Milwaukee Brewers GM Matt Arnold impressively landed top first baseman free agent Rhys Hoskins by getting him and his agent, Scott Boras, on board with a two year, $34 million deal. This contract includes a player opt out after the 2024 season and a mutual option for a third season. There are $4 million buyouts attached to his option years and his standard salary is set at $12 million in 2024 and $18 million in both 2025 and 2026.
Rhys Hoskins contract with the Milwaukee Brewers took an extended period of time to come together.
On MLB Network radio Matt Arnold discussed that his deal with Rhys Hoskins took some time to come together. This is unsurprising given the slowness of the market this off-season, but sometimes deals are struck quickly. For Arnold and Hoskins things moved slowly.
In this case (signing Rhys Hoskins) this deal took a while. We had to stay in touch with that group and continue to work hard to try and find a common ground with them. As you know those things take some time and we were very fortunate to get things done.
-Matt Arnold
Branching off of that Bob Nightengale also indicated in a notebook, that was highlighting one particular busy day for Scott Boras, that Brewers owner Mark Attanasio called Boras on the same day as MLB Hall of Fame announcements and upped his offer for Hoskins. After 20 minutes of discussion they agreed to reconvene later that day. That night news leaked that both sides had agreed on a deal.
Matt Arnold described Rhys Hoskins as “the kind of guy we felt like we needed”.
First base was one position that Milwaukee knowingly was looking to improve at. Prior to signing Rhys Hoskins they had Jake Bauers and Owen Miller as the primary two options on the 40-man roster. Rowdy Tellez and Carlos Santana, who were on the team a season ago, became free agents in which Tellez signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Santana currently remains available.
“This is the kind of guy that we felt like we needed. Just to have his kind of presence in our lineup and to have that kind of power just injected right in the middle there just to inflate everybody around him is something that we are thrilled to have. When you have the kind of track record that he has and then you talk about the person that he is. After all the homework we did on him, we can’t be more excited to have him.”
-Matt Arnold
Power wise, Hoskins crushed 148 home runs over six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies that included six post-season long balls during their 2022 World Series run. As a person Hoskins is deeply involved in supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Between his track record of MLB success and well documented good nature he should fit right in with the Brewers.
Related: Rhys Hoskins jersey number with the Milwaukee Brewers revealed.
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