Brewers Exercise Freddy Peralta's Option, Decline Danny Jansen's Option; Brandon Woodruff Opts Out

[Matthew Lenz]

On the second day of the 2025- 2026 Major League Baseball off-season, the Milwaukee Brewers got a sense of what they have to work with ahead of the 2026 season.

Adam McCalvy of MLB.com is reporting that the Milwaukee Brewers have exercised their team option, declined Danny Jansen's mutual option, and Brandon Woodruff has declined his mutual option. None of these decisions is overly surprising.

Across 33 starts in 2025, Peralta pitched 176 2/3 innings, recording 204 strikeouts to surpass the 200-strikeout mark for the third consecutive season, joining an exclusive group in franchise history. Peralta finished the regular season with a strong 2.70 ERA, though his expected outcomes metrics suggest some regression moving forward with a 3.64 FIP per FanGraphs. His production led to his second All-Star selection and generated a 5.5 bWAR. He has an $8 million team option for 2026 and will be a free agent at season's end.

The 32-year-old Woodruff returned to the Brewers rotation in 2025, logging 12 starts and 64 2/3 innings pitched. Woodruff finished the campaign with a strong FIP of 3.17 and an elite 26.9% K-BB% rate. Had both sides exercised the mutual option, Woodruff was set to make $20 million in 2026. Instead, he'll earn $10 million via a buyout and assuredly come out on top in whatever deal he signs via free agency.

Jansen played 98 games for both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Brewers. He generated 14 home runs with 38 runs scored, resulting in an OPS of .720, a .318 wOBA, and a 103 wRC+ across the year. The Brewers will now be in the market for a backup catcher to relieve William Contreras.

Do you think the Brewers should try to re-sign Woodruff or Jansen? Let us know in the comments!

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[torts]

Good for woody, make that bank, or make enough bank to be team friendly to stay!  

[Frisbee Slider]

Quero and Haase as backup catchers next year?

[FrntRw]

Jansen is solid, clutch when needed. I would keep Jansen over Woo, no telling if Woo can ever make another full season. 

[AdvantageSchneider]

The Brewers could still opt to offer Woodruff a qualifying offer of $22M right?  That wouldn't impact his $10M buyout does it?  So if they were to offer him and he accepted they would theoretically be paying him $32M next year to pitch?

[markedman5]

21 minutes ago, AdvantageSchneider said:

The Brewers could still opt to offer Woodruff a qualifying offer of $22M right?  That wouldn't impact his $10M buyout does it?  So if they were to offer him and he accepted they would theoretically be paying him $32M next year to pitch?

I believe that is correct……but in reality they just deferred 10 million from the last 2 seasons .

[Sixtolezcano]

6 hours ago, AdvantageSchneider said:

The Brewers could still opt to offer Woodruff a qualifying offer of $22M right?  That wouldn't impact his $10M buyout does it?  So if they were to offer him and he accepted they would theoretically be paying him $32M next year to pitch?

Please don’t even consider it Matt.

[AKCheesehead]

I'm not so sure about this one.  For one, I don't really think Woodruff would accept the QO, so then we'd get that draft pick.  And if he did accept, a 1/$22m might not be bad at all.  Or it might be really bad, who knows.   It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. 

[BrewerFan]

9 hours ago, AdvantageSchneider said:

The Brewers could still opt to offer Woodruff a qualifying offer of $22M right?  That wouldn't impact his $10M buyout does it?  So if they were to offer him and he accepted they would theoretically be paying him $32M next year to pitch?

If he were to accept... which I don't think he would. The 10M is already there next year and it was for this past year. 

1 year QO would be the best case scenario. Turns it down, you get a pick, if he doesn't, you only have 1 year. 

[snoogans8056]

Yeah I'm 100% down with either a draft pick or Woody and Freddy last ride for a combined $30mil.

[CheezWizHed]

I hope the QO (assuming the team knows his health situation very well) is a given for Woody.  $20M for a SP of his caliber (even with health concerns) should be a no-brainer.  1 year mitigates the risk, too.