Saturday, October 25

Here is our annual list of five questions facing the Brewers this offseason. 

Are there any big changes in store?

The Brewers head into this offseason as National League Central champions for the third straight year and riding a stretch of seven postseason appearances in the past eight years, with the vast majority of their core under club control for next season. Because of those factors, it seems far more likely to be another offseason of modest changes, versus a complete overhaul. 

There are always surprises, but the biggest changes are likely to be on the pitching side, with Brandon Woodruff  -- who has a mutual option -- a possible free agent and Freddy Peralta a strong candidate to be traded based on how Milwaukee has handled other pitchers going into their final year before free agency. Peralta acknowledged his uncertain future in the wake of the Brewers’ season-ending loss to the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series. 

“I have no idea [what the future holds],” Peralta said. “What I can say is I’ve been here forever, and I love this. I love the city of Milwaukee, the team, everyone here. And that’s coming from the bottom of my heart. At the end of the day, I understand this is a business and I understand that anything can happen. But I’m really happy about my journey here and how special it’s been for me and my family, and the treatment and love I’ve been getting from everyone here.”

What are the first decisions on the docket?

Besides Oct. 31, which is generally when contracts expire for coaches on one-year contracts, the fifth day following the end of the World Series is important because it is the deadline for decisions on contract options, as well as the deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers for eligible free agents. 

The Brewers have six players with options: 

William Contreras ($12M club, $100,000 buyout)*
Rhys Hoskins ($18M mutual, $4M buyout)
Danny Jansen ($12M mutual, $500,000 buyout)
Freddy Peralta ($8M club, no buyout)
Jose Quintana ($15M mutual, $2M buyout)
Brandon Woodruff ($20M mutual, $10M buyout)

(*Contreras would be arbitration-eligible if option is declined)

If Woodruff’s option is declined, he would become the lone candidate on the roster for a qualifying offer, which, if declined, would qualify the Brewers for a premium pick in next year’s Draft should he sign elsewhere. 

That would be an expensive decision if Woodruff, already with a $10 million buyout in hand from his option, accepts the qualifying offer and decides to spend next year building up a résumé to enter free agency during the 2026-27 offseason. This year’s QO is $22.025 million for one year, as explained in more detail by MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan here. 

Other deadlines in the near future include Nov. 18, the deadline for teams to protect prospects from the Rule 5 Draft, and Nov. 21, the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. We will cover those dates in more detail later. 

What will the starting rotation look like?

Let’s say the Brewers follow the Corbin Burnes model and trade Peralta this winter, and they pass on Quintana at that price. What could a rotation look like without them? 

Here are the in-house candidates:

RHP Quinn Priester

RHP Jacob Misiorowski

RHP Chad Patrick

LHP Robert Gasser

RHP Logan Henderson

LHP Aaron Ashby

LHP DL Hall 

RHP Tobias Myers

RHP Carlos Rodriguez

RHP Coleman Crow

After Crow (the Brewers’ No. 25 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), you get into other arms who spent 2025 at Double-A Biloxi and would have a chance to move to Triple-A Nashville next season, like Brett Wichrowski, K.C. Hunt and Alexander Cornielle. 

So, it’s a young group. Very young. Of that group, Priester leads the way with 257 career Major League innings, followed by Ashby’s 234.

And there are lots of question marks, like whether the Brewers liked what they saw from Patrick in relief in the postseason so much that they head into next season with him pegged for that role. There’s similar flexibility for Ashby and Hall, both of whom went into Spring Training last year vying for the rotation but wound up in the bullpen because of injuries. Ashby is particularly a bullpen weapon. And what to make of Myers after he was voted Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America in 2024 only to bounce between the Majors and Minors -- and the rotation and bullpen -- throughout a disappointing ‘25?

Which position players are due a step forward?

The Brewers loved everything Brice Turang gave them in the regular season, when he made a massive jump from winning the NL’s Platinum Glove Award in 2024 with a wRC+ of 88 (meaning he was 12 percent below average as a hitter) to a 124 wRC+ in ‘25 that led the team’s full-season regulars. 

Who’s next?

Jackson Chourio has the talent to take a step forward in 2026, though he’s coming from an excellent platform after becoming the youngest player in Major League history to post multiple 20-20 seasons. His 118 wRC+ as a 20-year-old rookie in ‘24 and 111 wRC+ as a sophomore in ‘25 were terrific, but there’s superstar potential there. 

Perhaps a less obvious pick is outfielder Garrett Mitchell, who must be due some good luck next year after yet another season-altering injury. His ailments have been fluke happenings, not muscle strains or the like. It was uplifting to see him with the team in Los Angeles during the NLCS, and it’s not hard to see him being an impact defender and hitter if he can stay healthy in 2026.

Is there more power in this group? 

The 2025 Brewers showed that there are a lot of different ways to score runs, trailing only the Yankees (849 runs) and the Dodgers (825) with 806 runs despite ranking 22nd in the Majors in home runs (166). But then along comes the postseason, when home runs decide so many games. 

Take it from my friend Sarah Langs, who posted this after the World Series matchup was set:

Where will the Brewers find power in 2026? Sal Frelick and Turang took notable steps forward in that department last season and are still developing as hitters. Chourio has 30-homer potential, clearly. If Contreras can get that fractured left finger healed, he has plenty of power. And Mitchell can hit home runs if he stays on the field. Lots of ifs. You wonder whether the Brewers will try again to add some pop via trade or free agency this winter, and if they do, where they’ll find the at-bats for that hitter considering every position is covered by a player or players who are under contractual control. 

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