Brewers Finalize Re-Signing of Wade Miley, Add Joe Ross on Big-League Deal

[Matthew Trueblood]

The Brewers are spending their Winter Meetings Monday making things official, including the huge contract extension for their top prospect, but also two additions to the big-league pitching staff.

Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, Wade Miley and the Brewers ended up settling on another one-year contract with a mutual option for a second season. That was the structure of his 2023 deal, too, though this one is more lucrative than the last.

Wade Miley signs back with Milwaukee as @Ken_Rosenthal reported. It's for one year with a base salary of $7 million and a mutual option for 2025 at $12 million, sources tell ESPN. Has a $1.5 million buyout plus incentives which can bring the deal to $11 million.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) December 4, 2023

Interestingly, Miley's guaranteed money on this contract is (as I predicted it would be) less than if he had stuck around on his side of the mutual option for 2024 after last year's one-year agreement, That was a $9-million decision for him, and this contract only assures him of $8.5 million. The difference is negligible, though, and Miley can make up to $2.5 million more via incentives if he stays healthy and takes every turn in the rotation in 2024. Given his age and recent track record, that's unlikely, but it's certainly possible. If he pitches so well that the Brewers find themselves wanting to pick up the 2025 option, he'll really cash in, to the tune of $20 million and change over the two seasons.

Miley isn't the only new member of the pitching Crew, though. According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the team also signed right-handed veteran swingman Joe Ross to a one-year, big-league deal.

Free-agent pitcher Joe Ross and the Milwaukee Brewers are in agreement on a major-league contract, pending physical, according to sources familiar with the deal.

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) December 4, 2023

That's notable in its own way, because Ross hasn't even pitched in the majors since 2021. In May 2022, he underwent his second Tommy John surgery, and he only worked his way back for a fistful of rehab outings with the Giants organization in 2023. In those brief showings, though, he did flash a sinker that sat on the high side of 95 miles per hour, the first time he's sustained that kind of velocity in years. 

Because he's not nearly as durable as Bryse Wilson, Ross can't really fill the rubber-armed long man role that Wilson performed so capably for the 2023 Brewers. He's not likely to keep this boost in stuff if they try to make him a starter in any real way. As a middle reliever with upside and the ability to occasionally stretch beyond three outs in a game, though, he could still have real value. Ross, 30, is out of options, so the team won't have the flexibility to send him to Nashville if and when he struggles, but he does lend the team some extra pitching depth.

With Miley joining Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser, Robert Gasser, and Colin Rea, the Brewers have a half-dozen credible rotation options at the moment. With Devin Williams, Joel Payamps, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Hoby Milner, Elvis Peguero, Wilson, and Ross, they have eight pretty solid bullpen arms in place, Janson Junk and Aaron Ashby figure to be flexed between the rotation and the pen and shuttled between the minors and majors, according to their health and development and to the team's needs. The pitching picture is coming into focus.

It might be more an Etch-a-Sketch than an oil painting, though. Soon, Burnes could be on the move, which would shake things up considerably and could leave the team looking for another young, impressive pitcher to insert into the projected rotation. We'll see how the next week or two unfold, but this pair of moves stabilizes the pitching staff for the moment.

What do you think? Should the team be trying to do more, or is counting on the developmental chops of Chris Hook and the arbitrage skills of Matt Arnold the right course?

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