Brewers 2022-23 Offseason Preview: Free Agents, Options, Arbitration, and More

Brewers Arbitration-Eligibles (18)

Hunter Renfroe, Brent Suter, Luis Perdomo, Brandon Woodruff, Matt Bush, Willy Adames, Trevor Gott, Corbin Burnes, Eric Lauer, Jandel Gustave, Adrian Houser, Rowdy Tellez, Luis Urías, Hoby Milner, Devin Williams, Mike Brosseau, Keston Hiura

The Brewers have one of the largest arbitration classes in MLB this offseason with a staggering 18 players eligible. That’s nearly 70% of the active roster. Several key players are among this group and are due big raises.

We’ve already taken an in-depth look at the salary projections for these players.

The players that are due the biggest raises are, of course, the stars. Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Hunter Renfroe, and Willy Adames are slated to earn the biggest salaries of this group with substantial increases over their 2022 salaries.

In total, if the projections are accurate and the Brewers tender all of these players contracts, they will earn a combined total of over $30MM in raises. That will eat up a large chunk of the payroll space the Brewers added from the parting free agents and whatever budget they may have for free agents.

However, the Brewers aren’t likely to tender all 18 of these players. But yet, there aren’t too many obvious cut candidates that would provide some savings. There’s a few fringe roster options like Luis Perdomo and Jandel Gustave that could be non-tendered but the payroll savings will be minimal. Most of this group are key players to the Brewers current and future plans.

Could Keston Hiura be non-tendered? That would certainly be a surprise given his previous draft and prospect status. His struggles are notable, but it would seem unlikely the Brewers would simply non-tender him for nothing in return instead of at least attempting to trade him or see if he figures it out in 2023.

Other non-tender candidates you have to squint to see. Trevor Gott maybe? Adrian Houser struggled a bit in 2022 but still holds enough value and is cheap enough they wouldn’t have to non-tender him. Maybe Brent Suter could be a candidate?

There’s not much fat to trim here, despite this being a bulky arbitration class. Renfroe, Suter, Caratini, and Perdomo will all be entering their final years of arbitration and will be free agents following the 2023 season.