5 Highest Brewers payrolls of the Mark Attanasio era

4. 2024

Opening Day payroll: $104,324,351
League rank: 22nd

End of year payroll: TBD
League rank: TBD

This year's team is running the 4th highest payroll in the Mark Attanasio era, which is also the 4th highest payroll in franchise history. The Brewers entered the season as contenders once again for the NL Central title and have proven themselves legitimate playoff threats through the early part of the year.

While the ultimate results of this year's squad are yet to be determined, this is an intentionally younger squad, with 12 players who made their first Opening Day roster. Still, there are some high salaried players here.

The highest paid players on the 2024 Brewers are Christian Yelich ($26MM), Willy Adames ($12.25MM), and Rhys Hoskins ($12MM). These three established veterans make up for approximately 48% of the Brewers total payroll.

Had the Brewers kept Corbin Burnes and his $15.6MM salary for this season, the top four players on the 26 man roster would've comprised approximately 55% of the payroll, provided no other personnel changes.

3. 2023

Opening Day payroll: $118,762,027
League rank: 20th

End of year payroll: $128,910,188
League rank: 20th

The 2023 squad runs the third highest payroll in Mark Attanasio's tenure. Coming off a year where Josh Hader was traded away at the Trade Deadline despite being in first place, the Brewers payroll and the direction of the team were up in the air as the season began. But questions soon faded as the Brewers ended up running away with the NL Central title.

The Brewers finished with a 92-70 record and won the Central division by nine games over the Cubs. When they got to the playoffs however, the Brewers hosted a Wild Car round series in Milwaukee and were swept in two games by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The highest paid players on the 2023 Brewers were Christian Yelich ($26MM), Mark Canha*($11.5MM), Brandon Woodruff ($10.8MM), and Corbin Burnes ($10.01MM). Mark Canha was a midseason acquisition so the Brewers didn't pay him that full salary for the year.

Adding Canha, Carlos Santana, and Andrew Chafin at the Trade Deadline increased the Crew's payroll by the end of the year, but still not enough to bump them in the league ranks, sticking at 20th.

2. 2019

Opening Day payroll: $122,530,400
League rank: 17th

Year end payroll: $132,645,682
League rank: 17th

Coming off a remarkable run to Game 7 of the NLCS in 2018, Attanasio pushed the Brewers payroll much higher in 2019. Extra revenue from a deep playoff run and the success of the team encouraged investment into a core that was building to be something special.

Key among those additions to the payroll was Yasmani Grandal, signed to a one year, $18.25MM deal with an opt out. He was the top catcher on the free agent market. Mike Moustakas also re-signed on a one year, $10MM deal after being acquired as a rental during the 2018 Trade Deadline.

The highest paid players on the 2019 Brewers were Ryan Braun ($19MM), Grandal ($16MM), Lorenzo Cain ($15MM), and Christian Yelich ($9.75MM).

The results of the increased investment weren't quite as good as hoped. They finished with an 89-73 record, earning a playoff berth as the second Wild Card team. That meant they had to travel on the road to the Nationals to play in the win-or-go-home Wild Card game. They were in position to win until a Juan Soto single got by Trent Grisham late and heartbreak struck yet again as the Brewers were eliminated in the Wild Card.

1. 2022

Opening Day payroll: $131,930,160
League rank: 19th

Year end payroll: $135,169,682
League rank: 19th

The top payroll the Brewers have run in the Mark Attanasio era came in 2022. Just like in 2019, the Brewers were coming off an NL Central division title and the payroll made a big jump of around $30MM from where it was in 2021.

Some veteran additions like Andrew McCutchen and Hunter Renfroe helped reinforce the team. Also, 2022 was the first year that Christian Yelich's big contract extension kicked in. His salary jumped from $14MM in 2021 to $26MM in 2022. Lorenzo Cain was also in the final year of his big, five year contract.

The highest paid players on the 2022 Brewers were Yelich ($26MM), Cain ($18MM), Josh Hader ($11MM), Andrew McCutchen ($8.5MM), and Kolten Wong ($8.5MM).

The 2022 team fell short of expectations following a late season collapse, especially in the bullpen. They were in first place by three games at the Trade Deadline when Josh Hader was traded among a series of moves that did not improve the present roster. Milwaukee swiftly fell out of first place and never recovered, finishing 86-76 and seven games back of the Cardinals in the NL Central.

Key takeaways

Here are some key takeaways from this list of Mark Attanasio's top payrolls that I noticed. First is that each of the last three seasons make the top five payrolls under Attanasio. He's drawn criticism specifically in the last three years about how much money is being spent on the team, but it's not like the payrolls are low for his tenure. The league ranks are never that high, but that also circles back to the economics of baseball and the smallest market simply can't run a top ten payroll.

Secondly, the high water mark was set in 2022 and the payrolls the last two years have dipped further and further below that mark despite the team's success. The 2024 Opening Day payroll is the only payroll in Attanasio's tenure to have dipped following a division championship. NL Central titles in 2011, 2018, and 2021 all resulted in big increases in payrolls the following year. That dip is noticeable, especially for 2024.

Also if it weren't for the Covid shortened season in 2020 cutting the actual payroll to a mere fraction of what it was supposed to be and the lack of revenue from that season leading to timid spending in 2021, we likely would've seen at least one or both of those years push into the top five. That could've meant the top five payrolls would've been the last five consecutive years. 2021 had the 5th highest end of season payroll but the Opening Day payroll was under $100MM and thus was just off the list.