Brewers: Contract Details For Jackson Chourio's Record-Breaking Extension

The Milwaukee Brewers have finished a record-breaking contract extension with young superstar Jackson Chourio. The details of this contract show this move as a win for both sides.

On Monday, it was officially announced that the Brewers signed Chourio to an 8 year, $82MM contract with a pair of club options that could take the deal all the way to 10 years. The maximum total value of the contract is $142.5MM.

One of the important details of this contract, beside the two option years, is that the "big money" of this contract doesn't kick in until after Christian Yelich's contract comes off the books, allowing the Brewers to maintain as much financial flexibility as possible during these overlapping years. Yelich's final guaranteed year is 2028.

Here's how Chourio's salary breaks down on an annual basis, per Spotrac:

2024: $2.25MM
2025: $4.25MM
2026: $7.25MM
2027: $8.25MM
2028: $9.25MM
2029: $15.25MM
2030: $16.25MM
2031: $17.25MM
*2032: $25MM - Club Option
*2033: $25MM - Club Option

There are escalators and incentives in the contract for MVP votes that can increase Chourio's earning potential. Ken Rosenthal reported that the option years are valued at $25MM apiece. The buyouts on each of those options are at $2MM.

Chourio also receives a $2MM signing bonus that is spread out over the eight guaranteed years of the contract on paper. He will receive the entire signing bonus upfront.

For luxury tax purposes, Chourio's deal only carries a hit of $10.25MM per year on its average annual value (AAV), but the Brewers aren't going to be sniffing the luxury tax threshold anytime soon. Even though his AAV is above $10MM, the first five years of the deal see him making well below that each year. Those coincide with the final five years on Christian Yelich's contract. Once Yelich's contract expires after the 2028 season, Chourio's salary kicks up to over $15MM

Chourio's deal starts out at over $2MM in 2024 in base salary, plus the $2MM signing bonus, which is quite the increase over the $740k he would've made next season prior to this extension. For the production he's expected to bring, that's still a massive steal.

It's not immediately clear just exactly how Chourio's salary would escalate based on MVP results, but if all the options are exercised, there is $130MM in salary accounted for. With the reported max value of $142.5MM, that leaves $12.5MM in potential dollars that Chourio can get added to his contract based on MVP results.

Now that the deal is done, the Brewers have a lot more work to do with this roster and Chourio has work to do to ensure he earns an Opening Day roster spot.