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Brewers avoid unnecessary William Contreras arbitration drama with deal at the buzzer

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Reviewing The Brew

Milwaukee Brewers v Pittsburgh Pirates / Justin K. Aller/GettyImages

Milwaukee Brewers fans are well-aware of how contentious the arbitration hearing process can be. Corbin Burnes and the Brewers famously had an arbitration battle that left Burnes with extremely bad feelings and ended any hope of a long-term marriage with the frontline starter.

This year, the biggest name that the Brewers had in arbitration was star catcher William Contreras who, like Burnes, failed to reach an agreement with Milwaukee before the filing deadline and appeared to be heading for a hearing. The Brewers filed at $5.6 million while Contreras came in with $6.5 million and a third-party arbitrator would have decided between the two figures.

It was unclear who was favored to win such a hearing as the disparity in the two figures could make things go either way and that could have ended very poorly. However, it looks like Contreras and the Brewers will avoid the hearing room as the two sides reached an agreement on his 2025 contract.

Brewers and William Contreras avoid arbitration hearing with last minute deal

We were already starting to see arbitration hearings go down over the past week, so it was exceedingly likely that Milwaukee and Contreras would have had their hearing extremely soon. Now, instead of a potentially contentious hearing where the two sides try to tear each other down, everyone can focus on getting ready for the 2025 season.

This could also be a positive development when it comes to an potential extension for Contreras which Milwaukee should, in theory, be very interested in doing. Contreras has quickly become one of the top catchers in baseball after the Brewers traded for him and keeping the lines of communication open and friendly could be a big deal down the road. In even better news, the terms of the settlement should allow for an escape hatch for any drama next year as well as it includes a club option for 2026.

That is a conversation for a different day, however. For now, we all can focus on the upcoming season instead of dreading the potential fallout of arbitration with one of the guys that the Brewers absolutely cannot afford to piss off.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.