Brewers 2024-25 offseason primer: Free agents, arbitration, key dates and deadlines

Brewers 2024-25 Free Agents

• Willy Adames
• Joe Ross

The Brewers only have two true free agents this winter, but one of them is a major contributor. Willy Adames is going to enter free agency for the first time in his career and test the open market. Milwaukee has not been shy about their love for Adames and wanting him to stay, but also have been cognizant of the kind of money he's likely to seek and how it's out of their price range.

Adames is highly likely to be the first player to receive a Qualifying Offer from the Brewers. The QO carries a $21.05 million salary and would be a one year deal to bring Adames back to Milwaukee if he accepts. However, Adames is also highly likely to reject the QO and seek a long-term deal on the open market. He's 29 years old, coming off a career year, and is the only starting caliber shortstop on the market.

Joe Ross also hits free agency coming off a solid year. He missed the last few years due to injury, but turned in a 3.77 ERA in 25 appearances with 10 starts covering 74 IP. There's a non-zero chance the Brewers could look to bring Ross back as a depth piece for the rotation or a long reliever out of the bullpen, a role in which he thrived in this year.

Brewers mutual contract options

• Wade Miley
• Gary Sanchez
• Frankie Montas

The Brewers have three mutual options this year, all of which are likely to be declined. Rarely do mutual options get exercised by both sides.

Miley has a $12 million option that will be declined as he's still recovering from Tommy John surgery he underwent early on this past season. He's attempting to come back from TJS for his age 38 season, and maybe the Brewers give him that chance, but they won't do it at that price point. Miley has a $1 million buyout on that option.

Gary Sanchez has a mutual option that's also going to be declined. His numbers weren't great this year and the Brewers have Eric Haase they could roll with as their backup to William Contreras in 2025. His buyout is $3 million.

Frankie Montas' mutual option carries a $20 million salary for 2025, an option the Brewers will surely decline. Montas was solid since coming over at the Trade Deadline but that's not a price they'll be willing to pay for him. Montas' opt out is $2 million.

Brewers club contract options

• Freddy Peralta ($8MM)
• Devin Williams ($10.5MM)
• Colin Rea ($5.5MM)
• Eric Haase ($1.4MM)

The club option decisions the Brewers have to make will be much easier. Freddy Peralta's club-friendly option of $8 million is an easy pick up for the front office. While Peralta has had his ups and downs throughout the season, that salary for a veteran team leader and front man of the rotation is a no-brainer.

Colin Rea's club option also is an easy pick up for the Crew. Rea, like Peralta, made every turn in the rotation this year remaining healthy and eating up innings. A couple poor late-season outings brought his ERA up to 4.29, but he was in the mid-3s for the majority of the season. The Brewers love what Rea has brought and it's highly likely they bring him back on this contract for next year.

Devin Williams is the toughest decision of the three. They won't be letting him hit free agency, but Williams has a $10.5 million club option that was designed to lock in his final year of arbitration. However, his arbitration projection this year is only $7.7 million, far lower than what his club option is far. This is in large part because Williams missed two-thirds of the season with a back injury. He wasn't able to rack up his usual save totals, so the raise he'd get in arbitration would be lower.

The Brewers could decline Williams' option, meaning they'd simply be going through the arbitration process one more time with him. That is, of course, if they don't trade him first, in which case his new team would have to go through the arbitration process with him.

Eric Haase is also arbitration eligible but has a club option for 2025 that's valued at $1.4 million per Spotrac. If it's declined, he's still arbitration eligible, but he's projected by MLB trade rumors to earn $1.8 million in arbitration, so picking up the option appears probable, especially with Gary Sanchez likely to hit the open market.

Brewers player contract options

• Rhys Hoskins ($18MM)

The Brewers don't usually give out player options, but they did in order to land Rhys Hoskins last offseason. Now, they have to await his decision on if he wants to return to Milwaukee for one more year or hit the open market once more.

It would appear that Hoskins is likely to opt in to his 2025 contract and return to Milwaukee. While the power numbers were solid with 26 home runs, he had his worst overall season to date. His .214/.303/.419 slash line were well below career norms and his 98 OPS+ was below league average. Combine that with Pete Alonso and Christian Walker also hitting the free agent market at first base this winter, and it's not a good time for Hoskins to test the waters.

Hoskins is unlikely to find a better deal than $18 million for the 2025 season, which means opting in and returning to Milwaukee is the smart play. It gives the Brewers an experienced first baseman in the heart of their order while their young corner infield prospects are still developing in the upper minors. If Hoskins were to leave, the Brewers would need to go out and find another stopgap solution at first base.

Brewers arbitration eligibles (8)

• Jake Bauers
• Aaron Civale
• William Contreras
• Nick Mears
• Trevor Megill
• Hoby Milner
• Joel Payamps
• Bryse Wilson

The Brewers have three players hitting arbitration for the first time, led by star catcher William Contreras. Contreras had another stellar season in 2024 and cemented himself as one of, if not the best catcher in baseball. As such, he'll earn a substantial raise in arbitration, and projections have him at $7.6 million for 2025. A large chunk of the money saved with Adames' $12.25 million off the books will have to go directly to Contreras.

