This ace would be the ideal Brewers free agent target if Milwaukee opted to spend big

During the 2024 season, the Milwaukee Brewers managed to overcome numerous injuries to their starting pitching staff (Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, D.L. Hall, and Robert Gasser) and pieced together a reputable rotation. Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta was overall okay (3.68 ERA), Tobias Myers was a great breakout story, Colin Rea was their most consistent arm throughout the first half but ran out of gas at the end of the year, and Aaron Civale + Frankie Montas provided stability after joining the team in July.

In 2025, the majority of that starting pitching group should return with the exception of Montas ($20 million mutual option this off-season with a $2 million buy out) and Wade Miley ($12 million mutual option, $1.5 million buy out, and pending recovery from Tommy John surgery). Despite potentially losing those two players, reinforcements could be on the way as prospect Jacob Misiorowski will likely debut at some point, Carlos Rodriguez should hopefully take a step forward, and Aaron Ashby + D.L. Hall could factor into the mix as well.

Having overall performed as a middle of the road starting rotation last year, Matt Arnold could consider spending big on this position in free agency. The last significant long term contract handed out to a starting pitcher by the organization was Matt Garza in 2014, but adding a frontline starter to be the teams ace would be worth the cost. One player that makes a lot of sense is Max Fried.

Max Fried may be an affordable option for the Milwaukee Brewers this off-season

Along with Max Fried the free agent starting pitching class this winter will also consist of Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes, Shane Bieber, and Walker Buehler. Additionally Gerrit Cole, Blake Snell, Justin Verlander, Jordan Montgomery, Nathan Eovaldi, and Robbie Ray all either have opt outs in their contract or options that could put them back on the open market.

Among this free agent class Max Fried certainly ranks in the top echelon of starters available, but he doesn't have quite the pedigree or accolades as some of the other potential free agents pitchers. This may keep his contract affordable for Milwaukee and early projections currently have him estimated to make $22 million per year.

In Atlanta, John Buhler of FanSided gave an outlined contract projection that had Max Fried signing for six years and earning $137 million. One would not expect Matt Arnold to hand out a contract of that length to a 30 year old pitcher, but perhaps increasing the average annual value to $25 million over four years ($100 million total) or $30 million a year for two years and an option year or two after that would get the job done.

Historically, the Brewers have not handed out big contracts to pitchers and if they did decide to spend big on Max Fried, he would easily surpass the organization's largest contract for a pitcher (four years, $50 million for Matt Garza). However, with a solid core of position players currently in their pre-arbitration years, the timing to make a move like this is now.

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