The Milwaukee Brewers are hoping to build on last season’s momentum after a powerful regular season that ended with a wild-card berth. However, they have a problem with Christian Yelich.
No, it’s not his back that isn’t fully recovered yet. It’s his contract.
Yelich’s season ended abruptly in August, which is a real shame because he matched his performance in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, when he became an All-Star and won his first MVP. The team thought they could postpone giving him surgery, but they did he finally shut up for the season through September while on the 60-day injured list.
The Brewers have a chance to do better this year, but they must work around their contract, which was considered the best by Bleacher Report 8th worst result in the league.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report wrote:
His production dropped during the shortened 2020 season, and he posted just 4.3 WAR through the first three seasons of his shiny modern 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, on a tight budget, the fact that Yelich accounted for more than 30 percent of their $70.8 million 2024 payroll was simply too substantial a slice of the pie. It will be similar in the coming years.
Yelich is currently in his fourth year nine-year contract worth $215 million extension he signed in 2020.
RICK WOOD/MILWAUKEE JOURNALIST
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He hasn’t been the same since his All-Star days, although he proved last season that he could still do it, as he was named to the All-Star team before he was shut down.
Brewers 2025 plans and Christian Yelich’s recovery timeline
Major changes are already happening in Milwaukee as the team traded All-Star Corbin Burnes.
They also signed former New York Mets pitcher Vinny Nittoli in September.
Changes are coming, but they are patiently watching Yelich.
The team hopes that the 30-year-old left-back will recover and return to his aged game.
Yelich himself is also not worried about his performance after returning from spine surgery.
“I think everyone sees ‘spinal surgery’ and thinks, ‘Oh, that’s the end of your career,'” he said in August.
“But in my opinion it couldn’t be further from the truth. I think it will assist me a lot. I think I’ll feel a lot better than I have in the last few years.
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