Now is the time for Brewers to begin exploring extension talks with young star

As the deadline for teams and players to file for arbitration salaries for 2025 approaches here on Thursday, the Milwaukee Brewers are going to have discussions with one of their young star players, William Contreras.

While the only obligation for both sides is to discuss salary figures for the 2025 season, the Brewers can and should use this opportunity to open up a larger discussion with William Contreras about a long-term contract extension.

The Brewers have six players still in the arbitration process they'll have to come to terms with or go to a trial against, but the biggest one by far is Contreras. He's projected to have one of the Brewers top arbitration salaries and is just entering his first season in the process.

Now is the perfect time for the Brewers to explore extension talks with William Contreras

While the Brewers are on the subject of money with William Contreras for 2025, it would be wise for them to broach the topic of a long-term contract extension again. There are a number of benefits for both sides for extension talks to take place.

For Contreras, it gives the assurance of life-changing money, perhaps getting paid earlier, prevents any bitter arbitration battles, and he can set his market with a big deal while still being able to hit free agency with more earning potential, depending on the length of the deal. For the Brewers, it would give cost certainty with a rising star and extra years of team control of a high quality player.

Previously, Contreras has stated a willingness to explore extension talks with the Brewers. Now coming off a season where he finished Top 5 in NL MVP voting with a career-high 23 homers and a 129 OPS+, he's in a good position to get what he wants in a long-term contract. Entering his age-27 season, Contreras is just hitting his prime.

The Brewers need to explore these talks and gauge Contreras' actual willingness to sign an extension. The price will understandably be high. This won't be an Aaron Ashby-type contract where it's incredibly team friendly. Milwaukee will try to work a way for it to be as friendly to their payroll as possible, but signing Contreras will not come cheap. He's already slated to be due a projected $7.6MM in his first year of arbitration. By the end of arbitration, he'll likely be close to the $20MM range if he keeps playing like this.

Contreras is a star player in the heart of the Brewers lineup. They've paid and kept star players like Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio. They've also let some walk like Willy Adames or traded them like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, and Devin Williams. Do the Brewers want Contreras to be in the Yelich/Chourio category? Or is he going to fall into the Adames/Burnes category?

If the Brewers engage in extension talks with Contreras now and get the sense that the price it would cost to get that deal done is too high, they can begin their preparations for Contreras to fall into that latter category. If an extension with Contreras won't get done, in all likelihood he'll remain the Brewers catcher for 2025 and 2026, but before his final year of arbitration in 2027, there's a good chance he finds himself on the trade market. That's the unfortunate reality of the Brewers trying to remain competitive in MLB's economic environment.

The Brewers have a star catching prospect in Jeferson Quero, they can prepare him for the future, perhaps as the regular backup in 2026 if he doesn't make his debut at some point in 2025 here, and then go forward with Quero as the future starting catcher. If Contreras is willing to work out a long-term deal with Milwaukee, then the Brewers lock up an All Star catcher for the foreseeable future and everybody's happy (except Quero, probably).

A few years ago, Willy Adames was also looking to engage in extension talks with Milwaukee. They went nowhere. The price was too high and the Brewers began mentally preparing for how his era in Milwaukee would end, which we saw play out over the last few months. Will Contreras face the same fate as Adames? Or will he instead follow the path of Yelich and Chourio and stay with Milwaukee for a long time to come.

Extensions could come in many forms. Even if it's not a seven or eight year deal like Yelich and Chourio, buying out one free agent year could have a big impact for Milwaukee, perhaps adding on some club options can extend the length of the deal. The Brewers could also go a similar route to Bo Bichette, where they lock in the prices of the arbitration years, but Contreras can still reach free agency after his age-29 season. That would mean a three year deal with guaranteed raises that he could earn in arbitration but protects him in case injuries occur.

All options should be on the table with Contreras. The Brewers will be having conversations with him today about his salary. Now is the time to open up the conversation about a potential long-term deal. It's not likely for an extension to get hammered out today, but the groundwork can be laid and the Brewers will get a sense of what it will take to get one done. If they're too far apart and a deal feels impossible, they can simply settle on this year's salary and move forward with other plans for the future.

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