This offseason, the Milwaukee Brewers have been improving their team through trade. Payton Henry, Javy Guerra, Janson Junk, Elvis Peguero, Jesse Winker, Abraham Toro, William Contreras, Joel Payamps, and Owen Miller are all 40-man roster additions that have been acquired through trade. With all of their major additions coming through trade, the Brewers have not been active in the free agent market. As it stands today, they are dead last in terms of money spent in free agency.
Spent on free agents this offseason (rounded million $)
Almost $3.5 BILLION!NYY 574
NYM 477
SFG 463
PHI 387
SDP 352
CHC 265
TEX 230
HOU 93
STL 88
CHW 87
TOR 72
LAA 53
BOS 48
LAD 45
MIN 41
TBR 40
CLE 39
OAK 31
DET 19
BAL WSN 18
PIT 12
ARI 10
COL 9
KCR 3
ATL CIN SEA 1
MIA MIL 0— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) December 17, 2022
As mentioned, this list is rounded to the nearest million. The Brewers are tied with the Miami Marlins at zero. However, Matt Arnold has signed one free agent to a major league deal this offseason. That player is outfielder Blake Perkins.
Why are the Brewers dead last on this list if they have signed one free agent to a major league contract?
Blake Perkins did sign a major league contract with the Brewers, but he has not made his major league debut. His contract does come with a lot of contingencies and incentives. This is what rounds the Brewers spending number down to zero.
According to this report, Perkins gets a $175k salary while in the minors. In the major leagues that increases to a $750k salary. His bonuses include earning an extra money for major league games played. If he plays 25 games he earns an extra $50K with an additional $25K for each 25 games after that through 125 games.
Seeing how Perkins has not played a major league game, this rounds the Brewers total free agent spending (to the nearest million) to zero. There is a lot of off-season left, so there is plenty of time left for the Brewers to sign free agents.
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