Brewers news: Award nominations, contract option decisions, departing free agents

Though not technically the first day of Major League Baseball's offseason, for the World Champion Milwaukee Brewers, yesterday certainly felt like it. The Brewers were busy celebrating their World Series title when the offseason officially began last Thursday, and will continue to celebrate their first-ever championship for the foreseeable future. However, Monday served as a reminder of the relentlessness of MLB's year-long schedule; just days after winning the World Series, the Brewers are already having to make decisions about whether to retain players who were integral to their 2026 championship run for the 2027 campaign.

From key decisions on options included in the contracts of several players who were a part of their World Series roster to other members of their 40-man roster electing free agency after being optioned to Triple-A to extending Jake Bauers the qualifying offer, yesterday was a busy day for Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office.

However, before we dive into the many roster moves that were executed on Monday night, let's first take a look at a more positive development from the unofficial start of the offseason: the announcement of MLB's end-of-season award finalists. The Brewers, perhaps unsurprisingly, given just how incredible their 2026 campaign truly was, saw four different members of their organization nominated for end-of-season awards.

Brice Turang, Jacob Misiorowski, Trevor Megill, and Pat Murphy all earn nominations for major end-of-season awards

It makes sense that the best team in baseball would have plenty of representatives in the post-season awards races, but even still, a few of the nominations came as a surprise. On Monday night, MLB revealed the finalists for their end-of-season awards, which are voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), and four members of the Brewers' organization were included.

Brice Turang was named a finalist for the NL MVP Award, a designation he shares with Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs, who is expected to win the award, and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who has 4x MVP Awards to his name.

Jacob Misiorowski was unsurprisingly named a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award -- an honor he's all but certain to take home in nine days. Miz's Cy Young resume certainly outperforms the strong seasons that his fellow finalists -- Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies -- put together.

Trevor Megill earned a finalist nod for the NL Reliever of the Year Award after another dominant season as the Brewers' closer. Megill faces the tough task of beating out Mason Miller of the San Diego Padres and Phillies' closer Jhoan Duran for the award.

Finally, manager Pat Murphy was once again nominated for, and is the frontrunner to win the NL Manager of the Year Award. A win over fellow finalists Don Mattingly of the Phillies and Walt Weiss of the Braves would give Murphy his third consecutive Manager of the Year Award -- a feat no other skipper has ever completed -- and would make him just the seventh manager to win three such awards in his career. No skipper has ever won four Manager of the Year Awards.

The Manager of the Year Award will be revealed on November 10, the Cy Young and Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards will be finalized on November 11, and the MVP Awards will be reported on November 12.

Brewers finalize contract option decisions for William Contreras, Antonio Senzatela, Gary Sánchez, and Dustin May

Monday evening was also the deadline for teams and players to make decisions regarding options included in contracts. As a reminder, one of three options can be included in MLB players' contracts: a club option, a player option, and a mutual option. A club option requires only the team to agree to the contract, a player option requires only the player to agree to the deal, and a mutual option requires both the organization and player to agree on the salary figure at hand. Mutual options, however, are rarely picked up, and often simply serve as a way for clubs to defer salary through buyouts.

Four members of the Brewers' 2026 World Series roster had options for the 2027 season included in their contracts. Here are how each of those four contract decisions played out on Monday night:

Brewers' 2026-27 offseason contract option decisions:

C William Contreras - club option ($15.5 million) - accepted

RHP Antonio Senzatela - club option ($14 million) - declined (no buyout)

C Gary Sánchez - mutual option ($8.5 million) - declined by Brewers ($250k buyout)

RHP Dustin May - mutual option ($20 million) - declined by May ($500k buyout)

The most notable development from the Brewers' contract options decisions is the fact that the Brewers elected to pick up Contreras' $15.5 million club option. Contreras would have remained under team control regardless, but the decision means that the Brewers were expecting Contreras to exceed $15.5 million in his final year of arbitration, which would have been a considerable raise for the Brewers' All-Star backstop. However, given Contreras' All-Star season and the fact that he won World Series MVP, it was by no means out of the question that the Brewers' catcher would have made more than $15.5 million in his final year of arbitration. Regardless, now Contreras' 2027 salary is set in stone before the impending lockout.

Bryse Wilson, Jared Koenig elect free agency, Akil Baddoo claimed off waivers by Pirates

In addition to Senzatela, Sánchez, and May all officially becoming free agents on Monday night, the Brewers lost a trio of players from their 40-man roster who didn't appear on the World Series roster. Right-handed reliever Bryse Wilson and left-hander Jared Koenig were each outrighted to Triple-A and have since declined the assignment and elected free agency. Akil Baddoo, who didn't make an appearance for the Brewers' big-league squad this year, was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wilson impressed during his return to the Brewers in 2026, with a 3.51 ERA in 25.2 innings of relief to prove it. However, the Brewers certainly feel as if they can replace Wilson's production, and with the 28-year-old right-hander projected by MLB Trade Rumors' model to earn $1.1 million in the arbitration process, Milwaukee believes their money is better spent elsewhere.

Koenig, meanwhile, had a disappointing 2026 season in large part due to a string of frustrating injuries that kept him from repeating his strong 2024 and 2025 seasons this year. Koenig ended up covering just seven innings for the Brewers this year and allowed seven earned runs. Now, he will test free agency, hoping his track record earns him another shot in the big leagues.

Finally, the Brewers signed Akil Baddoo in December of last year to serve as depth in their major-league outfield group. In part due to injuries and in part due to the Brewers' deep group of outfielders, Baddoo never got his chance in Milwaukee. He remains an intriguing player who hasn't been able to return to the impressive level of production he turned in during his rookie season in 2021. Now, Baddoo will look to return to the big leagues as a member of the Pirates, who are likely to have more major league opportunities for the 28-year-old outfielder than the Brewers had.

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