The Brewers still have business to attend to here in 2024, as they won the National League Central. They naturally still have aspirations of continuing to win through October and nabbing a World Series title. But the offseason is going to start in a few weeks regardless of what happens in the playoffs and plans have to be made. Owner Mark Attanasio was asked about some of the questions facing the club with Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting on his responses. Most notably, Attanasio didn’t offer much insight on the club’s planned payroll for next year while downplaying the chances of the club re-signing shortstop Willy Adames.
On the payroll side of things, Attanasio didn’t really tip his hand. While the club’s strong performance this year has led to increased ticket revenue and strong TV ratings, the owner suggested that it may end up a wash with the club receiving less revenue sharing.
“We have a budget every year,” Attanasio said. “Revenue isn’t just ticket revenue; it (includes) beverage and sponsorships, all of which are strong. (There’s) also revenue sharing, which we’ve talked about a lot. The way that the revenue sharing model works, everybody puts their money in the pot and then it gets recalibrated. The more money you make on a comparative basis, the less revenue sharing you get.”
Attanasio also went on to highlight that the club will face some uncertainty in terms of their TV revenues. “We’ve got local media – some would say challenges, but I would say opportunities – with the challenges at Diamond (Sports Group) and Bally’s. If you look to the medium term and not just the short term, I look at that as opportunities because of the ability to control our digital rights, which are very valuable. And that may occasion a step back next year.” Per Hogg, Attanasio clarified that “a step back” meant less TV revenue coming in, not necessarily less money going out to the player payroll.
Diamond has been in a limbo state for quite some time now. Reports emerged in the 2022-23 offseason that the company, which owns Bally Sports networks, was in a bad financial position. The company filed for bankruptcy just before the 2023 season kicked off but has since tried to stay afloat. It’s not yet clear if their efforts to continue operating will ultimately be successful.
Though the company has continued to put together broadcasts for some clubs, their total portfolio has shifted. They dropped their contracts with the Padres and Diamondbacks in 2023. It threatened to do the same with the Guardians, Twins and Rangers for 2024 but ultimately renegotiated lower fees with those clubs. The Brewers have been fairly untouched so far but Hogg’s piece notes that their deal with Diamond expires after the 2024 season, making their 2025 TV revenue a big unknown at this point.
There are many moving parts between the gate revenue, uncertainty with the broadcast situation and the revenue sharing. Since the club continues to perform well on the field but is facing those questions about the business side of things, perhaps it’s fair to expect that the payroll won’t be wildly shifting in either direction.
The club’s payroll has generally fallen in the middle of the league, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Attanasio purchased the club in 2005 and the club has never been higher than 13th in terms of player spending since then. Since the pandemic, the Brewers have been in the range of 19th to 22nd among the 30 clubs in the majors. This year, they were 22nd with an Opening Day budget of $104MM.
Despite those financial limitations, there has been a lot of on-field success. This is the sixth time in the past seven years that Milwaukee has cracked the postseason, missing by just a single game in 2022.
Per RosterResource, the club only has $39MM committed to next year’s roster, though that number doesn’t really reflect the offseason picture. Rhys Hoskins has an $18MM player option that he will surely trigger on the heels of a down year. There’s a $4MM buyout, so he’ll add $14MM to the budget by sticking around for next year. The club will surely pick up club options on Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams and Colin Rea, adding another $21.25MM.
That would get the total number up to the $75MM range, before accounting for arbitration raises. Aaron Civale is making $4.9MM this year and should get a bump of a few million. Hoby Milner and Joel Payamps each made around $2MM this year and will get bumps. William Contreras will qualify for the first time and should be able to get a notable raise with his strong career to date. Players like Jake Bauers, Bryse Wilson, Eric Haase, Trevor Megill and Nick Mears are also in line for arb raises.
Depending on which of those players are tendered contracts and where the salaries ultimately end up, the Brewers could wind up fairly close to this year’s $104MM payroll before even making any offseason moves. Some trades could always free up some cash, but the club might not have a lot of powder dry to bring back Adames, which Attanasio was frank about.
