2026 Offseason and Beyond Trade/Free Agent Ideas

[BrewCrew8675309]

As little as they used Andrew Vaughn in the postseason, if we keep Jake I can't see them not bringing Luke Adams up and replacing King Vaughn for a cheaper model that gets on base and leaves AAA for Burke and Fischer.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Bill’s contract should be closer to Raleigh’s deal IMHO. 5 year deal would be ideal. I’m all for starting the deal this year if it makes sense. 5/125 or 6/150 is probably out of bounds for me, but I’m not the GM, I trust Arnold and his team. 

[sveumrules]

49 minutes ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

Bill’s contract should be closer to Raleigh’s deal IMHO.

Raleigh signed when he was still three years from free agency. The yearly breakdown on his 6/$105M is...

($10M signing bonus) $1M | $11M | $12M | $23M (x3) | $20M vesting option ($2M buyout)

The main difference is that Cal only got 3/$34M for his first three years while Contreras is already making $14.5M before the big money would start kicking in to cover what would have been his free agent years.

I'd guess that Contreras and his rep want to eclipse the current $23.1M AAV record for a catcher on any extension that is signed, so something like 5/$120M minimum. If they wanted to stick with his $14.5M for this year that would be $26.375M per the last four years. Throw a $9.5M signing bonus on there with the WS windfall, keep Bill's salary at $14.5M this year, and it would be an even $24M per the last four years.

[jay87shot]

1 hour ago, BrewCrew8675309 said:

As little as they used Andrew Vaughn in the postseason, if we keep Jake I can't see them not bringing Luke Adams up and replacing King Vaughn for a cheaper model that gets on base and leaves AAA for Burke and Fischer.

If Bauers signs the QO, Vaughn should be pretty easy to trade. Adams seems like the perfect backup 1B who can play a little 3B and probably some OF if needed in an emergency. His patient approach would fit right into the Brewers bench perfectly. Your point about the other 1B in AAA also would seem to make it more likely Adams in the bigs would work. I wouldn't count out the team trading one of the 1B options especially with Bitonti not to far behind that group of 3.

[StearnsFTW]

On 10/29/2026 at 1:47 PM, TURBO said:

No thanks, time to turn that page...  I'd do a one year deal for 4 million max, but no multiple year deals.

Thanks for your time Woody!

I wouldn't even give him that honestly. 

[jay87shot]

With a likely salary floor coming and us being 30-40 million or more below the current proposed numbers would it be wise to go get a star player that can fill in some salary and help the team? I think Skubal might be out of the question but maybe a trade for a star with 2-3 years left? I doubt the floor starts in 2027 so maybe a multi-year guy.

Could we take back a guy like Corbin Burnes back for almost nothing (ARI) eats some money?  Mike Trout? Devin Williams?

[nate82]

9 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

Could we take back a guy like Devin Williams for basically nothing and have him be like a 7th inning guy? 

I would rather trade for Hader than Devin.  I just don’t trust Devin to be a reliable reliever regardless of what the stats say.  That meltdown to the Mets has me really sour on him.  

[DR28]

14 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

With a likely salary floor coming and us being 30-40 million or more below the current proposed numbers would it be wise to go get a star player that can fill in some salary and help the team? I think Skubal might be out of the question but maybe a trade for a star with 2-3 years left? I doubt the floor starts in 2027 so maybe a multi-year guy.

Could we take back a guy like Corbin Burnes back for almost nothing (ARI) eats some money?  Mike Trout? Devin Williams?

I wouldn't be so sure about any salary floor/cap, the MLBPA will never accept a new CBA deal that has a salary cap.

[jay87shot]

7 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I would rather trade for Hader than Devin.  I just don’t trust Devin to be a reliable reliever regardless of what the stats say.  That meltdown to the Mets has me really sour on him.  

Devin had a FIP of 2.68 in 2025 and 3.05 in 2026, his advanced stats are all pretty close to what his prime Brewers numbers were. With looking at how the Mets screwed up Freddy, I do think there is a good chance that he could be a higher end reliever still. I wouldn't trust him to be a 8th or 9th inning guy, however if we do need to spend money he would be better than Grant Anderson with good upside to get back. I would think we might be able to get a prospect back with Devin as well just based on his potential current value. I do want to be clear the only reason I would pursue Devin is if there is a floor and we need to spend money.

8 minutes ago, DR28 said:

I wouldn't be so sure about any salary floor/cap, the MLBPA will never accept a new CBA deal that has a salary cap.

I feel like the league is pretty set on getting a floor/cap in, I feel like by the time the negotiations are done the floor will likely be much lower than proposed and the cap will be much higher. I can see the league giving in but with current negotiating tactics of both sides setting demands really high it is hard to tell where the center is or could be.

[RWeeksFan23]

On 10/29/2026 at 12:10 PM, GAME05 said:

I hear "run it back" and I think of the Bucks trying to do just that and what that turned out to be. 

I mean if it wasn't for Middleton slipping on the floor against the bulls that year, we probably win another title.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

With a likely salary floor coming and us being 30-40 million or more below the current proposed numbers would it be wise to go get a star player that can fill in some salary and help the team? I think Skubal might be out of the question but maybe a trade for a star with 2-3 years left? I doubt the floor starts in 2027 so maybe a multi-year guy.

Could we take back a guy like Corbin Burnes back for almost nothing (ARI) eats some money?  Mike Trout? Devin Williams?

No disrespect, but heck no.

If a salary floor is instituted and the Brewers have some spending to do to meet the minimum, they'll use it on keeping in-house talent from a pool of current players and top prospects. That seems obvious as well as the wisest route. Getting into free agency and/or trading for vets means entering the game in which you're paying for talent whose best years is behind them. I don't there's any realistic amount of revenue sharing that would lead the Brewers down that path

[tmwiese55]

Agree, you can get to that floor with Contreras and Turang.   I guess the issue on going this route would be that sure it hits the minimum requirement now, but as a small market team the many years of commitment could still be a hinderance to deal with later. 

[KCBrewerfan34]

We would never take on Devin’s contract at this point. I would just give MeGill a 2 yr deal instead. I totally trust him. 

[jay87shot]

4 hours ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

We would never take on Devin’s contract at this point. I would just give MeGill a 2 yr deal instead. I totally trust him. 

Good point, I would rather pay one of our guys like Turang, Contreras, or Megill  if we need to add salary.

[jay87shot]

Are there any pre-lockout moves that we would expect to make? It sounds like the mlb wants to cap teams signing it's own players at 6 years, I don't know if that is different for players in the minors or pre-arbitration players or just free agents. However if there is a cap on years would we want to sign Made, Fischer, Henderson etc. now before the lockout so they are grandfathered in???