Brewers should counter Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt move with another impact extension of their own

Long-term contract extensions for players at the beginning of their MLB careers are all the rage right now. The combination of the growing price of free agents, the continued improvement of scouting and development, and the looming uncertainty tied to MLB's potential lockout this upcoming winter has led many teams to lock up their young talent with sizable long-term contracts.

The Milwaukee Brewers, as they almost always are, were ahead of the curve on this recent trend. They signed outfielder Jackson Chourio to a pre-debut, eight-year contract extension that already looks like it will be among the best contracts in baseball in a few years' time when Chourio would have hit free agency. Chourio's contract came back in December 2023, but this year, with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire in just five months, and MLB threatening to completely alter the current financial structure of the league, Milwaukee has already agreed to two more pre-debut extensions with two of their top prospects, Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara.

Both Pratt and Lara have since debuted and begun their major league careers, but the fact that the Brewers agreed to terms before either set foot on a major league diamond gave the club a "discount" on the two contracts that wouldn't have existed had they waited until after each player proved themselves in the big leagues. Pratt agreed to an eight-year, $50.75 million deal with two club options included, and Lara signed a seven-year, $31 million contract with three club options attached.

The rest of the league is starting to take notice of these deals. Teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates (Konnor Griffin), Detroit Tigers (Kevin McGonigle), and Seattle Mariners (Colt Emerson) are also trying to get ahead of MLB's changing financial landscape. And earlier today, Milwaukee's NL Central rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, agreed to a long-term contract with their talented rookie infielder JJ Wetherholt. According to MLB insiders Jeff Passan and Jon Heyman, the 23-year-old Wetherholt has agreed to an eight-year, $112.5 million contract extension.

Though the Brewers are already taking advantage of this growing strategy, Wetherholt's deal undoubtedly leads to questions about whether or not Milwaukee should stop at Pratt, Lara, and Chourio when it comes to long-term extensions. Naturally, the next move would be to extend MLB's top prospect, Jesús Made, who opened the year ranked two spots ahead of Wetherholt on MLB Pipeline's list of the top prospects in baseball. The time for the Brewers to lock up their top minor league talent is fast approaching.

Brewers must extend top prospect Jesús Made before MLB's expected lockout this winter

There are several reasons why the Brewers should extend Made before December 1, when the current CBA expires, and Wetherholt's recent deal only strengthens the argument. For starters, the Brewers should absolutely extend Made before he makes his MLB debut. When every major prospect evaluation publication agrees that a certain player is the best prospect in all of baseball, it's incredibly likely that said player will go on to be a star at the major league level. Scouting has improved to a point where the amount of top prospect "busts" are decreasing significantly, which is especially the case in an organization like the Brewers' that now excels at player development.

With Made all but certain to one day become a star in the big leagues, the Brewers would be wise to extend him sooner rather than later, and receive the pre-debut discount they were awarded by signing Chourio, Pratt, and Lara before they reached the majors. If Made continues to follow the path that Chourio laid in the Brewers' farm system, which up to this point he has, his MLB debut will come on Opening Day of next year, meaning the Brewers would need to extend him prior to next March to receive the aforementioned pre-debut discount.

However, the timeline for a potential Made extension is accelerated due to the looming lockout. Presumably, the agreement that the league and the MLB Players Association will come to, will include increased benefits for players at the beginning of their careers. As such, if the Brewers wait until the new CBA is enacted, they will have to match these improved benefits in Made's long-term extension, which will only make the deal more expensive for the organization. In other words, negotiating under MLB's current financial infrastructure benefits the Brewers.

Where Wetherholt's deal comes into play is setting a comp for the Brewers to refer to when negotiating a deal with Made. Between Wetherholt, Konnor Griffin, Colt Emerson, and Kevin McGonigle's deals, the Brewers have several long-term infield extensions to reference in negotiations. Made, however, is younger than all of the players listed above, which could mean that he agrees to a longer-term deal at a lower average annual value. A nine or ten-year deal in the $120-130 million range, with club options attached feels like a reasonable ask from Made's side.

It may seem far too early to extend Made, who is still in Double-A, but there's a reason for the Brewers to exercise urgency when it comes to locking in baseball's top prospect to a long-term deal. Contracts like the one Wetherholt just agreed to, which doesn't include any team options and is more than double the price of Pratt's contract, offer further evidence for the argument of agreeing to contracts before a player's debut. And if the Brewers want to extend Made before his MLB debut, they might as well negotiate under the league's current financial landscape, which favors the organization.

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