Christian Yelich has been a monumental steal for the Milwaukee Brewers after being acquired in a trade with the Miami Marlins in January 2018, and the Brewers are reportedly rewarding the superstar outfielder with a huge contract.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was first on the report of Yelich and the Brewers closing in on a $200+ million extension, and other reporters have since added more details.
Hear when concluded that the next two years on Yelich deal will stay the same $12.5 million this season and $14 million next. But the $15M 2022 option will be torn up and 7 yrs added for a total of 9 yrs in the $215M range
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 3, 2020
It appears to technically be a seven-year extension in the $190 million range for Yelich, in addition to the two years he has remaining on his contract at $26.5 million (and erasing his 2022 team option), bringing the contract to a total of around $215 million over nine years.
Yelich is currently 28, so the seven years added on to his initial contract will all be in his 30s.
Still, Yelich is a good bet to be worth that money, and he possibly could’ve done better on the open market if he chose to not sign an extension. Clearly he’s happy with the Brewers and Milwaukee, and liked the idea of being able to secure $200+ million now (after all, decline and injuries happen).
And the Brewers should be ecstatic about being able to keep him long term.
Yelich has been Bonds-like in his two seasons with Milwaukee, putting together a 1.000 OPS in 2018 and a 1.100 OPS in 2019. He’s been a 7+ WAR (wins above replacement) in both seasons according to Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. He won the NL MVP in 2018, and was the NL MVP runner-up in 2019 (despite being an even better hitter than the 2018 season). He led the Brewers to a stunning NLCS berth in 2018, and led them back to the playoffs (NL Wild Card) in 2019. He’s an absolute superstar and in the conversation for the second-best player in MLB.
With these contracts, it’s always important to look at how a player is trending, and Yelich has just gotten better and better. Even if he falls off a bit and looks more like the player he was with the Marlins, that’s still an All-Star level player. He’s a tremendous hitting talent — with an excellent plate approach –and great athlete whose game figures to age very well.
The Brewers need to surround Yelich with much more talent going forward (and that will be a challenge with a very rough farm system), but making sure to not let him get away had to be their top individual priority for the coming years, and they were able to get it done at a reasonable price.