How Both Sides Could Find Value in a Brice Turang Brewers Extension

[Matthew Trueblood]

Milwaukee's speedy defensive whiz also has some latent offensive upside. Could the team capture it with an extension reminiscent of some others of the last decade?

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

His first full, uninterrupted big-league season set Brice Turang up to make some real money in MLB. The son of ex-player Brian Turang, Brice signed for $3.41 million out of high school in 2018, so his family is hardly hurting for money. Still, that was nearly seven years ago, and the real money—the generational, life-changing opportunity—has to be tantalizing for Turang. Because he got so much service time (but not quite a full season's worth) in 2023, Turang is five years from free agency, but just one more season from becoming eligible for salary arbitration.

On the other hand, Turang, 25, is not the kind of player you'd expect to age especially well. His strengths are speed and defense, along with putting the ball in play on a regular basis. Those skills get old while you're still young, and Turang can't hit free agency until the eve of his 30th birthday—at least not voluntarily. There's a better chance of the Brewers non-tendering Turang at some point during the remaining half-decade of control they have over him than there is of him hitting it truly huge in free agency.

Yet, in the short term, Turang has a lot of value to the team, and the Brewers have ample reason not only to ensure he's happy, but to secure cost certainty, so that the unwelcome moment when they might need to cut him to avoid handing out a big arbitration award never comes. Thus, this spring—this last year before Turang can start making more money via arbitration, as a Super Two player—is the right time for the team and the player to talk about a contract extension. 

We're not talking a big deal, or one with the chance to stretch toward 10 years. This is not a Jackson Chourio situation, let alone a Christian Yelich or even a William Contreras one. Instead, the right Brewers-centric model for this kind of extension would be Freddy Peralta. Positionally, though, the comp is Ozzie Albies.

When Albies signed with the team from suburban Cobb County, Ga. in 2019, he was in a situation similar to Turang's, but with two things working for him (relative to Turang) and one working against him. He was considerably younger, and he was clearly better, having been an above-average hitter in over 900 MLB plate appearances at that point—as well as a fine fielder and baserunner, though not as good at either as Turang is. However, Albies was also five years from free agency, and he wasn't going to become eligible for arbitration until after 2020, so he would get to arbitration paydays a year later and enjoy one fewer trip through that process than Turang stands to. Albies also got barely 10% of the money Turang did at the entrypoint of professional baseball—$350,000, as opposed to that $3.41 million.

Thus, Albies and the Georgia club agreed on a seven-year deal worth at least $35 million, with two more club options tacked onto the end of it. Even if the deal stretches out to nine years and Albies remains with his team through 2027, the total value of the deal will rise only to $45 million. People howled about this deal at the time; it was one of the most team-friendly extensions in baseball history.

Turang and the Brewers aren't going to land in that same place. Because Turang is four years older now than Albies was then, and because he's not as good or powerful a hitter, there's no need for a deal as long. The value in a deal for Turang would be getting a payday at all, when there's every chance his big-league career won't include one if he doesn't seize his chance now. The value for the Brewers would have to partially take the form of extended team control, but it would also take the form of cost certainty.

Here's one plausible structure, totaling five years and $30 million guaranteed, with a chance to reach $57 million over seven seasons:

• 2025: $1 million
• 2026: $3 million
• 2027: $5 million
• 2028: $7 million
• 2029: $9.5 million
• 2030: $15.5 million club option ($4.5 million buyout)
• 2031: $16 million club option (no buyout)

That's also not a bad comp (with a bit of inflation, based on the time since then and the fact that Turang has one more year of service time than this player did) for the pact the Cardinals reached with Paul DeJong in the spring of 2018. That deal guaranteed him $26 million over six years and had a chance to reach $50 million over eight. It's roughly similar to Tim Anderson's deal with the White Sox around the same time, worth $25 million over six years with a chance to roughly double. Anderson was another former first-round pick who'd gotten a handsome bonus, though he was not as far removed from that payday as Turang now is from the one he got in 2018.

This deal would allow the Brewers to slot Turang (whose skill set and personality fit the team's gorgeously) into their lineup for the medium-term future, without committing them to him beyond his current term of team control or exposing them to the risk of a huge arbitration number in Year 3 or Year 4, based on his ability to hit for average and pile up steals and runs scored (or on what might rapidly become a high-earning shelf of defensive accolades, like 2024's Gold and Platinum Gloves). 

For Turang, it would guarantee him that $30 million, at a moment when he looks likely to have a solid MLB career but unlikely to still be a highly valuable player when he reaches free agency. It would also protect him from some of the risks associated with the threat of a work stoppage between 2026 and 2027, and the uncertainty of the salary structure on the other side of that veil. It's not hard to make a case for the two sides to get together on a deal this spring—even if it will feel a bit more like a financial maneuver than a massive statement by the team, as the Yelich and Chourio deals were.

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[eddiemathews]

Nope. Too early...have to see more.

[wallus]

I am not convinced Turang will hit enough for an extension at this time.

