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MLBPA-Owned Company Under Federal Investigation

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This morning, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Don Van Natta Jr. reported that Players Way, a company owned by the Major League Baseball Players Association, is under federal investigation. The MLBPA is already under investigation for its association with OneTeam Partners, which Passan and Van Natta reported on back in May.

Players Way is a youth baseball company founded in 2019. The Union purports to have spent $3.9MM on the venture, though Passan and Van Natta cite multiple sources who have pegged the figures closer to $10MM. “I don’t think any of us realized it cost as much as it did,” one anonymous player told ESPN.

An anonymous whistleblower complaint from November 2024 cited Players Way, which led to a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. The complaint lodges multiple accusations against MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, including nepotism related to hiring decisions involving Players Way.

“Any suggestion that Players Way has not been supported by our elected Player representatives and broader membership is patently false,” Clark said in a statement to ESPN. “Players Way has been front and center at every annual meeting of the MLBPA Executive Board in recent memory, and our dialogue with Players regarding youth development continues throughout the calendar.”

Readers are encouraged to check out Passan and Van Natta’s full story on the investigation, which contains more info on Players Way and MLBPA’s connection to it. Details include the company headquarters being a mailbox at a UPS Store in Florida and a YouTube channel with one subscriber. Allegations against Clark include abuse of power and improper usage of the union’s resources.

OneTeam Partners is a joint venture between the MLBPA and the NFL Players Association, along with a private equity firm, focused on player-related issues outside the collective bargaining agreement. That investigation stemmed from an anonymous complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board that included accusations against Clark regarding “improperly (giving) himself and other executives equity” in OneTeam, according to the May report from ESPN, cited above.

Clark has led the MLBPA since 2013. He had previously been the organization’s director of player relations, beginning in 2010. Clark faced internal pressure to replace deputy director Bruce Meyer back in March of last year, a change that could’ve also resulted in his own departure. Clark and Meyer ultimately survived the attempted ousting.

The allegations surrounding the MLBPA come at a crucial time for the players and the league, with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in December 2026. The CBA and a potential lockout will be hot topics over the coming 13 months.

Tigers Agree To New Minor League Deal With Tomas Nido

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4:00pm: Nido will make $1.5MM if he makes the major league roster, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.

1:56pm: Tomas Nido is heading back to Detroit on a minor league deal, according to the MiLB transactions log. Nido was outrighted to Triple-A Toledo in May. He elected free agency in mid-October, but will stick with the Detroit organization. Nido is represented by ACES.

Nido first joined the Tigers on a minor league deal in September 2024 after getting released by the Cubs. He elected minor league free agency at the end of the 2024 season, but reupped with Detroit in January 2025. This offseason played out similarly for the two sides.

Jake Rogers went down with an oblique injury in April, leading to an early call-up for Nido. He hit .343 in 11 games with the big-league club. All 12 of Nido’s hits were singles. He also struck out at a 27% clip. Rogers returned in May, bumping Nido back to Toledo.

The 31-year-old Nido has spent parts of the past nine seasons with four MLB teams. The majority of his professional career has been spent in the Mets organization. He was drafted by New York in 2012.

Nido handled backup catcher duties for the Mets in varying stints from 2017 to 2024. His most active year was 2022, when he appeared in 98 games and reached 313 plate appearances. Nido scuffled to a .600 OPS that season. His tenure with the Mets ended in June of 2024. The Cubs quickly scooped up Nido after his release from the Mets. He made 17 appearances with Chicago before they moved on from him.

Defense has always been Nido’s calling card. Statcast’s Fielding Run Value grades him as a positive contributor in each season going back to 2018. Nido exceeded double-figures in fielding run value in both 2021 and 2022.

Dillon Dingler emerged as a strong option behind the plate for Detroit this past season, slashing .278/.327/.425 as the primary starter. Rogers remains in the fold as a reliable backup. Nido would likely need an injury to one of those two options in order to return to the MLB squad. Detroit also has catching prospects Josue Briceno and Thayron Liranzo looming in the minors. MLB.com ranks both Briceno and Liranzo as top 5 prospects in the organization.