“He’s going to get an enormous free-agent contract and I’m very happy for him and his family, and we’ll give it our best shot,” Attanasio said. “But there’s a lot deeper pockets out there. That’s just the reality.”
Adames had a bit of a down year in 2023 but has had a strong bounce back this year. He hit 32 home runs and drew walks in 10.8% of his plate appearances. His .251/.331/.462 line translated to a 119 wRC+, indicating he was 19% above league average at the plate overall. He also stole 21 bases in 25 tries. His defensive reviews weren’t as strong as previous years, with -16 Defensive Runs Saved and 0 Outs Above Average, though his career tallies are still positive in both of those metrics. Even with the diminished grades for his glovework, FanGraphs still considered him to be worth 4.8 wins above replacement on the year.
As a solidly above average shortstop going into his age-29 season, his free agency has a lot of comparables to Dansby Swanson, Javier Báez and Trevor Story. All three of them were in similar positions as they hit the open market. Báez and Story each got $140MM over six years while Swanson got $177MM over seven.
The Brewers have only once given out a contract anywhere near that range, with the extension for Christian Yelich getting to $188.5MM. Apart from that, the largest contract in franchise history was $105MM for Ryan Braun back in 2011, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker.
Given the club’s track record and current budgetary question marks, and Attanasio’s straightforward comments, the odds of Adames returning to Milwaukee seem to be quite low. Assuming that comes to pass, they will recoup draft pick compensation by making him a qualifying offer, which he will reject.
The club has a couple of in-house options to cover for Adames, as both Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz came up as shortstops in the minors. They have posted strong defensive grades primarily at second and third base this year respectively and either could be a candidate to move back to short going forward. Neither has qualified for arbitration yet, so it would be a low-cost solution to Adames’ departure if the club goes that route. They would then have to address either second or third base but could find internal solutions for that issue as well. The club has toyed with Sal Frelick being moved to third as a solution to its crowded outfield picture, though injuries have allowed him to stay in the outfield for now. Prospect Tyler Black is also a possibility at the hot corner going forward.
There will be many questions to be answered in the weeks and months to come. For now, the club will be focused on winning the games in front of them, which could also impact the upcoming winter. A lengthy playoff run would lead to more gate and TV revenue, which could perhaps impact how the front office and ownership answer some of these questions.
Very Barry
Nothing but respect for Milwaukee as a baseball organization. They play good, solid baseball. They should be in the A.L. Central. They are built and play like our squads.
tangerinepony
Well, once upon a time time before 1998 they were in the AL central
Ezpkns34
Hope the Brewers continue to carry the NL Central crown, nice change from the Cardinals
Dice 66
They are a 4th place club in any other division!! NL Central terrible! Rather see Pirates playing this game with all the young pitching! They finished last! Skenes would shut these bums down!!
Samuel
Dice 66;
Nonsense.
Dice 66
Wake up! You have a false sense of illusion! Understand your a fan, but your owner got rid of your 2 best pitchers! Really!!?
Ezpkns34
@Dice
They traded Burnes a year before he would have left in FA and got Ortiz who is almost certainly better than whoever they would have drafted with the compensation pick
Woodruff is still on the team. Is your complaint that they didn’t try to force him to pitch while injured all year?
brewsingblue82
Their record says otherwise. And you can’t even say “well they play lower tier clubs.” The cubs, cardinals, and even the reds to an extent put up fairly competitive teams. With the cardinals and cubs often in the picture to take the division. Not to mention they don’t play as many games against their division anymore.
Patriot12992
4th place teams averaged around 77-85 this yea you think playing in another division would equal a swing of 15 games? That is a weak sauce take. And trading away those pitchers netted them alot of future firepower.
douglasb
Any other division? The NL Central had a winning record against every division in baseball except the NL West. You sure you are not just making assumptions based on fan myths?
Simm
The brewers are obviously a well ran team. They compete in years even when people don’t think they will.
Was an interesting comment about how they made more money so they received less money and it being somewhat of a wash. Basically saying the further ahead they get the more things stay the same financially.
Not sure what baseball can do fix the income disparity in the league. It really hurts competitive balance though.