[wiguy94]

Yeah there's really no reason to do this for the Brewers.

[jay87shot]

I wouldnt be against a contract like Aaron Ashby's. His defense and base running give him a pretty high floor. However, I agree with the last couple posts, no reason to do it this year. I doubt Turang goes nuclear, if he hits like  .260-.280 I wouldnt think there is much change in an extension next offseason.

Also with the amount of young guys it is better to wait. We wouldn't want to extend Brice and Joey say and they level out and that costs us someone else bigger down the line.

[jesusoftheapes]

11 hours ago, wallus said:

I am not convinced Turang will hit enough for an extension at this time.

Then you are not looking! He just won a platinum glove in 2024.   He showed enormous growth from 23' to 24' and should continue to improve.     There is very little about his game you should be unhappy about at his age.     Turang is one of the best players in all of baseball and getting better. 

[jesusoftheapes]

12 hours ago, eddiemathews said:

Nope. Too early...have to see more.

That is crazy to me.   How people see this team.     Turang is one of the guys you cannot let walk early. 

[jesusoftheapes]

Brice Turang is one of the very best young players in all of baseball.   The jump he took from 2023 to 2024 was big and he was one of the teams very best players in the playoffs.    If the Crew can get him signed long term they should run that money to him as fast as possible and regret nothing.     The people who talk about Turang as a maybe are not watching baseball.     

[jesusoftheapes]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I wouldnt be against a contract like Aaron Ashby's. His defense and base running give him a pretty high floor. However, I agree with the last couple posts, no reason to do it this year. I doubt Turang goes nuclear, if he hits like  .260-.280 I wouldnt think there is much change in an extension next offseason.

Also with the amount of young guys it is better to wait. We wouldn't want to extend Brice and Joey say and they level out and that costs us someone else bigger down the line.

What is wrong with hitting .260 to .280 on the season?    In the time Willy Adames was here he only hit above .251 one time that being his first season here.       I do feel Turang is going to have a major jump in production and it is going to happen this season.    Brice Turang hit .455 in the playoffs with 1.227 OPS .  he shows up when the games are biggest and is a player on the cusp of putting it all together in a very big way.   I think if he moves to Shortstop his defensive values jump way up .     I believe he can carry a .300 Average or near it as he did through parts of 2024.       If Brice has a .280 season next year that makes him harder to extend not easier and a .280 bat is nothing to sneer at in 2025.    If Turang hits .280 + on the season he also carries at least 60 steals with that because he is on base more often.    IF he hits .300 that number increases that much more .     

Brice Turang is going to be a starting playing in the MLB for at least the next decade or longer and getting him attached here for a long period of time only makes good sense when it comes to roster building.     There are not a bunch of people who carry all of what Brice Turang brings to the table as a player and even those who do not watch baseball have to admit very few players show so much improvement from season to season as Turang has already.     

Platinum defenders are not the typical player out there and the Brewers play almost everything they do off the defense they play.       Turang is much more than a defensive player and showed that when the lights were brightest .     Cooper Pratt and Jesus Made are eventually coming up to the Bigs and will play infield but they are not the replacements for Brice Turang.   They are just future teammates.    

[wallus]

2 hours ago, jesusoftheapes said:

Then you are not looking! He just won a platinum glove in 2024.   He showed enormous growth from 23' to 24' and should continue to improve.     There is very little about his game you should be unhappy about at his age.     Turang is one of the best players in all of baseball and getting better. 

In nowhere in my post did I mention fielding...

[Outlander]

I think it is worth exploring, he is super two next year so he is going to get expensive by year 5/6, maybe they can get him on a discount now plus an option.

[jay87shot]

9 hours ago, jesusoftheapes said:

What is wrong with hitting .260 to .280 on the season?    In the time Willy Adames was here he only hit above .251 one time that being his first season here.       I do feel Turang is going to have a major jump in production and it is going to happen this season.    Brice Turang hit .455 in the playoffs with 1.227 OPS .  he shows up when the games are biggest and is a player on the cusp of putting it all together in a very big way.   I think if he moves to Shortstop his defensive values jump way up .     I believe he can carry a .300 Average or near it as he did through parts of 2024.       If Brice has a .280 season next year that makes him harder to extend not easier and a .280 bat is nothing to sneer at in 2025.    If Turang hits .280 + on the season he also carries at least 60 steals with that because he is on base more often.    IF he hits .300 that number increases that much more .     

Brice Turang is going to be a starting playing in the MLB for at least the next decade or longer and getting him attached here for a long period of time only makes good sense when it comes to roster building.     There are not a bunch of people who carry all of what Brice Turang brings to the table as a player and even those who do not watch baseball have to admit very few players show so much improvement from season to season as Turang has already.     

Platinum defenders are not the typical player out there and the Brewers play almost everything they do off the defense they play.       Turang is much more than a defensive player and showed that when the lights were brightest .     Cooper Pratt and Jesus Made are eventually coming up to the Bigs and will play infield but they are not the replacements for Brice Turang.   They are just future teammates.    