Orioles, Rico Garcia Agree To Terms On 2026 Salary

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The Orioles announced that they have agreed to terms with right-hander Rico Garcia on a one-year deal for the 2026 season. The club didn’t announce salary figures but Josh Tolentino and Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun report that the righty will get a $900K salary.

It’s an unusual deal. Garcia, 32 in January, was already on the Baltimore roster, having been claimed off waivers from the Mets in August. He has less than two years of service time. That means he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration. The O’s could have set his salary around the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. Bumping up to $900K is obviously attractive to Garcia but the O’s also expect some kind of benefit from it as well.

It’s likely the first step in a plan to have Garcia serve as non-roster depth. The O’s could put him on waivers and hope that the slightly elevated salary dissuades the other 29 clubs from putting in a claim. If Garcia passed through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. However, since he has less than five years of service time, he would have to walk away from his remaining salary commitments in exercising that right. Since Garcia is out of options, this potentially gives the O’s a way to move him to Norfolk and back, while getting around his out-of-options status.

The O’s have tried similar things before, usually with arbitration-eligible players. They agreed to a $1MM salary with infielder Emmanuel Rivera for the 2025 season. He was outrighted off the roster before the season began. During the season, he was added back to the roster and then outrighted again on three further occasions, giving the O’s an extra depth option. It doesn’t always work this way, however. The O’s and Jake Cave avoided arbitration in November of 2022, agreeing to a $950K salary for 2023. About a month later, they tried to pass him through waivers but the Phillies claimed him.

Garcia has seen limited action in five big league seasons but 2025 was his largest workload and his best performance. He tossed 34 1/3 innings for three different clubs, allowing 3.15 earned runs per nine. His 26.8% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 48.4% ground ball rate were all above average. Since he’s out of options, he bounced around the waiver wire, pitching for the Mets, Yankees and O’s last year. Perhaps the increased salary will help the O’s keep him as an up-and-down arm but it’s also possible some other club claims him and he gets paid his slightly elevated salary somewhere else.

Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images

Bryce Miller Expected To Avoid Elbow Surgery

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Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller is not expected to need elbow surgery this offseason, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Miller had multiple stints on the injured list this past season due to elbow inflammation. He returned for the final six weeks of the regular season and made three starts in the playoffs. “I finished the year the best I felt all year — three good starts, I felt like,” Miller told Jude. “My body and my arm feel good, so just get better, get fully healthy and be ready to go from Day 1 next year.”

Miller was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow and received a PRP injection in early June. He relayed to Jude that he has an upcoming appointment to determine the next steps in treatment. Miller said the likely route is a gel cortisone injection early this offseason, and potentially another one at the start of spring training. “Now that we know how to deal with the bone spur, we can figure out what we need to do exactly with it and go from there,” Miller told Jude. He added that he’d be “surprised” if the appointment led to an invasive procedure.

The elbow injury seemed to derail the early portion of Miller’s 2025 campaign. He struggled to a 5.22 ERA through his first eight starts. The control was the biggest red flag. After posting a solid 6.4% walk rate in 2024, Miller nearly doubled that mark to 12.1% over his first 39 2/3 innings. He hit the IL on May 14, though it was a minimum stint. Miller returned at the end of May, but only lasted two starts. He was hammered for eight earned runs over nine innings and headed back to the IL.

The results following Miller’s second absence weren’t much better. He closed the regular season with a 5.62 ERA over eight starts, but there were encouraging signs heading into the playoffs. Miller’s fastball velocity improved by nearly one mph. He cut his walk rate to 6.3%. Miller was mostly done in by a massive 24.5% home run to fly ball rate, which should be expected to regress over a larger sample.

Miller put everything together in the postseason. He limited the Tigers to two runs over 4 1/3 innings in Game 4 of the ALDS. Miller then came through with six dominant innings in a win over Toronto to kick off the ALCS. He returned in Game 5 with four innings of one-run ball, though Toronto’s bullpen couldn’t hold a late lead. Miller’s fastball velocity topped out at 98.1 mph in his second start against the Mariners.

The uneven 2025 season was a disappointing follow-up to a tremendous 2024 for Miller. He built on a solid rookie year, putting together 180 1/3 innings of a sub-3.00 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning last season. Miller’s 3.85 xFIP and 3.80 SIERA suggested he might not have been as good as his 2.94 ERA, but he looked like a fixture in a talented rotation.

