Brewers' 2025 Free Agents, Trade Targets, Offseason Guide After NLCS Exit
There are precious few things in this world that we can count on. There's death. There's also taxes. And then there's the Milwaukee Brewers, looking like one of the best teams in baseball for six months before getting over-matched in the postseason.
Over the past seven years, Milwaukee has had the fifth-most regular-season wins of any club, trailing only the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, and Braves, who are also the only four teams with at least 23 postseason wins during that time.
For all its April-September success, however, Milwaukee is now 5-16 across the past seven Octobers, though it did at least survive its first series for a change, ousting Chicago 3-2 in the NLDS before running into a freight train in the form of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It stings for now, but let's not forget this team set a franchise record with 97 wins and would have had home-field advantage through the World Series had it been able to advance for a change. It was a wildly successful season, but it ended on a disappointing note.
Can they run it back again next year?
In this early glimpse into their offseason, we'll discuss impending free agents and key options decisions before identifying areas of need and possible targets, culminating in a way-too-early projection of the Brewers' 26-man roster when they open the 2026 campaign against the Chicago White Sox a little less than six months from now.
Free Agents and Contract Option Decisions
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Free Agents
- RHP Shelby Miller
- LHP Jordan Montgomery
- RHP Erick Fedde
All three of these pitchers were acquired over the summer, and none of them amounted to much for Milwaukee. Montgomery was already out for the year when the Brewers agreed to take him in the trade for Miller, and the reliever only lasted 9.2 IP before a season-ending UCL injury. Fedde gave them 16.0 innings before getting designated for assignment on the final day of the regular season.
Translation: Milwaukee won't be missing anything with these departures.
Contract Option Decisions
- RHP Freddy Peralta ($8M club option)
- C William Contreras ($12M club option; would be arbitration-eligible if declined)
- C Danny Jansen ($12M mutual option; $500k buyout)
- LHP Jose Quintana ($15M mutual option; $2M buyout)
- 1B Rhys Hoskins ($18M mutual option; $4M buyout)
- RHP Brandon Woodruff ($20M mutual option; $10M buyout)
That's a lot of options, but virtually no uncertainty.
Mutual options are almost never agreed to by both parties, and that probably isn't changing here. Milwaukee figures to decline its half of the options with Jansen, Quintana and Hoskins, while Woodruff taking $10M on his way out the door to free agency is very likely.
Peralta would probably get a $30M salary in free agency if the Brewers cut him loose, so that is the no-brainer of all no-brainers when it comes to club options. He'll be back in Milwaukee in 2026 for an outrageously team-friendly $8M.
The only question mark is whether they think they can save some money by declining the club option on Contreras and locking him in for a bit less in arbitration. They did so last offseason with Devin Williams (before trading him away), and let's not forget the way the Brewers fought with Corbin Burnes to save $749,000 in arbitration three years ago. Small budgets sometimes call for drastic measures. Either way, though, they'll have Contreras back in 2026 and 2027.
Biggest Needs
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First Baseman
With Rhys Hoskins likely out of the picture and Andrew Vaughn not homering once in his final 35 games of the regular season, the Brewers need to address their depth chart at first base.
Home runs in general were arguably the biggest concern about this team heading into the postseason, so getting a big bat at first base could be a big boost.
Shortstop
Of the 11 Brewers to make at least 200 plate appearances this season, 10 had an OPS greater than .720.
But then there's starting shortstop Joey Ortiz, who had a .441 OPS through the team's first 50 games and a .478 OPS through their final 41 games en route to finishing a bit below .600.
Because he provided so much value on defense and because everyone around him helped pick up his slack on offense, it worked out for the Brewers. Even with the great glove work, though, Ortiz was easily their most replaceable regular.
Veteran Arm
If both Jose Quintana and Brandon Woodruff leave Milwaukee, this Brewers pitching staff would be devoid of guys who have both celebrated their 32nd birthday and logged at least 25 innings with this team in 2025.
Not suggesting they need to go out and sign Dick Mountain Rich Hill for an age-46 season, but championship teams pretty much always have multiple pitchers who have been around for quite some time. Getting Milwaukee to a World Series could be a fun final chapter for Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer.
Free Agent Targets
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Though Blue Jays SS Bo Bichette and Mets 1B Pete Alonso are available as fantastic options for addressing Milwaukee's biggest needs...I mean...we know better, right?
The Brewers had a grand total of two players with a payroll salary north of $8.1M in 2025. They've also only once signed a free agent to a contract of more than $50M, and lived to regret the latter three years of that five-year, $80M investment in Lorenzo Cain. Their targets are pretty much always buy-low candidates.
