WEEKEND BONUS-The Milwaukee Brewers Shore Up First Base and a Woodruff Plan?

WEEKEND BONUS-The Milwaukee Brewers Shore Up First Base and a Woodruff Plan?

The Brewers wanted no part of Jake Bowers a year ago now fits into the plan at first base. We’ll tell you why next here on Locked on Brewer. You are Locked On Brewers, your daily Milwaukee Brewers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. My name is Chuck Freeman. Locked on Brewers, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team every day. Now, the number one sports podcast network out there, longtime sports cer here in the state of Wisconsin, proud host of Lockdown Brewers. This episode brought to you by FanDuel. New customers bet five bucks, you get $300 in bonus bets into your account. Use it across the app. Download the app today. Coming up on the show, why Jake Bowers will be an important part of that first base equation. The Brewers also Rand Woodruff, they gave him the qualifying offer. Should they spread that out over a few years? and a long-term deal. And the Brewers, well, will they or will they not go to arbitration with a few guys and how those players fit in the Brewers plans going forward. All right, we’re going to start with Jake Bowers, right? We never thought we’d start a podcast with Jake Bowers, but that was I thought that was some important news here over the weekend. Jake Bowers agreeing to a one-year $2.7 million deal. Now, here’s a guy last year the Brewers didn’t even want because he didn’t have a great year the year before. Had the big home run against the Mets in the postseason. And you’re thinking, well, okay, he’s done. The Brewers do bring him back on a minor league deal. And he gives him some big advance. Not only at first base could he could play, he could play some outfield as well. And he holds his own out there. And I think one thing that Bowers has got the knack for, he’s got the knack for doing well in a big moment. I feel like again, game one against the Dodgers, delivered a big base hit up the middle. He could I I feel confident with him in big moments. There was a stretch there uh in August, middle of August when the Brewers were winning a lot of b a lot of baseball games. He came up and he was delivering. I can think of games in Pittsburgh. Yeah. The Pittsburgh Pirates. He came through on a Friday night on a Sunday in Pittsburgh. Help, you know, coming off the bench giving him some big at bats. I like Jake Bowers. Now, I’m not I don’t want to sign that guy to a multi-year deal and give him the kingdom, but one year’s 2.7 million. I thought that was a nice signing for the Brewers. Really nice signing. Could they have got him cheaper? Who knows? Bowers probably thought he can get better than that in the in the free agent market. So, he signs one year, 2.7 million. Now, um he’s one of the guys who the came the contract terms with the Brewers. Uh several others did not. And will they or will they not go to arbitration? You always think that they’re not going to, right? That they’re probably going to get this settled. Uh the hearings would be like in February. Uh and you know how that is. Those things are always you go to arbitration meetings uh hearings uh somebody always ends up usually the player um feeling really bad about themselves and feeling bad about the organization actually and we don’t want that to happen. We don’t want any goodwill, but it is a business as we know. Now, one of those guys, Contrarus, uh, looking for probably $11 million out there, right? $11 million, worth every dime. I have a feeling if there is a blockbuster move made in the off season, Contras will be part of it. I think he will be part of the deal. um if they make a blockbuster move. Now, do I want to trade Contraras? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Uh Contrarus, as you know, Warrior goes out and plays hurt, not hurt, leader on this team. I want to see Contrarus here long term. getting him for 11 million. That’s a heck of a I mean, look, you’re I’m gonna tell you some of these numbers on some of these guys that the Brewers are going to get for and you’re like, man, other teams are paying 25 30 million for some of these guys and the Brewers are getting these guys on the cheap. So, Contrarus 11 million. We’ll see where that stands in the off season. Migill, there’s some thought that they might trade McGill in the offseason. He’s going to earn about $4 million uh probably uh on his deal when he does sign with the Brewers if he does uh unsigned. And could that be a guy that they sign and maybe trade away? Here’s a guy the Brewers picked up off the scrap heap a couple years ago. Came in allstar closer with the Brewers. Amazing find. Few other places he was at, most notably Minnesota before Milwaukee and uh Minnesota couldn’t do anything to