Milwaukee breweries rarely enter into long-term contracts. They typically draft/sign and draft their own prospects and hold them for about a year before hitting free agency. They then exchange them for more leads.
Of course, they sign free agents in the offseason. However, these deals are usually guaranteed for one year and include a club, player or mutual option. These options are rarely picked up by the Brewers or the player, although Rhys Hoskins exercised his 2025 player option to return to Milwaukee next season.
However, there have been a few instances where Milwaukee has signed some players to long-term contracts.
They were, of course, given to Ryan Braun, Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio.
The Milwaukee Brewers have a lot of money in the hands of Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio
In May 2008, Milwaukee signed Braun to a seven-year, $45 million contract. They then gave him a five-year, $105 million contract extension in 2011, which kept him with the Brewers through the 2020 season.
Braun, of course, has spent his entire 13-year career in Milwaukee and is the franchise leader in home runs (352). He also ranks third in runs scored behind Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor (1,080). His career batting average of .296 ranks fifth in Brewers history.
After Yelich won the National League MVP award in his first season with the Brewers in 2018, Milwaukee signed him to a seven-year, $188.5 million contract. At the time, it seemed like a great achievement because he had just hit .326/.402/.598 with 36 home runs and 110 RBI and won the NL MVP award.
Yelich went on to hit .329/.429/.671 with 44 home runs and 97 RBI while stealing 30 bases in 2019. Unfortunately, as a result of a foul, he broke his kneecap and missed the last month of the season.
And it took him a long time to get back into shape.
Before the start of last season, the Brewers signed their top prospect, Chourio, to an eight-year, $82 million contract. The deal includes two team options, making it a 10-year deal worth $132 million.
Chourio hit .275/.327/.464 with 21 home runs, 79 RBI and 22 stolen bases as a rookie in 2024.
Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich’s contract considered one of the worst in MLB
As mentioned earlier, it took a long time for Yelich after his injury to even return to the shadow of the player he was in 2018-2019.
For this reason Joel Reuter z Bleacher Report included Yelich’s contract on his list of the 10 worst contracts in baseball, ranking eighth:
“His production dipped during the shortened 2020 season and he posted just 4.3 WAR through the first three seasons of his hot new contract, but he has returned to being an offensive player over the last two years.
“The 32-year-old made his first All-Star appearance last season since 2019, hitting .315/.406/.504 with a 151 OPS+ in 315 plate appearances before undergoing season-ending back surgery in August.
“For a team like the Brewers, who are on a tight budget, the fact that Yelich accounted for more than 30 percent of their $70.8 million 2024 payroll was simply too big a slice of the pie. This will continue to be the case in the coming years.”
Last season, Yelich again missed significant portions of the game due to injury. His year was shortened to 73 games due to back surgery. However, the former MVP was hitting .315/.406/.504 with 11 home runs, 42 RBI and 21 stolen bases before he was injured.
He was also selected as an All-Star starter for the first time in his career.
Hopefully, if his back truly heals, he can still hit like he did in 2024, and his contract could come off such lists.
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