Milwaukee Brewers: Details on Christian Yelich’s Contract Extension

Per reports, here is what Christian Yelich’s contract extension with the Milwaukee Brewers is looking like.

News broke very quickly not too long ago about the Milwaukee Brewers contract extension talks with superstar outfielder Christian Yelich. And in the short time since then, we have already learned what his new contract reportedly entails. But before we take a look at that, let’s take a look at Yelich’s current deal.

According to Spotrac, Yelich is due $12.5 million this season, $14 million in 2021, and then there is an option in 2022 that will pay him $15 million if exercised. And I think we can all agree that given his production and the point that he is at in his career, Yelich is certainly underpaid on his current contract.

Yelich’s new deal, however, will get rid of the 2022 option and add-on seven years to the remaining two guaranteed years that he has left. Meaning, that he will play out 2020 and 2021 on his current pay structure, but then beginning in 2022, Yelich will make $190 million over the final seven years of the deal according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Rosenthal also mentions that this deal will include deferrals, which will help the Brewers spread the money out over the life of the deal. As Tom Haudricourt points out, this is something that they’ve done in the past with Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun.

Ultimately, this is a very good deal for both Yelich and the Brewers. Could Yelich have made more money on the open market had he waited until he was an unrestricted free agent? Yes, very likely. But, of course, there is risk involved in waiting that long. Now he has roughly $216 million guaranteed. And also, let’s not downplay that it’s quite clear that he enjoys playing in Milwaukee.

From the Brewers’ perspective, they get a great value on one of the best players in all of baseball. Yelich’s $190 million over seven years averages out to just over $27 million per season during that span and over the nine years of the contract, the total amount averages out to $24 million per year.

Certainly not bad at all considering that many expected Yelich to land at least $30 million per year, if not more on the open market.

For a small-market team like the Milwaukee Brewers to lock up a player of Christian Yelich’s caliber for what could be the remainder of his career, it’s a huge win and I’m sure all fans are absolutely thrilled right now. I know I am.