Saturday, November 07

MILWAUKEE – The business of baseball doesn’t give the Brewers time to recover from their exhausting, exhilarating October. Free agency is well underway, arbitration is on deck and trade talks will start heating up next week during the annual GM Meetings in Las Vegas. 

So here is what you need to know to catch up on the Brewers’ rapid transition to offseason mode: 

1. Who are the free agents, and will any of them be back? 

• Jake Bauers

• Brandon Woodruff

• Dustin May 

• Gary Sánchez 

• JoJo Romero

• Antonio Senzatela

• Jared Koenig 

• Bryse Wilson

The Brewers extended a $23.15 million qualifying offer to Bauers on Monday, and he has until 3 p.m. CT Nov. 17 to decide. What does that mean? Essentially, the qualifying offer is designed to compensate teams when they lose a significant free agent to another club. So if Bauers declines the one-year offer to seek a multiyear deal coming off his breakthrough season, then the Brewers would net a premium pick in next year’s Draft (assuming the system is unchanged after the current collective bargaining agreement expires at 10:59 p.m. CT Dec. 1). Or he could accept the offer and stay with Milwaukee on a one-year deal. 

Since the system was implemented in 2012, 18 players to receive a qualifying offer have accepted it – including Woodruff last year. You can learn more about the process and this year’s QO recipients here.

Could any of the others return? Woodruff would be the most likely candidate if the sides can agree on terms for a player who means so much to the franchise, but he carries significant injury risk. 

2. What about arbitration? 

Even after picking up William Contreras’ club option to remove him from this list and waiving Koenig, Wilson and Akil Baddoo (who was claimed by Pittsburgh), the Brewers still have 12 players eligible for arbitration, including some of their top postseason performers:

• Grant Anderson*

• Sal Frelick*

• DL Hall*

• David Hamilton*

• Trevor Megill^

• Garrett Mitchell

• Bo Naylor*

• Joey Ortiz*

• Quinn Priester+

• Brice Turang

• Andrew Vaughn^

• Angel Zerpa

* first year of eligibility

+ Super Two

^ final year of eligibility

Generally, players with three to six years of Major League service qualify for arbitration, a system of setting salaries comparable to players with similar experience and performance – with a panel of judges making the final decision when the sides cannot compromise.

Two players on this list are especially notable: Megill and Vaughn. They project to reach free agency following the 2027 season, meaning the Brewers face a decision of whether to carry them all the way to the end of their contractual control or attempt to trade them to keep the system flush with controllable talent.

In the coming weeks, you’ll hear about the non-tender deadline, which falls on Nov. 20 this year. That’s the date on which teams have to commit to proceeding in this process with their eligible players by tendering 2027 contracts. If a player is non-tendered, he becomes a free agent.

3. Are there any other trade candidates?

Contreras, the World Series MVP, is the most notable example of a player who could be a trade candidate, based simply on the fact that he’s heading toward a contract year in 2027. The Brewers have kept their system well-stocked by trading players in that same position, but there’s a counterexample in shortstop Willy Adames. He was so core to a contender that Milwaukee carried him all the way to free agency in ‘24, made him a qualifying offer after that season, then reaped the 32nd overall pick in the ‘25 MLB Draft and used it to select infielder Brady Ebel, who now ranks No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s list of Milwaukee’s top prospects and No. 93 in the Majors.

The Brewers did acquire 2018 first-round Draft pick Bo Naylor at this year’s Trade Deadline as a potential successor to Contreras, and they still have No. 11 prospect Jeferson Quero in the system, though his future has been clouded by several years of injuries. Neither is as sure a bet as Contreras, who turns 29 on Christmas Eve and is coming off a remarkable postseason in which he hit .373 with a 1.036 OPS while controlling opponents’ running games and commanding Milwaukee’s pitching staff all the way through winning the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Trading him would hurt, to put it mildly.

4. What prospects should I know about?

Teams face a Nov. 17 deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. As always, Jim Goulart and the website Brewer Fanatic is the ultimate authority on this topic, and it has compiled a full list. Here are some of the standout names, including a pair of MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Brewers prospects. 

• INF/OF Jett Williams (No. 10)

• 1B/3B Luke Adams (No. 13)

• 1B/3B Brock Wilken

• C Matthew Wood
• LHP Tate Kuehner

• RHP Cameron Wagoner
• RHP Brett Wichrowski

• RHP Will Childers

Beyond the Rule 5, which prospects could be the next Cooper Pratt or Luis Lara, capable of making the jump to the Majors? Next year is going to be especially fascinating on that front, with first baseman Blake Burke (Brewers No. 12) knocking on the door after a 34-homer, 29-stolen base season between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville last season and Adams coming off a .418 on-base percentage in 279 plate appearances at Triple-A in his injury-shortened season. Depending what happens with Bauers and Vaughn, there could be a path to playing time in Milwaukee at first base.

Then there are some elite prospects who finished last season at Biloxi and presumably will get to Nashville in ‘27, leaving them one step from MLB. They include MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, infielder Jesús Made, and left-handed-hitting outfielders Josh Adamczewski (overall No. 85, Brewers No. 3) and Braylon Payne (Brewers No. 6). It would take two big jumps for them to make it to the Majors, but the Brewers have been similarly aggressive in recent years with the likes of Jackson Chourio, Pratt and Lara.

5. Will it be an active offseason?

The Brewers happen to be relatively well-positioned to keep most of the roster intact. Starters Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, postseason breakout Robert Gasser, comeback candidates Kyle Harrison and Brandon Sproat and other budding arms like Shane Drohan and Coleman Crow are all early in the cycle of contractual control. They have closers-in-waiting in Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby should Megill draw trade interest. Bauers leaves big shoes to fill, but so much of the rest of the lineup is intact, including Silver Slugger Award finalists Brice Turang and Chourio. Pratt has a year under his belt. 

And so on. The team that fills the diamond for the Brewers when they play their next game figures to look a lot like the one that celebrated at Tropicana Field. 

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