After a remarkably healthy 2024, Seattle’s starters were hampered by injuries this past season. Logan Gilbert spent all of May and part of June on the IL with an elbow flexor strain. George Kirby missed the first two months of the season with shoulder inflammation. Bryan Woo went down with a pectoral injury in September. He was available for just 4 1/3 innings in the playoffs.

Seattle’s rotation led the league in ERA in 2024. The staff slipped to 13th this past season. With Miller managing his elbow injury without surgery, and an offseason for Woo to get back to full health, the rotation should once again be among the best in the league next season. The unit will be key in getting the team back to the postseason in 2026.

Twins Hire Derek Shelton As Manager

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October 30: The Twins officially announced Shelton as their new manager this morning. The team will introduce Shelton at a press conference on November 4.

“Derek brings a tremendous amount of experience from his many years coaching and managing at the Major League level,” Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, said in a statement. “He cares deeply about this community and our fans, and he’s genuinely driven to take on the challenge of bringing winning baseball back to Minnesota.

“We’ve seen firsthand the trust and respect he earns from players and how he helps them reach their best,” Falvey’s statement reads. “His journey, through both the successes and the tough stretches, has given him real perspective as a leader. That balance and his connection to what this place means to people will serve our players and staff well as we work to build something lasting for our fans and for Minnesota.”

October 29: The Twins are hiring Derek Shelton as their new manager, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The team will not announce the hire tonight, as MLB discourages clubs from revealing personnel news on playoff game days. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that Shelton will be officially introduced sometime next week.

Shelton returns to the Twin Cities, where he previously spent two seasons as bench coach. He held that role between 2018-19, working one season apiece under Paul Molitor and Rocco Baldelli. His familiarity with the front office surely gave him a boost in the managerial search. Shelton was a finalist during the 2018 hiring process that led to Baldelli. While he didn’t get the job at that point, he only needed to wait one more year before he got a managerial opportunity. Shelton landed the top job with the Pirates going into 2020.

Pittsburgh was coming off a 69-93 season that had led ownership to fire manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington. They brought in Ben Cherington to run the front office and Shelton to oversee a rebuilding roster. Pittsburgh went 19-41 in the shortened season, then posted consecutive 100-loss records in 2021-22.

Things appeared to be trending up by 2023. The Bucs improved to a 76-86 record. The next season, they hovered around .500 for a while and were very soft deadline buyers. Pittsburgh finished with a 21-33 performance in the final two months, leaving them 10 games under .500 for the second straight year.

The poor finish carried into the ’25 season. The Bucs began the year with a 12-26 record and were more or less locks for another last place showing when they fired Shelton in the second week of May. Pittsburgh played .500 ball under Don Kelly the rest of the way, so they’re sticking with a Cherington/Kelly tandem going into 2026.

Overall, Shelton holds a 306-440 career record. That’s heavily weighed down by the first three seasons in which no manager stood a chance of posting good results with such a poor roster. The Bucs stalled before they ever pulled out of the rebuild, however.

Pittsburgh especially struggled to develop young hitters. Highly-touted talents like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Henry Davis, Endy Rodríguez, Nick Gonzales and to a lesser extent Oneil Cruz did not click the way the organization needed. That’s not entirely the fault of any one coach or manager, of course, but Shelton came up as a hitting coordinator in Cleveland and spent parts of seven seasons as an MLB hitting coach with the Rays before getting the bench coach position in Minnesota.

Shelton’s experience working with a rebuilding roster should come in handy with the Twins. They’re amidst at least a retooling effort after trading Carlos Correa and essentially their entire bullpen at the deadline. The Pohlad family ownership group has pulled back spending since the Twins won 87 games and an AL Central title in 2023. They’re coming off a 70-92 showing that had them above only the White Sox in the American League. That resulted in them firing Baldelli after seven seasons. Any or all of Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Ryan Jeffers could be traded this offseason.