Very Barry
Baseball is not interested in fixing a system that has the Yankees (New York) and the Dodgers (Los Angeles) in a significantly better financial position than anyone else. They will both be feasting on “juiced” balls in the Playoffs as they try to deliver the media market monster New York vs. L.A. and Judge vs. Ohtani Super Match-Up.
Samuel
“Was an interesting comment about how they made more money so they received less money and it being somewhat of a wash.”
Simm;
Yes, one would think MLBTR would be pointing things like that out.
stymeedone
I would think the Brewers are very much in the mid tier of teams. It makes sense that they would be near the tipping point where if they make more than other teams in that tier, they would get less. Of course they would like more, but getting more when doing worse helps them maintain payroll.
Acoss1331
With a payroll just over 100 million and coming out on top on what seems to be a yearly basis, as a Cubs fan, all I can do is applaud the front office and coaching staff. This is how you run a baseball team.
C Yards Jeff
They are well run. Looks like it starts with the owner. Like “We have a budget every year”.
Samuel
You played ball Jeff.
The other day a poster here rapped Sal Frelick because he plays RF and doesn’t have power numbers offensively. I responded that the Brewers are doing the Whitey Herzog thing and playing 3 CF’s in the OF (the Cardinals won a championship that way).
I was listening to the game tonight, and the broadcaster referred to Frelick as “a winning player”……which he is. Anyone watching games (or playing them) and understanding the sport can see that. Most posters here cannot…and the writers just look at stats and regurgitate them selectively to fit their articles goals.
The other day I read the stupid: “The Yankees would nave been better off with A-Rod at SS then Jeter” comments. They look at spreadsheets and demean the most influential player in MLB over the past 30-40 years…because they don’t understand the game and never played it (even Red Sox fans at the time respected him for the way he played ball). How many WS’s and championships was A-Rod a part of when Jeter wasn’t on his team?
Am really losing it. I think there may be 2-3 dozen posters that understand the sport of baseball. I don’t think any of the writers do. These people look at spreadsheets and maybe watch some highlights. It’s sad. Then again, I was reading some ESPN MLB articles this weekend for the first time in at least months. They were previewing the playoffs. Multiple writers. They were sensational! None of this “every team that doesn’t win is due to the owners not spending more money” crap that goes on here. Like if every owner spent a lot of money and took a loss, all the teams would win the WS.
Short timer here. Find me Astros Hot Takes to start a blog.
C Yards Jeff
Don’t get me wrong, money can definitely buy you a championship BUT only if the org has a plan in place. And only if everyone has peacefully bought in to the plan … from ownership all the way down to batboy. Maybe the fragmented personnel chaos of the early 70s A’s and late 70s Yankees being exceptions.
Got both smaller payroll teams and bigger payroll teams left here in the playoffs. If you made it this far it’s not about the money, it’s about having a plan, believing in it and using it.
BigV
Frelick is underrated.
SharksFan91
Frelick is overrated and Milwaukee’s 5th best OF at best. (Yelich, Chourio, Perkins, Mitchell) The fact that Murphy played him more than Perkins and Mitchell (when healthy) was typical of Murphy.
Samuel
DashaToushu;
1 He’s not a DH. Position players participate on D.
2. It’s 2024.
3. If you’re judging a MLB player by 2-3 games then you might be a moron and/or a con artist, but you’re surely a Troll.
Samuel
” And today
One for four with a double
Bases loaded in the first – makes the third out of the inning.
Where’s this winning presence?”
DashaToushu;
Got me there.
Henderson of the Orioles is no good. All the Astros players have no “winning presence”. Same for all the Braves players.
You sure know stuff!
Does your mommy know you’re still up this late? Shame. Shame. No Skittles for you tomorrow.
Samuel
Kid….
Go to sleep, That your statistics and smartphone with you.
johnsilver
Samuel- I dunno how u stomached the crews calling the games yesterday. granted.. Did miss 4th game.. 1st 3? bad to worse. Thought couldn’t get worse than michael Kay’s screeching voice during 1st Det/Hou game, but lo and behold.. next to games were much worse.. The O’s game was “mute”, Thank goodness could mostly watch the Detroit game and ignore the Balt game, tho would have preffered to see/hear the O’s game.. had it been listenable to..
