Brewers News: Freddy Peralta Won’t Earn A Paycheck In 2020

In a weird payroll quick this year, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta won’t get a regular paycheck for games played this year.

It seems a little unfair doesn’t it? Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta agreed to a 5 year, $15.5MM contract extension this year, and yet he won’t get a single game check, per the Associated Press.

The question you and everyone else must be asking is; How does that happen?

No More Pay For Peralta

Let’s explain how this happened. The contract that Peralta agreed to in the spring was due to pay him just $575,200 in base salary. The prorated salary of that over 60 games instead of 162 is just $212,824.

If you remember back in March, with the infamous agreement between MLB and the MLBPA for prorated salaries this year, it also included a $170MM advance on salary for players. With that money spread out to each player on a straight contract for 2020, players received $286,500.

That salary advance that he received is $73,676 higher than what the prorated version of his salary is. Thus, Peralta won’t earn any more money in 2020.

Peralta won’t have to pay back the difference, luckily, and will keep that extra $73k.

In one way, this is actually a plus for Peralta since he’s getting extra money this year than what his prorated salary called for. Peralta’s contract extension gradually increases his yearly salary, instead of getting the average $3.1MM of the deal every single year, the money is backloaded. Peralta will earn $1MM in base salary next year, then $2.25MM in 2022, $3.5MM in 2023, and finally $5.5MM in 2024.

Also included in the deal are two club options for $8MM in 2025 and 2026.

This is an important season for Peralta, as he has another opportunity to cement himself in the starting rotation. He’s competing with Corbin Burnes and Eric Lauer for the fifth starter spot. Peralta added a slider this offseason and looked refreshed and ready to go during the first spring training all the way back in March.

Should Peralta continue his upward trajectory and stick in the starting rotation moving forward, that contract is an absolute steal. Even if Peralta becomes a bullpen arm moving forward, it’s still a solid deal for the Brewers and Peralta gets some financial security in the meantime.

It’s probably going to be a weird feeling for Peralta, going out there and pitching despite knowing he’s not going to get any more game checks during the season.