IF Luis Rengifo
2025 was Rengifo's healthiest season yet, appearing in 147 games. However, his production really fell off the table, going from a .754 OPS from 2022-24 to a .622 OPS this year. He doesn't even turn 29 until February, though, so maybe he'll bounce back from a rough 2025, much like Bichette rallied from his atypical 2024. If so, his ability to play basically anywhere on the diamond would be fantastic for the Brew Crew.
1B Paul Goldschmidt OR Josh Bell
Wouldn't it be wild if the Milwaukee Brewers had two former MVPs in their lineup, with Goldschmidt teaming up with Christian Yelich? Goldy might decide to retire, considering he turned 38 in September and hit just .226/.277/.333 over the final four months of the regular season. But if he's game for one more year at around $8M-$10M, maybe Milwaukee is where he finally makes his World Series debut.
If Goldschmidt does retire, Josh Bell is another good candidate here. After a woeful first two months, he tweaked his swing and was quietly kind of great the rest of the way, amassing 16 home runs and an .845 OPS from May 28 onward. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had 16 home runs and an .875 OPS during that same time, and Milwaukee can probably get one year of Bell for less than one-fiftieth the total cost of Guerrero.
RHP Chris Bassitt
Might be aiming a little too expensive with this suggestion, but Bassitt will turn 37 before next season begins and has both an ERA and a FIP slightly north of 4.00 since the beginning of 2024. The price tag on a one-year or two-year deal shouldn't be too exorbitant. And pairing the young arms of Jacob Misiorowski, Robert Gasser and Logan Henderson with an 11-year veteran could be a worthy investment.
Trade Targets
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IF Edmundo Sosa
With Aidan Miller coming soon and Otto Kemp making a versatile impact, the Phillies may decide that trading away Sosa's final year of arbitration eligibility—he made $3M in 2025, which figures to climb to at least $5M next year—could be an opportunity to save a wee bit of money. And if he can maintain what has been a .755 OPS over the past four seasons with the Phillies, he would be a most welcome addition to the Brewers' infield mix.
1B Yandy Díaz
The low-budget Brewers and low-budget Rays have put together 11 trades over the past decade, including the swap that got Willy Adames to Wisconsin, as well as the Danny Jansen deal just a few months ago.
Díaz is due $12M in 2026 with a club option for 2027 that will be either $10M or $13M, depending on how much he plays this coming season. It's a considerable enough cost that Tampa Bay may be happy to get out of paying it, but not such a considerable cost that the Brewers wouldn't take it, given his batting prowess and their uncertainty at first base. This may be yet another sweet spot for a trade between these kindred franchises.
RHP Kodai Senga
Senga has a pair of $15M seasons left on his contract with the Mets. But between the 2024 campaign, which was almost completely lost to injury, and the post-hamstring injury struggles that led to New York sending him to Triple-A for the entirety of September 2025, they might be mutually ready to turn the page to a new chapter.
In Milwaukee, Senga could fill the Brandon Woodruff void of "guy who generally pitches quite well when healthy, but probably shouldn't be counted on for anything close to a full season of work."
Projected 2026 Opening Day Roster
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Starting Lineup
RF Sal Frelick
CF Jackson Chourio
DH Christian Yelich
C William Contreras
1B Josh Bell
2B Brice Turang
LF Isaac Collins
3B Caleb Durbin
SS Joey Ortiz
Bench
1B Andrew Vaughn
C Elias Diaz
OF Blake Perkins (or Garrett Mitchell, if healthy)
UTIL Jake Bauers
Starting Rotation
RHP Freddy Peralta
RHP Jacob Misiorowski
RHP Quinn Priester
LHP Robert Gasser
RHP Chad Patrick OR Logan Henderson (unless they sign a veteran starter)
Bullpen
RHP Trevor Megill
RHP Abner Uribe
RHP Grant Anderson
LHP Jared Koenig
LHP Aaron Ashby
LHP DL Hall
RHP Nick Mears
RHP Tobias Myers
Not a whole lot of projected additions here, but when a team sets a franchise record for wins in a season, doesn't lose all that much to free agency and never has much money to spend, why try to mess with a good thing?
Owing Brandon Woodruff, Jose Quintana, Rhys Hoskins and Danny Jansen a combined $16.5M in buyouts of those mutual options will be a bit painful, but the Brewers ought to be able to make at least one substantial addition this winter, probably to the starting rotation, even though we don't have that projected here.
The X-factor here is Robert Gasser, who just returned from Tommy John surgery in late September before getting taken deep twice in his two innings of relief work in Game 4 of the NLDS. In 71.2 IP pitched (both minors and majors) since his big-league debut last year, he has a 2.51 ERA. If he's a legitimate fixture in the rotation in 2026, they might run it back again for a second straight year of leading the league in regular-season wins.
