Prior to the start of the 2021 season, Kolten Wong signed a two year, $18MM contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. The deal included a third year club option of $10MM with a $2MM buyout. Additionally, $5MM of his 2021 salary was deferred over four payments throughout 2023 and 2024.
When Wong was initially signed in 2021, he was coming off back to back gold glove seasons. With Milwaukee, he played exceptionally well at second base in his first year, but struggled in his second season. In 2022, he was charged with 17 errors. This tied for the most in his career (2015) and a vast majority of advanced defensive metric stats indicated that 2022 was his worst career defensive season.
Offensively, Wong has performed well. He served as the lead off hitter in 2021 and finished the season with a .272 batting average. His 2021 wRC+ was 110 and he struck out in just 16.9% of his at bats. In 2022, he lost the lead off hitter role and ended the season with a .251 batting average. Despite the batting average drop, his walk rate increased and he set career highs in home runs (15) and wRC+ (116).
Now at age 32, Wong has a $10MM club option looming for the 2023 season. In a recent interview with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Brewers beat reporter Curt Hogg, Wong gave his thoughts on his upcoming option and the possibility of being a free agent.
Here are some quotes from Wong’s interview with Curt Hogg.
First up, is a quote when Wong was asked what might happen regarding his club option for the 2023 season.
“No idea,” he said. “Especially with Milwaukee, you don’t know if we’re going with young guys. We got a lot of guys that are arbitration eligible, you got some more free agents in this clubhouse. So you really don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot of young kids coming up.
“Turang’s coming up, he should be here very soon. It’s in the air. It’s one of those things that for me it’d be cool to come back but I understand if I don’t. It’s a business and we all understand that moves have to be made.”
It’s interesting that the first thing Wong mentions is the young guys, in specific Brice Turang. If the Brewers decide to give some of their young prospects major league chances, Turang could replace Wong at second base. Regardless of what happens, Turang will be rule five draft eligible this off season, so it is likely that he will be added to the 40 man roster by November.
Wong also mentions the Brewers large number of arbitration eligible players. 18 players are eligible this off-season and their salary projections add up to $80MM. Finances certainly play a role into the business side of baseball, but Brewers president of baseball operations did also indicate in his end of the year press conference that the front off is highly motivated to keep this current group together. If that is the case, then Wong’s 2023 salary should not be a big concern.
Wong then commented further on this off-season.
“It’d be cool (to stay a Brewer) but I’ve been a free agent one time already and it’s not the most enjoyable thing,” Wong said. “If I got to go through it again, it is what it is. It will be interesting to see where I’d end up landing. Milwaukee was a choice that I kind of had in mind going into free agency as a high pick for me. This next one, I just kind of want to keep an open mind and see how it goes.”
Based on Wong’s quotes, it sounds like he will understand if he does not return to the Brewers next season. It will be interesting to see what direction the Brewers end up going.
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