ESPN hires/brings on the absolute trashiest announcers.. Not had 1 worth anything since the grat Jon miller. Why not get Buck Martinez from Fox/Toronto, or David Simms from Root/Seattle? There are worthy Baseball announcers, ESPN seems to go out of it’s way to hire the worst, with awful voices who ramble on and on over nonsense.
Samuel
johnsilver;
I was listening to the radio broadcasts which were quite good.
Because the rights were sold to major networks, they have the a$$-kissing self-promoting bureaucrats that didn’t cover the teams during the season doing the games.
The O’s game was done by the O’s Kevin Brown – now one of the best play-by-play broadcasters in MLB. Mets broadcast had Howie Rose – there since the Mets started. Astros had their radio announcers, and the Padres game had Joe Simpson and I believe a fellow named Hamilton that came over to the Braves from Milwaukee a few years ago – I always listen to them when I’m watching Braves games.
MLB.TV allows a subscriber to select the TV or radio broadcast while viewing the video, I seldom listen to the TV crews. Most radio broadcasts give far more information.
johnsilver
That’s a good idea Samuel.. Listen via radio and watch via tube. Timing may be a tad off, but who cares and yeah.. Recognize those names.. All good.
Joe Simpson is very good.. One of the better ones around now.
SharksFan91
Rather listen to the ESPN announcers than the ones on Fox.
Astros Hot Takes
@Samuel – try david@easyi9s.com
jbigz12
Adames feels like a guy who ends up with a Javy Baez contract and the signing team regrets it.
Acoss1331
He’s a streaky guy, so I can see the comparison to Baez. Baez completely cratered as soon as he joined the Tigers. If the Brewers don’t re-sign Willy, it won’t be the end of the world that’s for sure.
Very Barry
Cubs won a ring and then managed to NOT pay Baez (Tigers), Contreras (Cardinals), Bryant (Rockies) and Schwarber (Phillies).
case
All 3 of the “comparables” listed in the article are pretty bad signings, though at least Swanson stays healthy and hasn’t completely cratered. Given the thin market for shortstops it’s probably best if they move on immediately and let some other team overbid.
stymeedone
@case
If Adames’ agent even mentions any of those three as comparisons (well, I guess Swanson’s might be ok), Adames should fire him. Its like saying overpay my client like these other mistakes, Sucker!
rememberthecoop
And all of those shortstop contracts were regrettable
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Jury is still out on Swanson, but story and Baez have been horrible
On the bigger FA SS contracts, seager and semien were great, turner was good, Correa iffy, and bogaerts subpar
Unclemike1525
That off season is going to start sooner rather than later I’m afraid. Anybody who is shocked by this is delusional. The Brewers will always have a budget. Doesn’t make them bad. Sounds like they have some fairly decent options to replace Adames plus a nice draft pick coming for him. They draft and develop well just like the Rays. Having a budget doesn’t make you bad, Just makes you think before you act more. Heck the Cubs have a budget. Ricketts spent a ton of his own money on the Park, TV station, Neighborhood, Minor Leagues then came a pandemic. So now there is money to be recouped. Every team has a budget. sticking to it and winning is the trick. Brewers do it as well as anybody.
stubby66
I look for the Brewers moving Turang to short then use Frelick at second. Which think he can handle the switch like Biggio, Rose, Carew all did as far as switching positions. So they could use a Black/ Frelick at second or third platoon. I expect Milwaukee to work on extending their young players. Maybe sign Lowe or make a trade for a control player. They will sign and find diamonds in the rough. They still got a lot of young position and pitchers that are ready to come up. They will still be getting a lot better even if they don’t sign a big free agent with what’s coming up.
cwizzy6
I have never once heard Frelick at second. If you are going to play with the infield like that, this past offseason they were trying him at third. Otriz and Turang will man 2B and SS the foreseeable future.
SharksFan91
Frelick in the same breath a Biggio, Rose, and Carew??!! Haha lmao What are you smoking?
