The 2024 MLB season won’t be over for at least another couple of days, but whenever the World Series wraps up the Brewers are one of several teams that will need to get down to business quickly.
When the World Series ends, which could happen as soon as Tuesday, it will also set the MLB offseason calendar.
One of the first transaction deadlines will be of particular interest for the Brewers, as they will have just five days to make a decision on no less than six players with club or mutual options for 2025.
Depending on those six decisions (and Rhys Hoskins’ player option), about one in six of the players on the Brewers’ 40-man roster will find out if they’re staying or going.
Some of those players likely aren’t very concerned. Freddy Peralta, for example, is entering into the first of two option years in a long term deal he signed in the spring of 2020.
The Brewers can keep him for another season (and retain the option to also keep him for 2026) for just $8 million.
He’s a near-lock to return. Similarly, Devin Williams has a $10.5 million option on the one-year contract he signed to avoid arbitration last winter.
He’s still eligible for arbitration this winter, but if the Brewers declined his option he’d almost certainly get more through that process. Both Peralta and Williams will almost certainly get their options exercised.
The $4.5 Million Difference
Another smaller option is very likely to be exercised: Colin Rea finished second on the 2024 Brewers in innings pitched and the Brewers could keep him for another season for just $5.5 million or have to pay a $1 million buyout to let him go.
That $4.5 million difference is much less than what Rea would likely get on the open market, and he fills a clear need for the team.
Elsewhere in the starting rotation, however, the Brewers have more interesting decisions.
They didn’t get much in 2024 out of veteran lefty Wade Miley, who made just two starts before missing the rest of the season due to injury.
His contract has a mutual option for $12 million for 2025, meaning both sides would have to agree to exercise the option (the Brewers have to pay a $1.5 million buyout if they decline).
The Brewers are in a good position to know Miley’s health status at this point, and that will likely be a large factor in the decision whether or not to bring the soon-to-be 38-year-old back for another season.
Frankie Montas is younger, healthier and made eleven starts for the Brewers after coming over in trade during the season, but the organization has a more expensive decision to make on him: His mutual option for 2025 is for $20 million (or a $2 million buyout).
Even after finishing the season strong with Milwaukee, it seems unlikely the organization’s budget will have room for an expenditure this large for a pitcher whose ERA was below average in 2024.
Escalating Buyout
The Brewers’ last contract option is also a mutual one, although not all of the details about it have been publicly confirmed.
Gary Sanchez’s contract for 2024 contained a relatively low base salary but an option for 2025 which had an escalating buyout based on the number of days he spent on the Brewers’ roster.
Sanchez was a Brewer all year, raising his buyout to $4 million. Cot’s Contracts, typically one of the most thorough sources on player contracts, doesn’t have the value of Sanchez’s possible 2025 salary but this Associated Press piece from February said Sanchez “could earn $14 million over two seasons,” implying his 2025 option is for $11 million.
Sanchez was a capable backup to William Contreras in 2024 but wasn’t needed behind the plate much, catching just 28 games, and while he had some big hits his .307 on-base and sub-.400 slugging did not match his reputation as an offense-first player.
While either the Yankees or Dodgers will celebrate a World Series championship this week, they’ll also officially start the clock on the MLB offseason.
There will be about 21 weeks between the end of this season and the start of the 2025 campaign, but for the Brewers one of the busiest weeks of the offseason will also be the first one.