him. The Brewers found something in McGill. And um you have Urebe as a backup plan on that. UB uh if you would you were to package McGill in a trade. I think Urebe is the eventual closer and the debate going into the off season. I think one of them is who’s going to be your closer going in the next year. Do you want Urebe? Do you want Miguel? UB certainly could hold his own bet more than hold his own, right? He bounced back after 2024. Saw him have an injury and a little dust up early in the season. and it was a wasted year. But 2025, the guy came back and he bounced back and I thought he was great. And he’s got that attitude for being a a closer. He’s got that closer mentality. He wants to be a closer. I think he’s the closer going in. So, we’ll see what they do with McIll. Not a bad one-two punch, though McIll and Urebe. And Miguel’s a good team guy. I mean, at least he says this in the locker room. He says, “I don’t doesn’t matter to me if I’m closing or, you know, out of the uh out of the bullpen.” Now, obviously, if you’re closer, you’re going to get more money. So, I don’t I don’t see why he wouldn’t want a closer if you’re a closer, you’re more valuable to a team. And when you go to these type of hearings, if you go to a hearing or you go into a contract negotiations, but you use that I’m your team’s closer, man. I’m your all-star closer. But if you’re the setup or eighth inning man, not that that’s not important, but you’re not going to get as much cash. So, we’ll see where they stand with McGill. Uh Terra, they’re going to get Tang for about $4 million. Can you believe that? Terang $4 million. a guy who got MVP votes, should have won a gold glove, right? I mean, just stellar defense at second. Added some pop to his bat this year. And yet, they’re going to get him for $4.4 million. It sounds like right around $4 million. That is a steal for I consider the best second baseman. I mean, you could throw your Cel Martes at me all day long, but I like I like me some Bryce Durant coming up in the clutch. Uh, and I know somebody’s going to say, “Well, he should have taken that pitch off the leg game one against the Dodgers.” Terang is the man. Dang is part of this team going forward long term. I I’ve made that known. I want Terang not only uh for the rest of his uh you know the six years that he’s under team control with the Milwaukee Brewers, but I want him for many years after that. Uh Vaughan Vaughn uh $8 million he’s going to earn. Um unsure of him just yet. He’s my first baseman going into the off season, right? He’s my first baseman going into the offseason. And this is where Bowers will be. I mean, Vaughn and Bowers is are probably going to be a platoon over there, right? The lefty right, which we saw at the end of the season. Vaughn against the lefties, Bowers against the righties. Is that the way it’s going to work? Or will they give Vaughn a shot at everyday first base? Well, they brought back Bowers for a reason. Maybe that signifies that we’re going to see a platoon over at first base. I I hate platoon. I really do. I like settling on one guy. Sometimes this righty lefty thing, I don’t know about you, but I just I I don’t like it. I’m I’m not a big fan of it. Um Mirrors out of cont. We’ll see. Mitchell, will he eligible for free agency? I don’t think Mitchell’s going anywhere. I don’t think Mitchell is going anywhere. Um he’s got to stay healthy. Mitchell is um I he’s not available. He’s not ready for free agency right now, but he’s due in in the next couple of years from what I understand. Uh, with Garrett Mitchell, but Garrett Mitchell’s got to stay healthy. To factor in any type of equation for the Brewers in center field, right, Garrett Mitchell, I mean, do we even think about him? We talk about the outfield of the Milwaukee Brewers. We do every offseason, but then the season starts and there’s Mitchell on the injured list or having surgery. I mean, the guy’s had multiple surgeries so far on the team. It’s I mean it’s you feel bad for the kid but can’t count on him. He’s got all the athletic ability in the world. Just can’t count on him out there in the outfield. All right, we come back. Um we’re going to talk about Woodruff’s signing uh the taking the qualify offer and Ken Rosenthal said something that the Brewers about what the Brewers should do and I think they should not go down this road. We’ll talk about that next year on Lockdown Brewers. Lockdown Brewers part of Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team every day. We’re brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel, America’s number one sports book for a reason. Hey, NBA is back. NFL Thanksgiving week, it’s all happening right now uh for sports, right? Everything. You got college basketball during the day. You got some college football. Um seems like every day, right? Uh and then of course you got all all these games coming up Friday and in in college football. 