Brewers News, Transactions, Trade Ideas - Bauers to Red Sox - 4/$58 million

[MickeyDavis]

Willy? No way lol

What are you talking about? This makes it easier to absorb Contreras for next yr, then make a bigger offer to retain beyond that pt.

Think MD probably took that as Adames

I took it as Peralta

[jakecronus8]

What are you talking about? This makes it easier to absorb Contreras for next yr, then make a bigger offer to retain beyond that pt.

Think MD probably took that as Adames

I took it as Peralta

Mayes-Hayes imo.

[ReasonablySober]

Law

For Milwaukee, it’s a tough loss coming off a World Series win, at a price they could easily have matched, although I’m not sure that’s where they should be spending their money right now — and getting the draft pick is gold for them given how successful they’ve been with their high picks over the last decade or so. They do have Andrew Vaughn to fill in at first base in the short term, and prospect Andrew Fischer led the minors with 48 homers, so Fischer may be a factor by the middle of the season.

Their bigger need is the rotation, where they have the Cy Young winner at the top followed by a lot of uncertainty. Jacob Misiorowski was the only Brewer to throw 130+ regular-season innings in 2026, and I worry about regression from some of their best relievers after long seasons — which isn’t a criticism of their usage, just to be clear. They’ll need more innings from somewhere to fill those gaps, and that might be a better investment than a four-year deal — even a cheap one — for a 31-year-old first baseman they can probably replace with internal pieces.

The Brewers have so much talent coming from one of baseball’s best farm systems that they’ll be contenders for another five years, at least, as long as ownership backs it up by spending to fill gaps in the rest of the roster.

[raysbookclub]

Law

For Milwaukee, it’s a tough loss coming off a World Series win, at a price they could easily have matched, although I’m not sure that’s where they should be spending their money right now — and getting the draft pick is gold for them given how successful they’ve been with their high picks over the last decade or so. They do have Andrew Vaughn to fill in at first base in the short term, and prospect Andrew Fischer led the minors with 48 homers, so Fischer may be a factor by the middle of the season.

Their bigger need is the rotation, where they have the Cy Young winner at the top followed by a lot of uncertainty. Jacob Misiorowski was the only Brewer to throw 130+ regular-season innings in 2026, and I worry about regression from some of their best relievers after long seasons — which isn’t a criticism of their usage, just to be clear. They’ll need more innings from somewhere to fill those gaps, and that might be a better investment than a four-year deal — even a cheap one — for a 31-year-old first baseman they can probably replace with internal pieces.

The Brewers have so much talent coming from one of baseball’s best farm systems that they’ll be contenders for another five years, at least, as long as ownership backs it up by spending to fill gaps in the rest of the roster.

Def seems like the needs are rotation depth and a left-handed bat who can play 1B (though I love Vaughn and can see him as an everyday 1B easy). But are free agent options for SP and 1B better than our prospects? Hard to imagine that Fischer could be in the MLB by mid-season, but maybe he's really that good.

[MVP2110]

I'm not sure who but I could absolutely see the Brewers signing a Brett Anderson/Jose Quintana type to eat inning next year

[Ayt]

I thought Bauers would squeeze a little more out of a team then $14.5 million per. I was anticipating something closer to 4/$75M. It's weird to me - perhaps reflects a lack of faith in himself - for him to turn down $23M QO only for a 58M over 4. He could have taken the 23M and then tested the market again next year.

But anyway, not our issue. I was fine with letting him walk.

It is a little weird to turn down 1 year at 23.15M versus 4 years at 58M, but Spotrac has him at 7.7M in his career and he just had a massive career year at age 31. He's also been a journeyman. He has been on 5 different teams in 7 seasons.

His OPS before Milwaukee was .663. His three years in Milwaukee went .662, .752, .874.

[MickeyDavis]

An extra $35 million in the bank after having one very good year (at 31). He made the right choice.

[jimmybones]

It does free up a lot of money. But that’s a pretty big middle of the lineup hole that needs to be filled somehow.

Not really. It frees up the $2.7 million he was paid this year. $14.5 million wasn't on the books or budget for next year.

I could have worded that more clearly but I am referring to the 23 million we’d be paying him if he accepted the QO.

As in we’re paying that money to Bauers or we can do something else with it.

[MickeyDavis]

Gotcha. Makes sense.