Never thought it was going to happen. No way, Yeli isn't going to sign an extension to stay in Milwaukee because he is too good. The Brewers will have to trade him the year before he hits free agency or half way through that season. Then he will hit free agency to cash in a huge payday ala Harper, Machado, Cole and what Betts figures to get next offseason. But then the Ken Rosenthal tweet came at 3:14pm on Tuesday March 3rd. It will become a "where were you when the news broke of the Yelich extension?"
I had just gotten back to the office after a meeting with a customer, got myself my customary afternoon cup of coffee sat down at my desk, and boom there it was. I had to do a double take and make sure it had the blue check mark and that I wasn't getting duped by a fake Rosenthal account. It was pure excitement and joy. Christian Yelich is really going to sign a long term extension with the Brewers to stay in Milwaukee for essentially the rest of his career. A nine year contract through 2028 worth $215 mill with a mutual option for 2029 became official on Friday March 6th at a presser with Yelich, Stearns and Attanasio. Get ready to book a vacation in Cooperstown sometime in July roughly between the years 2034-2038 for the induction ceremony.
You know the resume by now, but let's just go through it because it's so awesome. 2018 NL MVP (should have been 2019 as well, was robbed), two NL Batting Titles, two NL All-Star games, three NL OF Silver Sluggers, NL Gold Glove, All-MLB First Team (19'). Career slash line of .301/.383/.492 w/ 139 HR, 124 SB, 137 OPS+, 33.6 WAR. When the Brewers traded for Yeli in January 2018 we all knew we were getting a really good player, with a ton of potential to be even better. And he has tapped into every bit of that potential his first two years in Milwaukee becoming the best player in the NL and pretty much the second best player in all of baseball only behind Mike Trout.
He loves Milwaukee, he has said that in countless interviews and wrote that tremendous piece in the Players Tribune before the 2018 playoff run. He wanted to be here and we now get to enjoy the ride as we watch a future Hall of Famer day in and day for many summers to come. He's a special player and a special person. I have all the faith in David Stearns, the entire front office and Craig Counsell that they will all do whatever they can to put a good team around him every season so that at some point during this contract they bring a World Series Championship to the state of Wisconsin. It is going to be a great nine plus years, so excited to go on this journey.
The five year contract extension and two team options that could keep Freddy Peralta a Brewer through the 2026 season seems like a win for both parties. Freddy has now set his family up for life with a guaranteed $15.5 mill and the opportunity to add another $14.5 mill if the two options years are picked up by the Brewers. The Brewers lock up a very talented, young (23 yo) pitcher who's role is not defined yet but has shown great flashes as both a starting pitcher and reliever. And for Freddy, if he strives over the next seven years in either role or a combination he will be a free agent again at age 30 and have a chance to cash in one more time for a payday.
For the Brewers this seemed like an absolute no brainer. To lock up a young player with the potential of Freddy Peralta at this kind of cost there is hardly any risk. If he is only mildly effective or worse he flames out you are only out $15.5 mill, that is not going to sink your ship by any means. If he strives as either a starter or a high leverage reliever they will have a steal of a deal. For Freddy there is no doubt he could end up leaving quite a bit of money on the table if he fully realizes the potential of the flashes he has shown in both roles. But now knowing he is going to make the club in some fashion could be just what he needs to relax and just go out there and shove and be the pitcher we all hope he can be. That security can he huge for some players.
For me, I still think I like Freddy best as a high leverage, relief ace type pitcher. A right handed Josh Hader perhaps if they can use Peralta in the same way they use Hader. His stuff overall has ticked up from 2018 to 2019, but it really seemed he was able to let it go when coming out of the pen in smaller bursts than trying to go deep into games as a starter. But I will gladly say I was wrong if this new slider Freddy is throwing is legit and he can be a reliable starter for the Brewers, we know he can flash that with his big league debut for the Rockies on Mother's Day in 2018 and his gem he tossed against the Reds in April of 2019. But to truly breakout and have consistent success in either role he will have to improve on his current career 4.2/BB9. He gets a lot of swings and misses in the zone, he just has to keep throwing it in the zone and master his command.
Excited to hear that Freddy Peralta added a slider to his pitch repertoire while pitching in winter ball. We all heard the stories all offseason how dominate he was in winter ball, which while it's not nothing to sneeze at, having a good winter ball and having a good MLB season are two totally different things. But don't get me wrong, I'm at least hopeful that he really did figure something out with this slider and adding it to his fastball that played up out of the pen in addition to a curve that somtimes looked absolutely filthy. Maybe we see a full season of the nasty Peralta we saw occasionally out of the bullpen in the 2018 playoffs and the 2019 regular season. Sure would be helpful to guys like Hader, Knebel and Suter to make our pen one of the best in the league again.
