For the first time in their 57-year history, the Brewers are World Series champions. Perennially a contender despite bottom-tier payrolls and contributions from unheralded players, Milwaukee broke through with an disciplined offense (MLB-best 10.6% walk rate), terrific defense and baserunning, and a powerhouse bullpen that supported a rotation fronted by the NL\u2019s likely Cy Young Award winner.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s party time in Milwaukee for the time being, but the celebration can\u2019t last long. The offseason begins today, and with it, critical decisions that will shape their chances of defending the World Series crown.<\/p>\n
The Brewers\u2019 model by now is well known. They ponied up to sign Christian Yelich<\/a> long-term back in March 2020, and they\u2019ve more recently extended top prospects like Jackson Chourio<\/a>, Aaron Ashby<\/a>, Cooper Pratt<\/a> and Luis Lara<\/a> before they ever even played in the majors. Chourio, Pratt and Lara hadn\u2019t even taken a single big league plate appearance when the trio signed respective long-term contracts guaranteeing them $82MM, $50.75MM and $31MM.<\/p>\n That\u2019s created some long-term continuity, but it\u2019s a near-annual tradition for Milwaukee brass to make tough decisions and trade away star players who are on the cusp of free agency. Just in the past few years, the Brewers have traded Josh Hader<\/a>, Corbin Burnes<\/a>, Devin Williams<\/a> and Freddy Peralta<\/a> when they were down to a year of club control (a year-plus for Hader, who was shipped out at the \u201922 trade deadline). The Brewers now find themselves in this same position with catcher William Contreras<\/a> and closer Trevor Megill<\/a>. Both are free agents following the 2027 season. I briefly touched on this in this morning\u2019s Top 40 Offseason Trade Candidate list<\/a>, but it\u2019s worth diving into at greater length.<\/p>\n Despite the Brewers\u2019 history, Megill and especially Contreras aren\u2019t locks to be shipped out of town. Far from it. The Brewers tend to run payrolls in the bottom-third of the league, which has made it difficult to keep star players through their final arbitration seasons and still afford to carve out a competitive roster around them. This year\u2019s World Series win ought to create more short-term payroll space.<\/p>\n Andy McCullough and Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote this week<\/a> that the Brewers privately believe the influx of postseason revenue will indeed give them more money with which to operate in the near future \u2014 certainly into 2027. Milwaukee holds a $14.5MM club option over Contreras, who is fresh off a World Series MVP win. Had he struggled through a poor season, they could\u2019ve declined the option and tried to retain him in his final arbitration year at a lower price. However, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $14.6MM arbitration number for Contreras. Milwaukee will surely just pick the option up, knowing he\u2019s locked in for next season.<\/p>\n That\u2019d still leave a decision as to whether to keep Contreras or, as they\u2019ve done in the past with Hader, Burnes, Peralta, Williams, Jonathan Lucroy<\/a> and others, cash him in for a haul of prospects. It\u2019d be a devastating move for the fan base and clubhouse alike, but that\u2019s the sort of bitter pill the baseball operations staff has been willing to swallow in order to keep the club competitive year after year. Contreras himself is only in this position because of that Hader trade. Milwaukee picked up outfielder Esteury Ruiz<\/a> in that swap and, just a few months later, flipped Ruiz to the A\u2019s in a three team trade that sent Contreras from Atlanta to Milwaukee. The other player the Brewers landed in exchange for Hader had a little something to do with this year\u2019s World Series win, too: a left-handed pitching prospect by the name of Robert Gasser<\/a>.<\/p>\n It bears emphasizing, however, that not\u00a0all Brewers stars are traded ahead of their final year of club control. Milwaukee opted to hang onto Willy Adames<\/a> for his final season with the team and instead made him a qualifying offer after the 2024 campaign. That netted them a compensatory first-round pick when he signed with the Giants. They used the pick to select high school shortstop Brady Ebel<\/a>, who now ranks among their seven to eight best prospects.<\/p>\n McCullough and Sammon note that president of baseball operations Matt Arnold has previously cited Adames\u2019 leadership qualities and all-around contributions at a premium defensive position as reasoning for keeping Adames rather than trading him for controllable prospects. That rings true for Contreras, too. It\u2019s also worth highlighting that there\u2019s no catcher-of-the-future waiting in the wings. Former top prospect Jeferson Quero<\/a> had a poor showing in 2026. Milwaukee bought low on former Guardians backstop Bo Naylor<\/a> at the trade deadline, but he\u2019s effectively a lottery ticket \u2014 a former top prospect who raked as a rookie in 2023 but has been an all-glove catcher in 900 major league plate appearances since. With no immediate help on the horizon, the Brewers would need to acquire a new starting catcher to replace the reigning World Series MVP. That\u2019s not exactly an appealing gambit.<\/p>\n The other approach the Brewers could consider would be to take a run at signing Contreras long-term. Doing so now would mean signing him to what would likely be only the third nine-figure deal in franchise history, joining Yelich and Ryan Braun<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports<\/a> that the Brewers made one run at signing Contreras to a long-term deal back in 2025. Milwaukee offered a three-year deal worth $35MM that contained a club option for an additional season. Unsurprisingly, that didn\u2019t get it done.<\/p>\n Contreras earned $9.4MM this season and should come in at $14.5MM next year. They couldn\u2019t have known exactly where his arb numbers would land at the time but probably had a ballpark idea \u2014 as did his reps at Ocatgon. With Contreras taking home about $24MM between his final two arb years, Milwaukee\u2019s offer effectively amounted to buying out one free agent year for $11MM. Even if they felt he\u2019d come in around $22MM over his final two arb years, that offer was trying to buy out one free agent year at a cost of around $13MM \u2014 while tacking on a fourth possible year via club option. Heyman writes that the offer was deemed low enough that the Contreras camp didn\u2019t bother countering.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t preclude a larger offer that makes Contreras think about it this time around, however. Next year\u2019s salary is more or less in place. An extension would probably need to cover five additional seasons, though perhaps a hearty AAV over four additional years would make him consider the proposal. Milwaukee\u2019s deal with Yelich runs through 2028. The two extensions would only need to overlap by one year. Even if Brewers ownership were only comfortable with one $20MM+ annual salary, they could backload a Contreras extension slightly and have him become their highest-paid player beginning in \u201929, when Yelich is off the books (or re-signed at a lower rate).<\/p>\n With Megill, who\u2019ll turn 33 in December, it\u2019s another story. He\u2019s four years older than Contreras. While the Brewers don\u2019t have a clear catcher alternative waiting in the wings, they\u2019re comically deep in bullpen arms. Aaron Ashby\u2019s postseason star turn could position him to step into the ninth. Abner Uribe<\/a>, DL Hall<\/a> and underrated righty Grant Anderson<\/a> will all be back next year. And the Brewers could stake a real claim to being the industry leader in unearthing diamonds in the rough out in the bullpen. Megill himself, acquired for a PTBNL after being designated for assignment by multiple teams, is proof of concept in that regard.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know if the qualifying offer system will remain in place in a new CBA, but if it does, he\u2019s not the type of player who\u2019d command that pricey one-year offer. Contreras very much is, so even if Milwaukee can\u2019t extend him, they\u2019d be compensated for his departure. Megill would be much likelier to leave for no compensation. He\u2019d also draw sizable interest around the league. Most contenders wouldn\u2019t bat an eye at his $8MM projected salary \u2014 not coming off 61 2\/3 innings with a 2.63 ERA with a 28.5% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate. He can absolutely fetch Milwaukee at least one notable prospect or a younger, less-established arm with more club control.<\/p>\n