Colin Rea's placement on waivers a bad sign for Brewers budget as offseason begins

The Milwaukee Brewers are not known for running big budgets. They have to be "budget-conscious" and that often leads to tough decisions, such as trading away star players like Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader rather than signing them long-term. That is part of being a small-market team in Major League Baseball and Brewers fans have made their peace with it.

However, the budget squeeze is already on for the Brewers this offseason. Rhys Hoskins opted in to an $18MM salary while William Contreras is due a big raise in his first year of arbitration. The payroll space for the Brewers is quite limited already, and that could not be more evident than in the latest move the front office has made.

On Saturday, the Brewers placed right-hander Colin Rea on waivers. Rea has a $5.5MM team option with a $1MM buyout. After the production he's put up the last two years, picking up such an option seemed like an obvious choice for the front office. It's a reasonable salary for what he brings in this expensive pitching market, but the Brewers clearly feel otherwise.

What Colin Rea going on waivers means for the Brewers

Firstly, this means that any team is able to put in a claim for Rea and take him up on his reasonable club option for the 2025 season. If multiple teams put in claims, perhaps the Brewers could work out a trade and receive something in return for Rea.

If another team takes on Rea and his contract, that would get the Brewers out of paying the $1MM buyout on his option. A similar tactic took place last year with Mark Canha, who had a seemingly reasonable club option the Brewers did not want to pick up, so they traded him to the Detroit Tigers who took on that contract for minor league reliever Blake Holub.

The fact that such a modest salary for a very productive pitcher is not in the cards for the Brewers this offseason does not bode well for the Brewers budget situation. It's not like the production from Rea was not worthy of the $5.5MM he'd be making next year. He's been a healthy, reliable starting pitcher with 292.1 IP under his belt over the last two seasons. Rea's not a top of the rotation arm, but you know you're getting a solid innings eater.

With the loss of local TV revenue following the bankruptcy of the Bally Sports regional TV networks and the Brewers going with MLB's distribution for TV rights, there's millions of dollars in revenue that the organization can no longer depend on, which will impact player payroll budgets.

The Brewers would like to have both DL Hall and Aaron Ashby stretched back out as starting pitchers next year and Brandon Woodruff is returning from shoulder surgery, so there are internal rotation options if Rea does not come back to Milwaukee in 2025. A move like this would help clear a spot in the rotation for those young arms.

If even Colin Rea's roster spot is not safe at $5.5MM given his production over the last two years, then the roster spots of other players making more than that are also likely at risk. However, the Brewers did announce that they have exercised Freddy Peralta's $8MM team option for 2025, so he will be back at least.