Josh Hader lost his arbitration case to the Brewers so he will *only* earn $4.1 mil in 2020. The $6.4 mil he and his representation filed for which would have been the record for a relief pitcher in his first year, sure seemed like a tall hill to climb. But I can't really blame them, Hader has been pretty much far and away the best RP in MLB for the past two seasons. And honestly he is more than worth the $6.4 mil, but looks like not having many saves in 2017 and 2018 hurt his cause. It certainly isn't "fair" but it's just the way of an old, somewhat broken arbitration system. Due to his Super 2 status he achieved he gets three more years of arb. I am sure the next few years he will earn much more if he continues to pitch like he has and for his sake and the Brewers sake I sure hope he does.
Was fun to see our MVP Christian Yelich show up at NBA All-Star Saturday night in Chicago and lend an assist to Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton in the dunk contest. Yelich rocking a old school Kareem Bucks jersey and used as a prop for Pat doing the "White Men Can't Jump" dunk. Let's be honest, anytime our athletes of our teams crossover and show up to support the other teams in the state we are always going to mark out for it. At least I know I will. Just glad Yeli was left unscathed and will be in AZ in just a day or two to report to camp.
So happy for Brent Suter, a former 31st round pick out of Harvard signs a 2 year deal to avoid arbitration (which a hearing was going to be held tomorrow). $2.5 mil guaranteed for The Raptor. Pretty awesome for a guy picked that late, doesn't throw hard at all and had TJ surgery in 2018. He was obviously huge down the stretch last season for the Brewers when he returned and they will need more of that in 2020 to compete. He has become a huge fan favorite with his quirky personalty and how fast he works on the mound. For me, I look forward to watching him pitch as much as I do Hader. He should be huge as a multi inning RP in 2020 and possibly as a spot starter depending on the health of the top five SP going into camp.
Growing up, I like most kids loved Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. I mean, they are/were the greatest Brewers in franchise history. And while he played with both of those guys for a few seasons, perhaps my favorite Brewer post Yount/Molitor was Greg Vaughn. When early this offseason the Brewers announced they would be doing a Greg Vaughn bobblehead day I was stoked. To me, that was almost as cool as when they did Rob Deer last season and will probably go into my pantheon of Brewers bobbleheads (joining 15' Deer, 02' Aaron, 06' Miller, 08' Braun, 12' T-Plush, 13' Scott, 14' Gomez and 14' Yount). Then in January Vaughn was announced to attend Brewers On Deck. Suddenly all this talk of Vaughn got me really feeling nostalgic about his time as a Brewer and his career in MLB. Hell, I even recently purchased a lot of 12 Vaughn cards off eBay that had a few of his rookies that I didn't already have.
Vaughn was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (4th overall) in the 1986 Draft out of the U (where he was an All-American). He made his MLB debut in 1989 and was a rookie in 1990 when he hit 17 HR. He would go on to play eight seasons with the Brewers making the All-Star team twice, hitting 169 of his 355 career HR in a Brewers uniform. His two All-Star seasons (93' and 96') were his best in Milwaukee. In his age 27 season in 93' he hit 30 HR had an .850 OPS and drove in 97 (6.7 WAR). In 96' he slugged 31 HR had had an .948 OPS and drove in 95 (2.7 WAR) for the Crew before being traded at the July 31st deadline to the Padres for Bryce Florie, Marc Newfield and Ron Villone (YUCK! What a typical shit Selig/Bando move of the mid to late 90's).
(Couldn't find him hitting a HR as a Brewer, so here he is taking Randy Johnson deep in the 98' NLDS)
That trade hit me hard. I was 14 at the time and still didn't understand the economics of baseball and how my team could keep trading away our good players. Vaughn had a down year in 1997 due to injury but had outstanding season in 98' (Padres) and 99' (Reds) as an All-Star and MVP candidate even slugging 50 HR in 98' (friend of mine got Vaughn to sign a ball at On Deck and inscribe "50 HR" on the ball, thought that was awesome), one of only twenty seven players in MLB history to hit 50 or more in a season. He played four more season between Tampa Bay and Colorado before retiring after the 2003 season.
"Vaughn's Valley" out in LF is something that will live in Brewers lore for ever. It was a staple of County Stadium for six years, he played LF and hit the vast majority of his dingers to that part of the bleachers so it was very fitting. Vaughn was a bad ass, cool cat. He was strong, hit a lot of dingers, had a swag to him, usually had the top few buttons undone on his jersey and was usually seen with a big old dip in his lower lip. He was a ballplayer. I remember always trying to imitate that famous pigeon toed stance he had while playing home run derby with friends in the backyard. He wasn't the greatest player, but to me he always seemed a bit underrated and on some shitty Brewers teams he was something to really enjoy and look forward to. I look forward to getting his bobblehead this season and hope he will make it out to Miller Park that day so he can get an ovation he deserves from all the other fans who think Greg Vaughn was the man.
