Christian Yelich’s contract could be a major problem for the Brewers in 2025 and beyond

For years now, the Milwaukee Brewers have been in a tough spot with superstar outfielder Christian Yelich. At various points during his tenure in Milwaukee that began all the way back in 2018, he has looked like one of the best players in all of baseball.

Then there are other times where he's spent countless days, weeks, months - you name it - on the injured list. Some of the other low points for him have been when he has actually taken the field and underperforms when doing it (see: 2021 and 2022).

The three-time All-Star and 2018 NL MVP has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for the Brewers, and he's going to continue to take up a roster spot for them for the foreseeable future. As of right now, he's under contract until the conclusion of the 2028 season with a mutual option for 2029. That contract could present some challenges for the Brewers going forward if Yelich experiences more of those lows.

Christian Yelich's contract could go south quickly for the Brewers

Yelich's remaining contract is either going to be money well spent, or nothing more than a wasted roster spot and wasted money on the team's payroll. He's making a ton of money through the end of his deal ($22 million a year to be exact), so there's some added pressure there for him to perform, or at the very least: be healthy.

In 2024, the 32-year-old looked exactly like the Yelich of old through 73 games before yet another back injury prematurely ended his season. When he was on the field, he was electric. The 12-year veteran hit 11 home runs and drove in 42 RBI with a .315 average, .909 OPS and 151 OPS+. Throughout it all, he had also managed to drop his strikeout-percentage lower than it's ever been before during his time in Milwaukee.

That level of production right there is how Yelich could be worth the money, but he's going to have to continue to produce this way. Problem is, he's not getting any younger and it's not often that you see a player only get better as he ages. Especially not one that was at one point an MVP-caliber player.

It's important to be honest with ourselves and the expectations we hold over Yelich and the rest of his time on the Brewers. We've seen what he can do when he's healthy, but the exact problem is that he can't stay healthy. There's virtually no guarantee at all that he'll be able to continue his 2024 tear, or even come close to the MVP-type of production he showed way back when.

It's not exactly a secret that the Brewers are strapped for cash and typically rank near the bottom of the league in payroll rankings. This year, Spotrac has them 21st in baseball with a payroll just north of $115.4M. Yelich is set to make $26M through the life of his contract, so that's not a small chunk of change in the grand scheme of things.

It's fair to say that the 2025 campaign will go a long way in showing which version of Yelich we should expect moving forward. If he can replicate his successes from this year, that'd be the best case scenario (obviously). But it's also going to be important to keep expectations low. He's going to be 33 once Opening Day rolls around and if he reverts back to his 2020-2022 form, things could get ugly very quickly for all involved.

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