manager of the year award, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold was honored by his peers as the MLB executive of the year.
The Brewers led baseball with 97 wins during the regular season and won a division title for the third time in Arnold’s three years as the head of baseball operations. He was promoted to his current title of president of baseball ops following the season, which saw the Brewers reach the National League Championship Series.
With a severely limited budget to work with in the off-season Milwaukee’s biggest free-agent signing was Jose Quintana for one year and $6.25 million Arnold was at the forefront of a series of pivotal moves that weren’t heralded as headline-grabbers.
The Brewers acquired Caleb Durbin as part of the trade that sent Devin Williams to the New York Yankees, and the third baseman went on to finish third in rookie of the year voting.
They also traded for Quinn Priester from Boston on April 7, and the 25-year-old right-hander went 13-3 with a 3.32 earned run average in 29 games.
Milwaukee’s third under-the-radar trade that ended up having big ramifications was getting first baseman Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox for Aaron Civale after the right-hander publicly asked to be traded. Vaughn became a middle-of-the-order bat for the Brewers, driving in 46 runs in 64 games with a .868 OPS.
The rest of the roster was littered with deft Arnold acquisitions, as well. Outfielder Isaac Collins, a minor-league Rule 5 draft pick in 2022, took fourth in rookie of the year voting. Catcher William Contreras, acquired via trade from Atlanta also in 2022, was one of the game’s top catchers again. Arnold was also responsible for bringing in Chad Patrick, Trevor Megill, Grant Anderson, Jared Koenig and Nick Mears, all of which were critical arms for the Brewers last year.
Arnold is the first executive to win the award, which was introduced in 2018, twice.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Matt Arnold earns MLB top executive honor for second straight year