Brewers history: The 3 arbitration hearings Milwaukee has endured this decade

Last week, the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to contracts with five of their six arbitration-eligible players. The lone player who didn't reach an agreement prior to deadline for players and teams to exchange figures for a potential arbitration hearing was 2x All-Star catcher William Contreras.

However, just because Contreras and the Brewers didn't reach an agreement prior to the deadline on January 8, it's not a guarantee that the two sides will have to engage in an arbitration hearing, which involves a third party deciding whether the Brewers' backstop will earn the salary that his camp submitted ($9.9 million) or the salary that the team proposed ($8.55 million). The two sides can negotiate up until the date of a potential hearing, which would occur sometime in the first two weeks of February, likely before the Brewers' pitchers and catchers officially report to Spring Training on February 12.

That said, given the significant difference between the two salary figures ($1.35 million may not seem too large in the grand scheme of things, but it is when it comes to arbitration salaries), and the fact that MLB insider Mark Feinsand said he expects the two sides to fail to reach an agreement in the coming weeks, a hearing almost feels inevitable.

Should a hearing occur, as Feinsand expects, it would be the fourth such hearing that the Brewers have endured this decade. Let's take a look at the other three times Milwaukee has taken a player to an arbitration hearing since 2020.

1. Corbin Burnes (2023) - Burnes files at $10.75 million, Brewers file at $10.01 million

The most recent arbitration hearing in Brewers history is also the most noteworthy one. Back in 2023, a season after Burnes was named the NL Cy Young, and halfway through a four-year stretch of All-Star Game appearances, the Brewers failed to reach an agreement with their ace prior to the deadline in early January. Despite the two sides being just $740,000 apart, they failed to reach an agreement before what turned out to be a contentious arbitration hearing.

Burnes voiced his displeasure after the fact, saying that his relationship with the Brewers had certainly been jeopardized as a result of the reasons that the club cited for him not being worth the salary that he proposed. The Brewers, however, were simply doing what teams must do in arbitration to avoid skewing the precedent that is set for future players. In that way, they help themselves, because offering Burnes the salary he proposed only means that the next player of his caliber will earn that number or higher. In the end, the Brewers did end up winning the case, and Burnes made $10.01 million in 2023.

There's no denying it was a difficult situation for the two parties. A year later, though the hearing was a minor reason for the Brewers moving on from him, Burnes was traded to the Baltimore Orioles ahead of his final year under contract with the Brewers. Though he was a professional about the whole situation, it was clear that Burnes was not as happy in Milwaukee in 2023 as he had been in previous seasons.

Outcome: Brewers win at $10.01 million

2. Adrian Houser (2022) - Houser files at $3 million, Brewers file at $2.425 million

This was a weird one. Due to the lockout that took place between the 2021 and 2022 MLB seasons, arbitration hearings couldn't take place during the offseason. As a result, said hearings were delayed until mid-May, meaning by the time Houser and the Brewers went to a hearing, he had already made seven starts -- and seven strong ones for that matter, compiling a 3.22 ERA to prove it.

However, Houser's arb hearing was based on his performance up until the 2022 campaign, so his strong start to the season mattered not to the panel of arbitrators determining what his salary would be in the season that had already begun. Despite 2021 being Houser's best campaign, when he made 26 starts and compiled an ERA of, oddly enough, 3.22, his camp was ultimately unsuccessful in arguing that he was worth the $3 million salary they were pushing for.

After his strong start in 2022, Houser struggled down the stretch, and those struggles continued in 2023. Prior to the 2024 campaign, the Brewers sent Houser and his now-$5.05 million salary to the New York Mets, where things didn't get much better. However, the soon-to-be-33-year-old right-hander had a career resurgence in 2025 and earned a two-year, $22 million deal with the San Francisco Giants this offseason as a result, making the $575,000 he lost back in 2022 feel like a meaningless distant memory.

Outcome: Brewers win at $3 million

3. Josh Hader (2020) - Hader files at $6.4 million, Brewers file at $4.1 million

Several years before the odd mid-May arbitration hearing that the Brewers endured with Houser, and just weeks before the entire world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukee went to a hearing with their All-Star reliever Josh Hader. The 25-year-old Hader was coming off back-to-back seasons as a multi-inning high-leverage weapon, and while he inadvertently picked up many saves in the role, he wasn't working as a true one-inning closer.

Hader wasn't rewarded for his multi-inning role in arbitration and ultimately lost the case to the Brewers, which certainly had something to do with the significant number that he and his camp filed for in his first year of arbitration eligibility. As a result of the hearing, and Hader's displeasure with not being rewarded for the risk that he took on by covering multiple innings out of the Brewers' bullpen, the dominant left-hander requested to be converted into a traditional closer beginning in the 2020 season, and Milwaukee granted his wish.

Rarely do arbitration hearings have an impact on a player's role on the field, but Hader's was one of the few instances where it did. For the first time in his career in the shortened 2020 season, Hader had more appearances than innings pitched, meaning he averaged less than an inning per outing.

Outcome: Brewers win at $4.1 million