Murphy campaigned for Yelich extension![\"Murphy,](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2f13239056f5e20934670d153976dcfc.jpeg\"\/)
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Mar 16, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy talks to Christian Yelich (22) before a game against the Texas Rangers at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Back when former National League Most Valuable Player Christian Yelich was up for an extension, Murphy took matters into his own hands. According to a Friday report<\/a> from Will Sammon of The Athletic, Murphy met with owner Mark Attanasio for hours on a random day in September of 2019 to lobby for Yelich to stay.<\/p>\n “I felt compelled to do that,” Murphy told Sammon, 6 1\/2 years later.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The gesture obviously meant a lot to Yelich, who said he has formed a close relationship with his manager.<\/p>\n “He wouldn’t do something like that if he didn’t believe in it,” Yelich told Sammon. “For him to think of me in that light, it’s special. It’s an honor that he did that.”<\/p>\n Yelich ended up breaking his kneecap on a foul ball the next day after Murphy’s conversation with Attanasio, but the Brewers pushed the extension through anyway the following spring. Yelich’s seven-year, $188.5 million addition to his existing deal gave him a total of nine years, $215 million and a mutual option for 2029.<\/p>\n Even though Yelich’s power has dipped since the deal was signed, the fact that he’s stuck around this long and become a pillar of a successful clubhouse has to make the deal worthwhile from the Brewers’ perspective — and over the last three years, he’s discovered his power again, too.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Credit to Murphy for his forward thinking, and it’s altogether fitting that on Thursday, the skipper was rewarded with an extension of his own.<\/p>\n More MLB: Craig Counsell Has 5-Word Message on Brewers’ Pat Murphy Extension<\/a><\/p>\n