The Twins landed a couple upper level starting pitchers (Taj Bradley and Mick Abel) at the deadline, and they have some interesting young hitters to build around Byron Buxton. Maybe there’s a path back to competitiveness by 2027, but this is likely to be one of the worst teams in the AL next year. They need to overhaul the bullpen and have too many holes in the bottom half of the lineup to fix in an offseason that is likely to be more about which players they trade away than the ones they bring in.

Shelton was reportedly one of four finalists for the Minnesota job. Yankees hitting coach James Rowson (another former Twins staffer), Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, and Padres special assistant Scott Servais were the others. There are now four teams still searching for a new skipper: the Padres, Braves, Rockies and Nationals.

Flaherty and Servais have each been floated as potential candidates for the San Diego position, which is expected to be filled by the end of the week. Rowson has only publicly been linked to the Twins position. Atlanta and Washington have played their searches close to the vest. (Baldelli is reportedly of interest to the Nats.) Colorado has yet to even get the process underway as they focus on hiring a new GM. It’s possible that any of the three other finalists gets a look from one of those teams.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.

Nationals To Hire Blake Butera As Manager

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The Nationals are expected to hire Blake Butera as their new manager, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Butera had been the Rays’ Senior Director of Player Development for the past two seasons. He spent four years as a minor league manager with Tampa Bay.

As Passan points out, the 33-year-old Butera will be the youngest manager since Frank Quilici in 1972. It’s been a theme for the former Rays’ farmhand. After a couple of seasons as an infielder in the low minors, he moved to the coaching side, taking over as skipper of High-A Hudson Valley in 2018. At 25 years old, Butera was the youngest manager in organized baseball that season, per Baseball Reference.

After two seasons with Hudson Valley, Butera became the manager of Single-A Charleston. After winning a league title in 2021, he was named Low-A East Manager of the Year. Tampa Bay promoted Butera to Minor League Assistant Field Coordinator in 2023.

Butera also has coaching experience at the international level. He worked for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League from 2019 to 2020. He served as a quality control coach with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League in 2021. Butera was also a bench coach for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Washington fired manager Davey Martinez in July. He had been at the helm since 2018. Martinez won a World Series with the team in 2019, but the team had struggled since then. The Nationals had lost 90+ games in four straight seasons heading into 2025. They were 37-53 when Martinez was dismissed.

Bench coach Miguel Cairo took over as interim manager. He was a candidate to take over full-time in 2026, but was removed from consideration earlier this week. Cairo, Brandon Hyde, and Craig Albernaz were the only three candidates known to have interviewed for Washington’s vacancy. Albernaz ended up landing the Baltimore job.

Washington also moved on from longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo during the season. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo took over as interim general manager to close the year. The Nationals then hired former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations in late September. As Passan notes, the 35-year-old Toboni is the youngest head of baseball operations in the league.

Once Butera is confirmed as the new head man in Washington, there will be three managerial vacancies remaining. Colorado, San Diego, and Atlanta are still in the market. Minnesota, Baltimore, San Francisco, Texas, and the Angels have all filled the position this offseason.

The Opener: World Series, Padres, Nationals

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. World Series heads to Toronto with Dodgers on the brink:

After tying up the World Series on Tuesday, the Blue Jays took the lead last night with a dominant 6-1 showing against the Dodgers. Rookie Trey Yesavage, in particular, was brilliant as he struck out 12 Dodgers across seven innings of one-run ball. Meanwhile, the offense did its part as Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back homers off Blake Snell to give the Jays an early lead to which they continued to add throughout the game. Now, the teams are headed back to Toronto for the final off-day of the 2025 season. That’ll be good for both teams, offering the Dodgers a chance to reset as they face elimination while allowing Blue Jays veteran George Springer the opportunity to heal up a bit more in hopes of returning to the starting lineup for Game 6.

2. Padres narrow managerial search to finalists:

It was reported yesterday that the Padres have settled on a group of finalists for to replace Mike Shildt as their next manager. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols has gotten the most buzz out of any candidate, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests that the club’s second interview with Pujols lasted a whopping 9.5 hours. Rangers special assistant and former Padres catcher Nick Hundley and current Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla are both known finalists as well, and the possibility of a fourth mystery candidate lingers as San Diego has been connected to potential options like Scott Servais and Ryan Flaherty.