Josh608
Not good timing Mark A, I appreciate we win the division but come on man. Go for it once in a while. Go out and grab a starting pitcher that you trust more than 4 innings in a playoff game. Signed 40 plus year Brewers fan.
stymeedone
Being on a budget (like every team but the Mets), what additional position should they skimp on to allocate those pitching funds? Or maybe they should jack up the beer price?
YourDreamGM
I thought Bob Nutting was awful.
“The way that the revenue sharing model works, everybody puts their money in the pot and then it gets recalibrated. The more money you make on a comparative basis, the less revenue sharing you get.”
“While the club’s strong performance this year has led to increased ticket revenue and strong TV ratings, the owner suggested that it may end up a wash with the club receiving less revenue sharing.”
Do the Brewers not spend any $ on advertising marketing? Sounds like it doesn’t matter if people attend games. It’s a wash!!! I don’t follow revenue sharing closely but last I heard and thought was it’s only a portion that gets shared. Like 40 50 percent I dunno but whatever it’s nowhere near 100 so more attendance would certainly make you more $. If it didn’t Bob Nutting would just have all league minimum players and wouldn’t advertise, no perogie races, no fireworks, no bobbleheads. He would totally sign up for MORE revenue sharing!
SharksFan91
Yeah, like billionaire owners are owning teams to lose money. Mark A is a private equity hedge fund vulture capitalist.
Dice 66
Brewers going home early!
Inside Out
The owner made profits of over $30 million last year and more this year along with continuing double digit percentage increase in team value every year, but I guess that is pocket change to a billionaire. What an ahole
Jswag
Brewers offseason should look like this:
Adames walks on big money deal and crew gets a comp pick after round one.
Ortiz/Turang handle second and SS next several years quite well.
Sign a big bat that isn’t astronomically expensive. The three I zero in on are Paul Goldschmidt/Teoscar Hernandez/Ryan Mountcastle.
Trade Devin Williams for at least two top ten prospects from an organization in the top half of farm systems. Megill and other options are there to close even if Devin is an alpha.
Lastly, the culture in the clubhouse in Milwaukee is second to none so go after a buy low ish bounce back infielder to grab the starting job somewhere on the infield vacated by Adames leaving. The two I look at are Yoan Moncada and Jorge Polanco.
Woodruff should be back opening day and Gasser sometime in June or July.
This team should win 90 plus again and just need to perform come playoff time.
Samuel
Jswag;
Do you think it’s possible that David Searns had major input to the Mets plan for tonight’s game?
jbigz12
Hard to sign Mounty when he’s in arb w/ the O’s but I wouldn’t mind swinging another deal with Milwaukee. I’d take DL Hall back for him and put him in the pen where he belongs. He will chew guys up once the fantasy about him being a starter subsides.
cwizzy6
I really like the plan. Id like to keep Devin to the trade deadline next year, but his value is at the max and he’s a bit injury prone so off he goes.
My guess is Rhys is accepting his option, which I think is fine. We let Winker go and that extra year of rehab and rest from injury did him well, I see the same for Rhys.
IF Rhys stays, is Goldy/Mountcastle taking Bauers 1b role? Where is Teoscar going to fit in? The OF is full. Unless…
I can see a world where Frelick or Perkins is traded. I would be disappointed in that, but who knows.
Woody will get time to ease into it, same with Yelich.
Thoughts on what to do with Freddy Peralta? 8 mil the next two years. The guy rarely makes it out of the fourth or fifth.
I also see 90 wins next year, but the division will be tougher.
Jswag
Sanchez and Bauers move on Haase backup C next year. Those two moving on opens 547 abs (some go to Yelich and some to haase). But these things work themselves out and we need a big bat.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
At least their owner is honest to their fans
Stormintazz
Scary part is if he sells the team.
Rsox
Seems like that business may come sooner than later
SupremeZeus
Wonder what his sand budget will be?
_Soulrocker_
I find it absolutely ridiculous that a billionaire likes when monies is shared, expect in actual society. THEN ITS SOCIALISM. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO