Christian Yelich

[Redd Vencher]

1 minute ago, BrewerFan said:

That's...just not true. It's likely to cost a significant amount to get him to sign.

Julio Rodriguez in his 12/209M extension got 15M in a signing bonus, 4M this year, 10 next year and then 18M per each year of what would be his arbitration. That's likely a big part of the reason he agreed to sign. Because the money wasn't all backloaded.

So I don't see how you can say the money we'll be paying Yelich through...what, 2042, has "zero impact" on Chourio. 

You're using the typical service time salaries and...that's just not likely how you're going to be able to sign Chourio.

 

There's also the fact that...as Chourio is going to get expensive, Yelich will be expensive and in his late 30s. So THAT is also going to impact a Chourio contract.

And that's not even discussing possible extensions for others who it may be a good idea to dangle a little signing bonus to entire them to sign like Quero.

The Brewers have a finite amount of money, so OBVIOUSLY if they save some from one area, it can help them reallocate that money to another area. 

 

Sure, maybe the Brewers can do both. Saying it has "zero impact?" That's just not true.

Finally...isn't the entire financial ideology of the Brewers to sell high? Before this year,  I saw arguments that there was no way the Brewers could get out from under his deal, -160M in surplus by one poster going back and looking at it.

Anyway, I made my case. If people don't want to, I respect that. Not like it actually matters as it's just a opinion poll. But of course it impacts how else we allocate our limited resources. 

Assuming a September callup and making the Opening Day roster in 2024, Chourio won't hit FA until after the 2029 season. The expensive years for a Chourio extension will be the bought out FA years 2030 onwards. Signing bonuses are irrelevant in these discussions. Yelich's deferred salary is paid out at $2.5 M per year. The Brewers are paying more this year for Voit, Ruf, and Hiura. It has 0 impact on a Chourio extension. Moving Yelich's contract does abaolutely nothing to reallocation to a Chourio contract.

[BrewerFan]

16 minutes ago, Redd Vencher said:

Assuming a September callup and making the Opening Day roster in 2024, Chourio won't hit FA until after the 2029 season. The expensive years for a Chourio extension will be the bought out FA years 2030 onwards. Signing bonuses are irrelevant in these discussions. Yelich's deferred salary is paid out at $2.5 M per year. The Brewers are paying more this year for Voit, Ruf, and Hiura. It has 0 impact on a Chourio extension. Moving Yelich's contract does abaolutely nothing to reallocation to a Chourio contract.

How are signing bonuses irrelevant? This isn't the NFL where teams are flush with cash. The Brewers operate on a limited budget. If they're going to pay out a 15M dollar signing bonus(just for example) that money has to come from that years budget. How can you say it's irrelevant?

And I just gave you Julio Rodriguez's extension outline. His salary is 4M this year(with the SB=19) and then it's 10M next year and then the rest of his contract is 18M per year. 

 

Again, you're operating under the assumption that the contract would approximate what he'd make as he works his way through arbitration and...it's very unlikely it would. He's not going to make 1M for a few years, then 10/15/20 and then some 30M dollar years to buyout FA. Or at least we don't HAVE to structure it like that. He's a unique player. This isn't like a Peralta, Ashby type extension. The early money may be what convinces him to take that long term deal and it'd keep the backend of the deal VERY reasonably priced.

So if it were to be structured anything like Yelich, by ~26(which will not be his first year up) he'd be making 18M and Yelich would have 3 more years at 26M(22 cash, the rest deferred).

 

And of course there's just the simple fact that a team like the Brewers are going to be more apt to make an aggressive offer early on if they DON'T have a player who plays the same position making similar money as Yelich in his final 3-4 years of the deal. 

 

Again, I understand if people just want to keep Yelich as it looks like he's turned a corner(which is a fairly substantial risk with his back injuries and his age) and just don't want to trade him. But that's 130M dollars the Brewers are currently on the hook to spend that they wouldn't be if they traded him. Of COURSE the two have some relation....

[BrewerFan]

Maybe it'll help to reference Julio Rodriguez contract...which we may well come in under, but seems like it's probably a fairly decent comp for a player like Chourio.

IF-IF we signed Chourio to a deal comparable to this, you'd have two OFers making a significant amount of money at the same time for the small market Brewers

 

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/seattle-mariners/julio-rodriguez-23850/

 

And I did mention in my original post, this could be money we could MAYBE spend on a Woodruff extension since our OF would appear to be covered, but lets just keep this about Chourio and Yelich for now.

[brewcrewdue80]

There's no current optics towards trading Yelich anymore for another season at minimum.  He's by far the best hitter on the team currently. On top of that the multitude of player losses that will occur this offseason if traded or next offseason to FA. He's already earned his payday this season according to Fangraphs. 

If you have to eat any of his pay and don't get any immediate future star then it's not time to trade him. I'm talking like a Quero/Black/Miserioski type helium prospect riser before making a trade for.  The way its going without extending anyone with a 2024 FA, the team will have Williams and Yelich and nobody else sniffing 8+Mil in 2025. So we're talking a very young team with the potential as appearing rebuilding/below 70wins with 0 vet leaders.   How's that going to look to Brewers fans?  No stadium maintenence this is the sign of selling this team good bye franchise. Imagine removing the only Brewer hitter that is being paid to hit and trotting out players that haven't proven they can hit now carrying a 60Mil payroll to start 2025. If even that?

Make that make sense to the fans attending games. There needs to have a counter optic to make moving Yelich make sense as in acquiring a star via FA or trade and extending that player.

 

 

[igor67]

I think the practical overlap salary wise of Chourio and Yelich isn't that big of a hurdle in isolation. Even if he is called up early next year his FA equivalent years aren't until we can buy Yelich out. With the way these are typically structured you'd have 1 or maybe 2 years where they both might be making 10 million plus. If you get aggressive and waive money at him early you might be able to even front load him with bigger pay days in the first couple of years and be able to get a solid deal that isn't that high 5 and 6 years out. 

[BrewerFan]

6 hours ago, igor67 said:

I think the practical overlap salary wise of Chourio and Yelich isn't that big of a hurdle in isolation. Even if he is called up early next year his FA equivalent years aren't until we can buy Yelich out. With the way these are typically structured you'd have 1 or maybe 2 years where they both might be making 10 million plus. If you get aggressive and waive money at him early you might be able to even front load him with bigger pay days in the first couple of years and be able to get a solid deal that isn't that high 5 and 6 years out. 

Right. I was thinking about the Julio Rodriguez deal. If you're giving him the standard 5-10M SB, then a 1M salary, 2M, 5M, then it jumps up to 15, 20, 25 and option years, does he have incentive to do that? He'll hit FA around 26-27(it would seem).

And it's not just Chourio...though he's the most obvious. I want to go all in on this philosophy. I think they should try and sign all of them early, as I've said. Quero, Frelick, Wiemer, Turang...but they're obviously not all in the same position and they wouldn't all require anywhere near the same type of commitment. 

[BrewerFan]

6 hours ago, brewcrewdue80 said:

There's no current optics towards trading Yelich anymore for another season at minimum.  He's by far the best hitter on the team currently. On top of that the multitude of player losses that will occur this offseason if traded or next offseason to FA. He's already earned his payday this season according to Fangraphs. 

If you have to eat any of his pay and don't get any immediate future star then it's not time to trade him. I'm talking like a Quero/Black/Miserioski type helium prospect riser before making a trade for.  The way its going without extending anyone with a 2024 FA, the team will have Williams and Yelich and nobody else sniffing 8+Mil in 2025. So we're talking a very young team with the potential as appearing rebuilding/below 70wins with 0 vet leaders.   How's that going to look to Brewers fans?  No stadium maintenence this is the sign of selling this team good bye franchise. Imagine removing the only Brewer hitter that is being paid to hit and trotting out players that haven't proven they can hit now carrying a 60Mil payroll to start 2025. If even that?

Make that make sense to the fans attending games. There needs to have a counter optic to make moving Yelich make sense as in acquiring a star via FA or trade and extending that player.

 

 

That's all fair, but lets also keep in mind, this was a guy who we'd resigned ourself to being a .252/.355/.383 .738 OPS type hitter with poor LF defense just a year ago. 

I don't agree this is a sign of a team that's "this is the sign of selling this team goodbye franchise." Especially if that money is used for Chourio OR as I 

I think it's more of a sign of this is a team that wants to keep their young home grown stars and ensuring they're hear for the long haul and throughout their prime....

And I explain it very simply. We have 4 OFers who were top prospects and who are all VERY young, and the franchise wants to lock them up long term. But sure, that'd be a problem. You sign your young phenom to a 12 year deal(again, just using Julio Rodriguez deal)...I think that assuages some of those fans concerns.

I guess you have to balance that against getting out from under the 136.5M Yelich is still owed in full and if you think we're an 70 win team without Yelich, we're a...what, 75 win team with him?

 

I knew when I asked this was just about the worst time to float this idea. It's not going to happen if he struggles again. But, it's a poll...and I was looking for opinions, so thanks!

I'd really hate doing it, but I'd be able to rationalize it(Especially if we we able to sign Woody for a year). But fans would have a reflexively angry response to it. But they're almost always angry and they were angry for being "stupid enough" to sign Yelich after the knee injury...when I believe it's  his back that's caused the issue, which is another reason that I'D personally advocate for this.

 

But...it would get your fanbase nice and pissed off coming off a big year. A year that's trending toward a 6 WAR season. 

 

 

 

[Jenkins5]

11 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

How are signing bonuses irrelevant? This isn't the NFL where teams are flush with cash. The Brewers operate on a limited budget. If they're going to pay out a 15M dollar signing bonus(just for example) that money has to come from that years budget. How can you say it's irrelevant?

I mean, NFL has a cap, NBA have a cap, & MLB is whatever you owner(s) are willing to spend. The NFL owners are swimming in money, but still limited on spending. 

 

NBA has 136 million cap for 15 players (9.1 mil per average). The Bucks revenue was 213.7 mil in 22’ 

 

NFL has 224.8 million cap for 53 players (4.25 mil per average. Packers had revenue of 610 million in 22’

Brewers brought in a Revenue of 294 million last season. A overall payroll of 131 million about 5.08 million per player. In 2023, Brewers for first time should cross the 300 million revenue mark this season. Oh & with revenue sharing of TV deals each team gets about 100million each before even selling a ticket.  Brewers salary is 105 million this year btw, so players salaries aren’t even touching the money they are pulling in for 2023.
 

Brewers aren’t broke, Covid hurt of course, but they do very well when it comes to profits. I mean, basically their revenue sharing covers over 78% of their salaries. Pinch nickels all you want, but Brewers have money to spend. After expenses this season, Mark A should have a cool 150 mil or much more just sitting in that Brewer account (aka his pocket). 
 

[BrewerFan]

28 minutes ago, Jenkins5 said:

I mean, NFL has a cap, NBA have a cap, & MLB is whatever you owner(s) are willing to spend. The NFL owners are swimming in money, but still limited on spending. 

 

NBA has 136 million cap for 15 players (9.1 mil per average). The Bucks revenue was 213.7 mil in 22’ 

 

NFL has 224.8 million cap for 53 players (4.25 mil per average. Packers had revenue of 610 million in 22’

Brewers brought in a Revenue of 294 million last season. A overall payroll of 131 million about 5.08 million per player. In 2023, Brewers for first time should cross the 300 million revenue mark this season. Oh & with revenue sharing of TV deals each team gets about 100million each before even selling a ticket.  Brewers salary is 105 million this year btw, so players salaries aren’t even touching the money they are pulling in for 2023.
 

Brewers aren’t broke, Covid hurt of course, but they do very well when it comes to profits. I mean, basically their revenue sharing covers over 78% of their salaries. Pinch nickels all you want, but Brewers have money to spend. After expenses this season, Mark A should have a cool 150 mil or much more just sitting in that Brewer account (aka his pocket). 
 

We're guessing what the Brewers are making, but we have a pretty good idea what they're spending. It's closer to 140 on their payroll(*145 for the luxury tax). It's not 105. You're also not accounting for the ~11.5M they just spent on draft bonuses, the 6.5M on IFA bonuses, the money they're spending on the scouting department.

You're just taking their payroll, you're shorting it by quite a bit, and then taking what the estimated revenue is and subtracting the two and saying Mark Attansio, who again, does not own even 50% of the team, is going to be clearly 150M dollars this year. That's...outrageous. 

I don't believe the Brewers will have a net revenue of 150M dollars this season, I don't believe they have a net revenue of 50M this year. I can't disprove it as...again, they don't disclose their finances, but I would be willing to bet it's closer to 1/10th of that. 

 

As for the NFL, those numbers are public. The Packers got nearly 380M to start last year just from TV money to start the league year. That's a wildly different set up than MLB has. ALL TV money is pooled and distributed. The only real advantage you have in the NFL is luxury boxes...which isn't subject to revenue sharing and then of course investments.

And their salary cap is still being artificially suppressed due to the Covid-19 losses from '20. They're on a 4 year repayment plan, so the cap would be significantly higher than it is...(though I'm honestly not sure how this relates to the Brewers). Though the salary cap is more like a suggestion in the NFL than a hard cap. The Packers spent 310M last year on salaries I believe. You can always stay ahead of the cap if you have enough cash(not that it's a good idea, but you can as the Saints have shown or the Packers the last several years).

The Bucks have 3 billionaires who own them.

The Brewers have one guy who's not a billionaire who owns just under 40%(I believe it's in the high 30s).

 

But none of this really matters when it comes to how the Brewers allocate their resources. I think you're wildly overestimating their net operating income. 

 

[nate82]

2 hours ago, Jenkins5 said:

Brewers salary is 105 million this year btw, so players salaries aren’t even touching the money they are pulling in for 2023.

Do you have a source for this because everywhere I look their active total payroll is around $140mm and not $105mm. 

[Jenkins5]

1 hour ago, BrewerFan said:

We're guessing what the Brewers are making, but we have a pretty good idea what they're spending. It's closer to 140 on their payroll(*145 for the luxury tax). It's not 105. You're also not accounting for the ~11.5M they just spent on draft bonuses, the 6.5M on IFA bonuses, the money they're spending on the scouting department.

You're just taking their payroll, you're shorting it by quite a bit, and then taking what the estimated revenue is and subtracting the two and saying Mark Attansio, who again, does not own even 50% of the team, is going to be clearly 150M dollars this year. That's...outrageous. 

I don't believe the Brewers will have a net revenue of 150M dollars this season, I don't believe they have a net revenue of 50M this year. I can't disprove it as...again, they don't disclose their finances, but I would be willing to bet it's closer to 1/10th of that. 

 

As for the NFL, those numbers are public. The Packers got nearly 380M to start last year just from TV money to start the league year. That's a wildly different set up than MLB has. ALL TV money is pooled and distributed. The only real advantage you have in the NFL is luxury boxes...which isn't subject to revenue sharing and then of course investments.

And their salary cap is still being artificially suppressed due to the Covid-19 losses from '20. They're on a 4 year repayment plan, so the cap would be significantly higher than it is...(though I'm honestly not sure how this relates to the Brewers). Though the salary cap is more like a suggestion in the NFL than a hard cap. The Packers spent 310M last year on salaries I believe. You can always stay ahead of the cap if you have enough cash(not that it's a good idea, but you can as the Saints have shown or the Packers the last several years).

The Bucks have 3 billionaires who own them.

The Brewers have one guy who's not a billionaire who owns just under 40%(I believe it's in the high 30s).

 

But none of this really matters when it comes to how the Brewers allocate their resources. I think you're wildly overestimating their net operating income. 

 

Brewers do have a lot of expenses they lease 3 minor league affiliates, own and maintain two state of the art facilities in Arizona & Dominican. They own Carolina as well but that generates revenue for the club. Bonuses for draft picks & international signings. Upgrades & maintain to AmFam & all the employees. Then so on. 
 

MLB in CBA should have made a rule that every team must spend the 100+ million given to them in rev sharing or lose the money. Moreover, with that money they should be able to push payroll higher. If you gain 100million extra, you should be able to go up more than 30-40 million. Now, this is all still new in 2022 so we have to see how it this new system works & if it does drive up payrolls or not. 

[Jenkins5]

8 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Do you have a source for this because everywhere I look their active total payroll is around $140mm and not $105mm. 

 “According to Spotrac, the Brewers have a total payroll of $105,644,960“

It was from article BUT should have checked date. It was from February 

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Jenkins5 said:

Brewers do have a lot of expenses they lease 3 minor league affiliates, own and maintain two state of the art facilities in Arizona & Dominican. They own Carolina as well but that generates revenue for the club. Bonuses for draft picks & international signings. Upgrades & maintain to AmFam & all the employees. Then so on. 
 

MLB in CBA should have made a rule that every team must spend the 100+ million given to them in rev sharing or lose the money. Moreover, with that money they should be able to push payroll higher. If you gain 100million extra, you should be able to go up more than 30-40 million. Now, this is all still new in 2022 so we have to see how it this new system works & if it does drive up payrolls or not. 

I'm not understanding where or how you think they've gained "100 million extra" though?

[jay87shot]

With the reports of everyone available I believe that really is a declaration that says Yelich is available "if he will accept a trade". For this post I am going to assume all California and higher end contenders are trade possibilities. My guess is that most teams will want to get rid of some salary in any trade and won't give up any top 50-75 prospects (I am going to try and stay out of teams top 5 prospects for the most part.

1) Dodgers for SS Miguel Rojas, P Kyle Hurt, C Thaiyron Liranzo

The Dodgers don't have any bad contracts but Yelich would be great in front of Betts and Freeman and the Dodgers have cash and a LF opening. Maybe combine with Burnes or Adames for a stronger package.

2) Giants for OF/DH Haniger, P Mason Black, P Hayden Birdsong

The Giants need some firepower and have lots of cash. Yelich would be a big upgrade over Haniger. We get 2 interesting arms out of it and a reclamation project who could be a nice DH.

3)Angels for Tyler Anderson, Brandon Drury, IF Kyren Paris, and P Tyan Costieu

This might work the best, the Angels will be desperate to improve and can't rebuild with how bad their farm is. Anderson could be Wade Miley for us and Drury would be great as 2B/3B/1B/DH with Tyler Black. 

4)Padres for IF Cronenworth, IF Pauley, P Mazur

The pads want to cut salary, doubt taking Yeli works, but maybe if they trade Soto and one other big contract it could work.

5)Mariners for Robbie Ray, P Perlander Berroa, P Jimmy Joyce and C Blake Hunt

If healthy Ray for Yeli makes sense, Kelenic moves to RF. Ray offers top of the rotation stuff and half the length of contract. I love Berroa as a late inning reliever or go back to starting (if we can help with command) and being a young Freddy Peralta.

6) Red Sox for Trevor Story, 3B Blaze Jordan, 2B Nick Yorke, and P Luis Perales

I really don't like Story but he could rebound with the bat and is a good 2B. I made the prospect package better here because Yeli for 6 is better than Story's 4 (maybe add Houser or a reliever). I doubt Yeli would go to Boston.

7) Yankees for Lemahieu, P Will Warren, and P Clayton Beeter

This is a re-thread. LeMahieu for us makes sense and the Yanks get more athletic in the OF, we get 2 interesting arms as well. Again I wouldnt want to go to the Yanks but maybe Yeli would.

8)Mets for Jeff McNeil 

The Mets could use LF and have an excess 2B/3B. McNeil really isn't a bad contract so maybe we add Elvis Peguro or Houser. Again New York for Yeli is meh, but they will have great teams with 300 million dollar budgets.

9) Philly for Nick Castellanos

Castellanos might be a better candidate to play 1B (came up as 3B) and has 3 years left. He fits the Phillies roster a bit better than Castellanos. 

10) Monster 3 team

Giants get 3B Bogaetz, SS Adames and Yelich, P Adam Mazur, and OF Jacob Marsee Padres get Burnes we get Carson Wisenhunt and Robby Snelling.

The Giants spend the money they have been trying to spend the past couple years and get an entire middle of a lineup as well as 2 prospects (to make up for Wisenhunt a bit). The Padres get and ace and shed money short term and long. We get 2 potential aces for our vets, on top of it we save 50 million and can sign a couple interesting free agents.

 

[nate82]

I think the Phillies trade is probably the more realistic of the ones.  I think for the Yankees they would want to offload Stanton though I think the Yankees would have to kick in some money or a better prospect to even everything out. 

[jay87shot]

26 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I think the Phillies trade is probably the more realistic of the ones.  I think for the Yankees they would want to offload Stanton though I think the Yankees would have to kick in some money or a better prospect to even everything out. 

I would hate taking Stanton, however if it got us a couple of their higher quality prospects and they ate say 10 million a year I could be sold.

[nate82]

I think a Castellanos for Yelich trade actually may make so much sense that it just doesn't happen.  Yelich is a lead off hitter now and he would profile almost perfectly in the Phillies lineup.  For the Phillies they could finally get Schwarber out of the lead off role and have Yelich batting in front of Harper, Turner, Realmuto and Schwarber.  I believe this is a deal where it matches up well for both teams.  It allows the Brewers to get out of the Yelich contract and still get a useful piece in Castellanos at least as a 1B or a DH bat. 

If the Phillies offered Castellanos for Yelich I wouldn't turn this down.  The only problem is will Yelich approve a deal to the Phillies? 

[sveumrules]

3/60 for 32 year old Castellanos coming off a 102 wRC+ and 0.2 WAR the last two years.

or 

5/136.5 for 32 year old Yelich coming off a 116 wRC+ and 6.4 WAR the last two years.

I’d rather just keep Yelich, considering he’s actually earned his money the last couple years.

[nate82]

51 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

I’d rather just keep Yelich, considering he’s actually earned his money the last couple years.

But will this continue?  I think if you get the chance to reset the team payroll without losing a lot you have to do it as a small market team. 

Is having about $27mm less in payroll in ‘27 worth more than the difference between Yelich and Castellanos from ‘24-26?  I think that is the question we need to answer.

For ‘24-26 Frelick looks to be as good of a lead off hitter as Yelich has been and for far cheaper.  Power wise do the Brewers have anyone on the roster now who can provide what Castellanos can?

[sveumrules]

24 minutes ago, nate82 said:

But will this continue?  I think if you get the chance to reset the team payroll without losing a lot you have to do it as a small market team. 

Is having about $27mm less in payroll in ‘27 worth more than the difference between Yelich and Castellanos from ‘24-26?  I think that is the question we need to answer.

For ‘24-26 Frelick looks to be as good of a lead off hitter as Yelich has been and for far cheaper.  Power wise do the Brewers have anyone on the roster now who can provide what Castellanos can?

Steamer projects Castellanos for a 101 wRC+ and 0.3 WAR for 2023 versus a 116 wRC+ and 3.0 WAR for Yelich in 2023.

Castellanos might have some power, but that is it. His defense and base running kill his value.

I view Yelich as incredibly unlikely to waive his NTC anyway, but if he did I would hope we eat as much money as possible to get the best prospect return instead of taking back a slightly less onerous contract for a worse player.

[Redd Vencher]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

3/60 for 32 year old Castellanos coming off a 102 wRC+ and 0.2 WAR the last two years.

or 

5/136.5 for 32 year old Yelich coming off a 116 wRC+ and 6.4 WAR the last two years.

I’d rather just keep Yelich, considering he’s actually earned his money the last couple years.

We'd have to get actual prospect talent back alongside Castellanos for the trade to make sense. If they want to send Abel with Castellanos, I'd be willing to listen.

[edfunderburk]

On 11/13/2023 at 9:11 PM, jay87shot said:

Monster 3 team

Giants get 3B Bogaetz, SS Adames and Yelich, P Adam Mazur, and OF Jacob Marsee Padres get Burnes we get Carson Wisenhunt and Robby Snelling.

The Giants spend the money they have been trying to spend the past couple years and get an entire middle of a lineup as well as 2 prospects (to make up for Wisenhunt a bit). The Padres get and ace and shed money short term and long. We get 2 potential aces for our vets, on top of it we save 50 million and can sign a couple interesting free agents.

I like this idea 🙌🏼

[TURBO]

I only want to trade Yelich if the Brewers can promise us that they will use the money saved on players that will help us.  I don't want them to bank the savings to lower the payroll.

[jay87shot]

5 hours ago, TURBO said:

I only want to trade Yelich if the Brewers can promise us that they will use the money saved on players that will help us.  I don't want them to bank the savings to lower the payroll.

Agreed, I would probably extend Contreras, sign a short term vet, and hope to spend the long term money on Chourio in the near future.

[nate82]

5 hours ago, TURBO said:

I only want to trade Yelich if the Brewers can promise us that they will use the money saved on players that will help us.  I don't want them to bank the savings to lower the payroll.

The Brewers have spent when it has made sense to spend.  They spent on Moustakas, Grandal, Cain and extended Yelich.  The Yelich extension plus the arbitration raises to Woodruff and Burnes being the main culprits in taking up most of the Brewers payroll.  The Brewers have stayed around 19th in the league in spending which is remarkable for the market that the Brewers are in.