Also hitting arbitration for the first time this winter are Nick Mears and Trevor Megill. Megill stepped in admirably as the closer in Devin Williams' absence. Should Williams get traded this winter, and that appears a very real possibility, Megill would be first in line to get saves. He's projected $2 million for a 2025 salary. Nick Mears came over from Colorado at the Trade Deadline and the Brewers like the stuff he has and he's likely to return.

The best of the rest is Aaron Civale, who is entering his final year of team control. The Brewers acquired Civale in July from the Rays and he improved down the stretch. It's likely the Brewers will look to bring him back to pair with Freddy Peralta atop Milwaukee's rotation. He is projected to carry a $8MM salary in arbitration, which is the same salary as Peralta, interestingly enough.

Joel Payamps and Hoby Milner are two bullpen arms that had rough first halves of the season. Milner also ended up with a rough second half while Payamps rebounded and looked strong after the All Star break. Payamps is projected $2.8 million while Milner is projected $2.7 million. Milner's struggles though make him a non-tender candidate. Payamps, meanwhile, is likely to return.

Jake Bauers had a couple of big moments in 2024, including a go ahead homer in Game 3 of the Wild Card, but he still struggled to a .199 batting average and 34% strikeout rate. He's projected to earn $2.3 million as a backup first baseman next year. Bryse Wilson had another solid season being the jack-of-all-trades for the Brewers pitching staff. He spent a lot of early time in the rotation, where he did okay, but was much better when moved back to the bullpen. His versatility makes his $1.5 million projected salary more than reasonable.

Non-tender candidates: Milner, Bauers

Brewers Rule 5 protection candidates

• RHP Logan Henderson
• RHP Chad Patrick
• RHP Coleman Crow
• 1B Wes Clarke
• OF Carlos D. Rodriguez
• 1B Ernesto Martinez Jr
• RHP Shane Smith

It's too long to list all of the Brewers minor leaguers eligible for Rule 5 selection this winter, but let's highlight the likeliest candidates for selection to either the Brewers 40 man or to another team's in the Rule 5 Draft in December.

Logan Henderson is the highest rated prospect eligible and a near-lock to be added to the 40 man roster by the deadline. Henderson reached Triple-A and had a 3.32 ERA in 19 starts this season. He's one of the Brewers best pitching prospects and is likely to make some big league starts in 2025.

The next two are certainly deserving candidates in Chad Patrick and Coleman Crow. Patrick won the pitching Triple Crown in the Triple-A International League this year and even though he's not a highly touted prospect, he's proven as much as he possibly can at Triple-A. Crow came over in the Tyrone Taylor trade last winter and missed all season recovering from TJS. He's in the Arizona Fall League presently to get some work in. Because he's just now getting healthy, the Brewers can likely get by the Rule 5 Draft without protecting him.

Some players with longer odds that the Brewers could still ultimately protect include a trio of hitters and a breakout pitching prospect in Shane Smith. Smith had a 3.05 ERA in 94.1 IP this year, transitioning to the rotation and reaching Triple-A. Someone could snag him if the Brewers opt not to protect him.

As for those hitters, Wes Clarke is a corner power bat that has put up some solid numbers and reached Triple-A. Ernesto Martinez is an exciting young slugger that dominated Double-A, so he may not warrant protection just yet, but he's getting closer. Carlos D. Rodriguez is an outfielder that hits for a very high average with very little power, but he can play all three spots and could be a solid outfield depth piece for Milwaukee to have on their 40 man if they cut bait with someone like Brewer Hicklen.

Brewers Payroll Outlook

The budgets haven't exactly been increasing these last few years for the Brewers. It's unlikely there's any sort of big budget increase in store for 2025 as the Brewers face the loss of their local TV rights deal with Bally Sports Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Brewers carried an approximate $116 million payroll for the 2024 season. How much room will they have in the budget this offseason before they get to a similar payroll?

Let's make some assumptions. Let's assume Rhys Hoskins opts in, all the mutual options for Miley, Sanchez, and Montas are declined, club options for Peralta, Rea, and Haase are exercised, and Devin Williams' is declined. That would give the Brewers $71.6 million in guaranteed contracts on the books for 2025.

Moving down to arbitration, let's also assume Jake Bauers and Hoby Milner are non-tendered, saving the Brewers an estimated $5 million in salary. The rest of the projected arbitration salaries for the remaining eligible players, including Devin Williams, totals up to $30.5 million, bringing the Brewers payroll obligations up to $102.1 million.

Payroll obligations for pre-arbitration eligible players in 2024 totaled around $11 million, so let's assume a similar number in 2025.

That brings the Milwaukee Brewers 2025 payroll before they add a single free agent to $113.1 million.

Keep in mind, the Brewers payroll in 2024 was $116 million, so that leaves very little room for free agent additions or even trade additions before the Brewers payroll increases from this year. Now this doesn't mean the Brewers aren't going to run a payroll higher than 2024 next year, they very well could. How much higher could they go? Only Mark Attanasio knows.

What this does mean, however, is that the Brewers are likely to be active on the trade market once again as a way to improve the club and shift around payroll. One obvious candidate is Devin Williams, who carries a projected $7.7 million arbitration salary or a $10.5 million club option.

It's likely to be another offseason with limited payroll flexibility for the Brewers, and also limited roster flexibility as six players will come off the 60 day IL and back onto the 40 man roster and only five appear headed to free agency out of the gate. Flexibility will need to be created and the Brewers are gong to have to get creative to do it.