The Brewers announced they have picked up their $14.5 million option on the catcher William Contreras. Milwaukee declined $14 million option on reliever Antonio Senzatela and the end of an $8.5 million mutual option for the backup receiver Gary Sanchez. The Brewers also officially announced the previously announced steps of issuing a qualifying offer to Jake Bauerswhile Dustin May turned down his half of a $20 million mutual option.
In addition to the option decisions, the Brewers also did some housekeeping on the back end of the 40-man roster. Milwaukee lost the outfielder Akil Baddoo on waivers in Pittsburgh while managing the bullpen Bryse Wilson And Jared Koenig through unclaimed waivers. Koenig has already elected free agency, and Wilson will have the right to do the same.
There wasn’t much suspense with the option decisions. Contreras is coming off a World Series MVP victory and would have been eligible for arbitration even if Milwaukee had declined the option. His projected salary was close to the option price, and there is no reason for the Brewers to bring this issue to a hearing. They’ll surely get calls from other teams about his availability on the trade market as he enters his walk year.
However, the Brewers have enough short-term spending capacity to make a $23.15 million offer to Bauers and could trade for the likes of Trevor Megill Or Andrew Vaughn to reduce the salary of their arbitration class. Although an offseason trade seemed plausible last summer, it’s harder to envision winning the franchise’s first title.
They will have to make some sort of move for the backup catcher role with Sánchez returning in free agency. He didn’t play much given Contreras’ monster workload, but the veteran hit 12 home runs with a .209/.349/.422 slash line over 275 plate appearances. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they went back and renegotiated a one-year contract with a higher salary than last season’s $1.75 million guarantee.
Senzatela is unlikely to return. The Brewers picked him up in a deadline trade with Colorado. The former starter pitched well early in the season with the Rockies, but began to slow down in June. He didn’t really right the ship in Milwaukee and finished the season with a 4.05 ERA and a modest 19.3% strikeout rate over 73 1/3 innings. His durability and a fastball that reached 97 mph in relief should land him a pretty cheap big league contract in his first trip to free agency.
Wilson and Koenig were obvious non-tender candidates. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected them for respective arbitration salaries of $1.1 million and $900,000. Neither is exorbitant, of course, but Wilson is bounced on and off MLB rosters and Koenig has been limited to nine MLB appearances this year. He suffered a sprained elbow in April and allowed nine runs (seven earned) in seven MLB innings, leading Milwaukee to keep him in the minors for the second half of the season.
Koenig is one season away from pitching 66 innings of 2.86 ERA ball with a 25% strikeout rate. His fastball averaged 96 mph during his brief big league stint this year, although he couldn’t miss at bats in Triple-A. He’s likely considering a non-roster invitation to big league camp — likely to a team that doesn’t have as much left-handed relief depth as the Brewers.
Gn sports