3. Nationals managerial search update:

The Nationals don’t seem to be quite as far along in their own managerial search as San Diego is, but they’re still making progress. Interim manager Miguel Cairo is now out of the running, while the Nats have added three candidates to a pool that already included former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde: former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, and Double-A Red Sox manager Chad Epperson. Epperson and Hyde are the only candidates known to have interviewed, but it’s possible that Baldelli has as well. Given that Lehman is still in the midst of a World Series run with Los Angeles, the Nationals figure to be watching the Fall Classic closely as sort through their managerial options.

Jordan Lawlar Taking Center Field Reps In Winter Ball

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Diamondbacks rookie Jordan Lawlar is playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic this offseason. He made his first appearance with the Tigres del Licey at an unfamiliar position: center field. It’s the first professional outfield experience for Lawlar, whose minor league and MLB work has been divided between second, third and shortstop.

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com wrote earlier this month that the D-Backs wanted Lawlar to get center field work alongside his usual infield responsibilities. The Diamondbacks haven’t made any decisions about a position change, but it behooves them to get a look at him in the outfield for a few reasons.

Lawlar’s defense was a significant issue late this year. The Diamondbacks finally opened everyday playing time for him at third base with the Eugenio Suárez deadline deal. Lawlar was on the minor league injured list for a couple weeks but was recalled at the end of August. His third base audition didn’t last long. Lawlar committed four errors in 76 innings, two apiece on September 7 and 14. Three of those were of the throwing variety. One of Lawlar’s errant throws led to a collision at first base that injured Tyler Locklear, who required surgeries on both his shoulder and elbow.

Scouting reports on Lawlar have generally praised his defensive ability. He was drafted as a shortstop and only moved to third base in deference to Geraldo Perdomo. It’s possible this year’s issues were a blip that’ll be corrected with a mechanical tweak or simply an offseason mental reset. The D-Backs didn’t want him in the field while they were chasing down a Wild Card berth, though. Manager Torey Lovullo kept Lawlar at DH or as a pinch-hitter after his game on September 14. Blaze Alexander played third base until the last game of the season — once the Snakes had been eliminated from contention.

The third base job should be open going into 2026. Alexander is a steady defender but doesn’t have huge upside at the plate. He’s better suited for a utility role. Lawlar, a career .298/.395/.515 hitter in the minors, has a higher ceiling. That wouldn’t matter much if the Diamondbacks don’t trust him defensively. They’re not going to lock him into full-time DH work at 23, but they probably wouldn’t feel great about handing him the starting third base job out of camp. He does still have an option remaining, yet they’re not going to learn much by sending him back to Triple-A Reno and letting him feast on Pacific Coast League pitching for another season.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM writes that the D-Backs aren’t inclined to play Lawlar at second base. Ketel Marte might benefit from a few more DH at-bats but remains the primary second baseman. The two outfield spots to the left of Corbin Carroll could be up for grabs.

Center fielder Alek Thomas is a .234/.277/.362 hitter in almost 1400 career plate appearances. The Diamondbacks will eventually need some kind of offense from that spot. Left field is in worse shape. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tore his ACL in September. Jake McCarthy is coming off a .204/.247/.345 season. Prospect Ryan Waldschmidt may already be their best internal option, and he hasn’t played a game above Double-A.

McCarthy could be non-tendered, while Thomas is a potential change-of-scenery candidate. If Lawlar takes to center field in winter ball, that could allow the Diamondbacks to feel a little more comfortable entertaining Thomas trade talks. Lawlar himself could also be a trade chip, as he’d be their best bet at getting a controllable starting pitcher in return. The Diamondbacks are going to need at least one outfielder via free agency or trade either way, making this an interesting offseason storyline in the desert.

Nationals Interview Chad Epperson In Managerial Search

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The Nationals have interviewed Red Sox’s Double-A manager Chad Epperson as part of their managerial search, reports Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post. He joins Brandon Hyde as the only known interviewees.

The Post’s Andrew Golden wrote this afternoon that the Nats have informed interim manager Miguel Cairo that he is no longer in the running. Golden reported that the Nationals were interested in speaking with former Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli and Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, but it’s not known if either of them have formally interviewed.