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Comedy shows all there on Game Time. All right. doing a short video here today on locked on bloopers. I just want to check something out real quick here. Um I was second guessing myself on Garrett Mitchell. Um he’s eligible for arbitration. He’s he becomes a free agent in 2029. I don’t know why I said he was going to become a free Of course he’s not going to become a free agent, but he’s eligible for arbitration. I messed that up. And um with Mitchell, like I said, you can’t count on him, whatever the price. When he’s healthy, he’s your starting center fielder. But you can’t make the club when you’re in the tub, as they say. All right, Brandon Woodruff saw Ken Rosenthal throw this out there. Should you give Woodruff, who took the qualifying offer at 22 million, a lower annual deal, spread it out over more years. Uh-uh. In other words, you got this 22 million. Should you say, “Hey, Brandon, let’s come, let’s do a multi-year deal. We’ll spread this out here, and we’ll make it friendly to us, and you’ll have some security there.” I don’t think Brandon looks at it that way. Of course, he grabbed the 20 million, but the Brewers shouldn’t look at it that way either. Uh there’s no way that the Brewers are comfortable paying him $20 million coming off shoulder. This franchise isn’t doing that. They don’t. They’re not happy with that. I I’m not convinced that at all. Now, when healthy, of course. Of course. Although, even with healthy when they do you think if if if all things considered, do you think that they really even healthy they’d want him back at 22 million for one year? I mean, that’s just not how the Brewers operate with pitchers. But, and Woodruff, I think, is looking at this, hey, I come back, I I’m banking on myself. I come back, I take this 22 million and let’s say I go 15 and six and I have an ERA of three. I’m going to hit the and show that I’m healthy. I’m going to be making a big deal in the free agent market. Now, I don’t want the Brewers to take that risk on a multi-year deal. I don’t care over how many years and how much you spread that 20 million out and add more money to it. Uh-uh. No, no, no. Uh, this is this is to me this is a litmus test for both the Brewers and Woodruff. He got us 20 million. He hasn’t exactly earned it over the last couple years because he’s been hurt. And Woodruff is going to use this upcoming season and get paid handsomely and find out and show other he wants to show other teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers, why he’s an ace. And he is an ace. He’s just got to stay healthy. But I think it’s a real simple call. And Ken Roosevelt, when I saw that, it was debated whether or not they should spread that out. Absolutely. I would not do that right now. Absolutely not. But keeping him and keeping Peralta and as Antanasio said, it was two separate independent deals. In other words, he didn’t sign, they did not sign or give uh him the qualifying offer thinking that they were going to lose Peralta. said it’s two independent deals, but keeping Peralta, keeping Woodruff at least for one more season. We got two guys at the top of the rotation can run it back with. And I like that idea. I like that idea. I like keeping Peralta and keeping Woodruff. Now, we get to July and things are out of whack with these guys and it looks like they’re not going to compete, then I’m all for trading either one of the guys, right? or both of them. I’m I’m good with that. All right, that’s going to do it. Again, short episode here on a on a Sunday here in Wisconsin, but I want to wrap up some of those those news and I saw that Rosenthal thought out there and I want to throw that out there as well. And Jake Bower signing his deal as well. I want to drop a little weekend episode here and we’ll have episodes throughout the week. Episodes, this might be Thanksgiving week, but we’ll be here. The baseball winter meetings are going to be starting uh December 7th through the 8th and we’ll have all that covered uh coming up and previewing that stuff as well. We got some guests coming up next week. Doug Russell is going to be joining us and a few others as well. My name is Chuck Freeman. Thanks for watching this abbreviated edition of Lockdown Brewers, a weekend edition. Have yourself a good Sunday, everybody.

The Milwaukee Brewers and William Contreras,Brice Turang among others- have a potential contract decision to make.. Are both long term pieces with the Brewers?
Brandon Woodruff took the 22 million on the qualifying offer.. Should the Brewers extend that further.

Is Jake Bauer return a good thing?

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