Milwaukee Brewers: Complete 2018 Off-Season Preview

As a young team, the Milwaukee Brewers will have a lot of players eligible for arbitration.

There are 11 as a matter of fact. And a lot of them are due for a big raise after performances this season.

In arbitration, both the team and player file what they believe their contract should be for next year, if they can’t agree, the case goes to an arbitrator and they decide if the team’s offer or the player’s offer are best representative of what the player is worth.

If a team does not wish to bring a certain player back or pay up for a player in arbitration they can simply non-tender them. That’s what happened to Chris Carter last year. The contract would’ve been too much so the Crew didn’t tender him a contract.

A lot of these contracts are hashed out before the case goes to an arbitrator but not always. Chase Anderson lost his case last season. Let’s look at the cases of the Brewers eligible for arbitration this year.

Chase Anderson

He lost his case last year and played on a $2.45 million contract this season. Chase pitched to a 12-4 record with a 2.74 ERA in 25 starts with a 4.0 WAR. It looks like Anderson is due for a substantial pay raise this off-season.

Wily Peralta

Peralta was absolutely awful this season. He was DFA’ed and wasn’t brought back in September. Didn’t pitch well in Triple-A either. Expect a Non-Tender for Big Wily.

Stephen Vogt

Vogt came to the Milwaukee Brewers in late June and absolutely mashed since joining the Crew. Overall his numbers aren’t that impressive. A .233 average, a .285 OBP and a -0.2 WAR could mean that Vogt doesn’t get a large increase in pay next year. He was paid slightly under three million this year. The Brewers should expect something similar in the $3-4 million range.

Carlos Torres

Torres is about to be 35 years old and was paid $2.17 million this year. It’s his last year of arbitration and he pitched to a 4.27 ERA in 66 games. His WHIP of 1.52 is abysmal and don’t be surprised if he’s non-tendered to make room for an upgrade in the bullpen.

Jeremy Jeffress

Jeffress was having a rough season in Texas but he seemed to get back to his old self back in Milwaukee. He loves it here, he thrives here and he will be back next season. As far as the money goes, arbitration looks at the entire body of work, not just post-trade deadline. He got $2.1 million this year and his 4.68 ERA won’t help him increase that number. I would expect he avoids arbitration and signs a contract early in the process.

Jared Hughes

The 32-year old righty made less than $1 million in 2017 but he posted decent overall numbers. His 3.02 ERA not bad at all over 67 games. He’ll get a raise but nothing that will break the bank.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Insert your own idiom here. Pigs will fly over Miller Park before the Brewers tender Nieuwenhuis a contract.

Jonathan Villar

Villar made a major mistake not accepting the contract extension offered to him last spring. After a poor showing this year, his pay raise will be very minimal. He made slightly above league minimum this year and it will be difficult to see him getting over $2 million in any case.

Jimmy Nelson

Nelson was outstanding this season and made that big step forward. He was just shy of 200 K’s on the season and his 3.49 ERA was the best of his career. He was in line for a massive raise this winter before his injury. Now with the knowledge that he will miss a chunk of next season, his contract next year will be a fraction of what it was projected to be a month ago.

Hernan Perez

Perez is every MLB manager’s dream. He can play anywhere and play it well. He also produces at the plate no matter where he is playing. In 2017, he hit .262 with 14 homers, 51 RBIs, in 428 at-bats. That’s almost an everyday player number of ABs. Perez is going to get paid pretty well for a utility man. He made barely above minimum this year. Expect a big increase for Perez.

Corey Knebel

Here’s another guy who’s going to get a large raise this winter. Knebel didn’t take over the closer’s role until mid-May but he locked it down in the ninth inning for the Crew this year and was a major part of keeping the team in the hunt through all those close games. He made league minimum this year. That’s going to change as Knebel gets a big bump in pay.