Washington’s new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was previously an assistant general manager with the Red Sox. He’s familiar with Epperson and evidently valued his work in the Boston organization. The 53-year-old Epperson has been with the Sox for over 20 years. He got his first affiliated managerial gig in Low-A back in 2004.

Epperson managed in A-ball for six seasons before becoming the organization’s minor league catching coordinator. He held that position for 12 years until returning to the dugout. Epperson has led the Sox’s Double-A team in Portland for the past four seasons. He also worked as a quality control coach with the Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League over the 2024-25 offseason.

Offseason Outlook: Milwaukee Brewers

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The Brewers may consider trading a longtime rotation stalwart this winter but would be justified mostly standing pat coming off an MLB-best 97 wins.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Christian Yelich, DH: $84.5MM through 2028 ($4MM deferred annually; includes buyout of '29 club option)
  • Jackson Chourio, OF: $74MM through 2031, with club options on 2032 and '33
  • Aaron Ashby, RP: $14MM through 2027, with club options on 2028 and '29

Option Decisions

2026 guaranteed contracts: $54.5MM
Total future commitments: $188.5MM through 2031

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidate: Bauers

Free Agents

With 97 wins, the Brewers were the best regular season team in baseball this year.  Roughly a third of the way through the season, the team's record sat at 25-28 after a May 24th loss to the Pirates.  They were 6.5 games back in the NL Central.  The Brewers were a third-place club with a 10% shot at making the playoffs.  That's when they emerged as the best team in baseball, as Milwaukee played .661 ball from that point forward, even including a .500 September.  By the end of July, the Brewers had an NL Central lead they would never relinquish, earning them a first-round playoff bye.

Powered by Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Chourio, and William Contreras on offense and an unconventional pitching attack led by Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers and Pat Murphy took down the Cubs and former manager Craig Counsell in a five-game NLDS.

2025 marked the Brewers' seventh playoff appearance in eight years, and their first series win since the impressive run began in 2018.  Unfortunately, the Brewers proved no match for the Dodgers in this year's NLCS, with L.A. powered by dominant starting pitching.

The Brewers have had a remarkable run of success on payrolls that have typically landed in the bottom third of MLB.  David Stearns' seven-year run heading up the front office ended in 2022, with Matt Arnold taking over as GM.  The club has maintained its excellence under Arnold.  The Brewers' front office is the envy of owners everywhere, prompting Mark Attanasio to promote Arnold to president of baseball operations last week.  Upon getting the promotion, Arnold made sure to thank "the guys that I work with every single day" - Matt Kleine, Karl Mueller, Will Hudgins, and Matt Klentak.  It would not be a surprise to see a few of those assistant GMs poached to run other teams' front offices in the coming years.

As MLB.com's Adam McCalvy and Jordan Bastian explained here, longtime friends Murphy and Counsell have "have alternated positions of power over the years."  Much as the Brewers transitioned seamlessly from Stearns to Arnold, Murphy picked up where Counsell left off in winning a pair of division titles in his two years as manager.  Murphy's contract is up after 2026, and you'd have to imagine an extension is coming.

According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Brewers' year-end 40-man roster payroll ranked 23rd in baseball at $115MM.  The club has been as high as $135MM.  Regular season attendance was up 4.4% this year.  Given two additional postseason games compared to 2024, total attendance at American Family Field increased by 7.6%.  The Brewers' commitments total around $95MM at present, including an obvious $8MM club option on Freddy Peralta.  Arnold may make some trades and let his free agents go in fitting with the team's way of operating, but he shouldn't be under direct financial pressure to cut payroll.

That brings us to the linchpin of the Brewers' offseason: Peralta.  The 29-year-old righty was poached from the Mariners in the Adam Lind trade a decade ago, behind the advocacy of Kleine.  Peralta inked a team-friendly deal in February 2020.  He'll be eligible for free agency after the 2026 season.

Peralta ranks 17th among starting pitchers in WAR since 2021, and eighth in regular season starts since '23.  He posted a strong 28.2 K% this year alongside a career-best 2.70 ERA.  Perhaps he's more of a 3.50 type pitcher, but Peralta is immensely valuable as a durable #2 starter making $8MM.

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