There is nothing wrong with hitting .260-.280, my point is that if he hits in that range (which I expect he will) that it really doesn't make doing the extension next offseason much different. Now if he hits over .280 I would think an extension will be more costly for us next year and if he hits poorly maybe we just wait.

[jesusoftheapes]

5 hours ago, jay87shot said:

There is nothing wrong with hitting .260-.280, my point is that if he hits in that range (which I expect he will) that it really doesn't make doing the extension next offseason much different. Now if he hits over .280 I would think an extension will be more costly for us next year and if he hits poorly maybe we just wait.

When you have a chance to sign a legacy player (and Brice is a legacy player) you do not wait for it to go up.   Turang hits .280 and his value climbs .  Rightfully so.    I still think he will be hitter much closer to .300 than .260 .  This will be a banner season for Brice Turang and will define the rest of his career.   My God did you see him reporting?   He's got legs like William Contreras this season.   Sal looks like a different player he is so beefed up(on another note) .   I truly love Brice Turang as a player and think he grows into a player who challenges big career accomplishments when it is all said and done and having that all happen in Milwaukee has to be the mission for all who love the Crew.     Brice is our first homegrown stud from this group who showed he belongs in the Bigs.    Then from this group Sal, into Chourio and Mitchell who are all set up for big 2025 seasons.         The Brewers are famously broke apparently.   So when they grow homegrown talent keeping it has to be a major focus of the Brass.   If Turang Hits .280 through all of 2025 and you are looking at a ALL STAR Shortstop and one who helps this team win a Pennant .   KEEP your Stars close and your rivals closer... Something like that.    I am all for extending Turang when it is best for the team.    I just happen to believe that time is nearing and it is only going to cost more money the longer wait happens.     They need to figure out how to keep Sal and Mitchell too .    So there is a lot of money that needs to be spent.   So to start with contracts now is not stupid.   Making the pieces fit and getting the most out of these prospect builds is our only chance .       We have no chance to win against the Dodgers of the world unless our homegrown talent works out in a big way.   

Not letting them leave in their prime after spending many years developing these players must become normalized again for smallball clubs like the Crew and in all baseball .   The cyclical rosters of the MLB are one reason no one wants to watch baseball anymore.   The idea of TEAM is lost on most MLB fans of 2025.   They want lego teams built with different colored blocks instead of just building a lego AmFam in blue bricks they want it all to be as colorful as a tie dye shirt and none of us get to enjoy players careers for more than a few seasons before they move onto better clubs with more money.     

Ryan Braun was our last homegrown hall of famer spending his career here was great for him and all the rest of us.   I would feel the same about Brice Turang having his entire career in Milwaukee.   While Turang has been put into Big League play sooner than normal for a prospect with offensive issues.  His defenses abilities put him up in the Bigs about 2 years early so many fans see him as a bad offensive player who does not have it when in truth he was just a young ball player who was so good defensively that he forced his way into the bigs even before he had developed an MLB bat.        In 2023 we saw him develop that bat.   I understand many believe he showed little to prove he was becoming and offensive weapon but that was what I saw.   I saw a guy who was DOG$HIT with a bat in hand in 23' become the best lead off hitter in NL Central in 24' .     Where he goes from here is up to him .   However we have seen enough by now to know that he is dedicated to his craft in a way that only the best of the best are and no one works harder on improving himself than Turang.        So pay him!   I want to keep this group in Milwaukee as long as possible this time around.    We grew these players in a way that has connected them to us as fans and I love them more than any group I can remember for the Packers or the Brewers.    I love this Crew! 

 

Go Brewers.  

. 

 

[sveumrules]

15 hours ago, jesusoftheapes said:

That is crazy to me.   How people see this team.     Turang is one of the guys you cannot let walk early. 

You don't need to extend Turnag to prevent him from walking early, he is still under team control for five more seasons at discounted rates through Arbitration. 

[jesusoftheapes]

3 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

You don't need to extend Turnag to prevent him from walking early, he is still under team control for five more seasons at discounted rates through Arbitration. 

And this is true to be sure.   I have seen hundreds of players go through Arbitration.  You are correct that this is unnecessary as was Chourio penning a contract for the next decade ish.    We all saw the value in that in short order.     We have a lot of contracts to work in the coming seasons.   Yes we have control through arbitration and that can be worked for years to determine where you place a player in his early career. Those who play this Arbitration game are bidding time until the player leaves.       It has a way of making the player hate the franchise and the Franchise micro manage the player.     It never is the path to keep a player .  It is only a way to manage a temporary player.      With every season that passes Turang will continue to improve and make his money go up and up.   Turang is so much better in 5 years than he is today and paying him now on a discounted rate is all the author of this article was saying.  Having the foresight to see who is and who is not worth the investment is smart business.    Turang will only become more and more unaffordable as he builds season after season of progressive success.      I believe in Brice Turang.   I guess we get to see if the Brewers do when we see how they handle his contracting moving forwards.