Is the Power of Friendship Strong Enough to Keep Jake Bauers and Trevor Megill in Milwaukee?

[Matthew Trueblood]

The gratitude is palpable, and it's authentic. Jake Bauers and Trevor Megill are just the faces of a whole army of players whom the Brewers have picked up and made better over the last several seasons. In a slightly different world, it could have been Brandon Lockridge and Jared Koenig taking center stage at a championship rally late last week. It could have been Bryan Hudson or Bryse Wilson. It could have been Oliver Dunn or Eric Haase. Most of the time, when a player joins the Brewers organization, they get better; they get a real opportunity, often for the first time in their career; and they leave town very happy to have spent some time with the team. Most players feel that the team treats them well, compared to the other clubs for whom they worked. Most appreciate the advancement, and value the relationships.

Yet, no two players of recent vintage capture the magic of the team better than Bauers and Megill. The pixie dust hasn't worn off on either. Each has gone from virtually anonymous to near-stardom. Each is going to get hugely rich at the end of his career, after each looked like he might have to give up on his dream (without fully establishing himself in the majors) at some time in the last few years. Their personalities are part of why they found such success, and they're part of why they were each retained and given enough chances to do so. They're also why each was so beloved, and all of that—plus their production itself, which begot plenty of love in return, from fans—led to them being loudly proud to be Brewers, and to their sounding nearly desperate to stay in remarks after the end of the Series and throughout the civic celebration.

The question is this: Will the bonds that tie each to the organization and the community, deepened so much by the fact that they helped deliver the ultimate prize this fall, be enough to thwart the forces that would normally guide them out of town this winter? Bauers received the qualifying offer Monday afternoon, but by the end of the postseason, that was a no-brainer. Bauers remains a free agent, and if he wants to maximize his career earnings, he'll sign a multi-year deal this winter, rather than simply accepting the one-year QO. 

That highlights the key difference between the two cases. For Bauers, the decision is almost solely his. He can choose to pursue a deal that could be worth $70 million or more, and if he does, the Brewers are unlikely to be the ones to pay it. This is a simple test: How much is his love for his teammates and the city to which he brought a championship worth to Bauers? If he has another good season in 2027, he could make every bit as much money by taking the qualifying offer, but that's not guaranteed to anyone. To stay with the Brewers (be it by accepting the QO or taking some other below-market deal), he would have to accept less money than he has the opportunity to earn. He would have to make a willing sacrifice of earning power for happiness.

Megill isn't so lucky. He doesn't get any real choice about whether he plays in Milwaukee next season or not; the team has that power. As a closer entering his final season of arbitration eligibility, Megill is set to earn a handsome salary, and after that, he'll be eligible for free agency. Typically, when this type of player reaches this point in their career, the Brewers trade them. Megill could fetch the team a solid prospect or two, much the way Devin Williams netted them Caleb Durbin and Nestor Cortes from the Yankees. Trading him would also create financial flexibility. It might make it easier, for instance, to sign a player like William Contreras or Brice Turang to a long-term extension, or to keep adding even if Bauers comes back on the QO.

This time, it's the Brewers who have to answer the question: what is all that affection worth? It's not nothing. Megill became a part of the fabric of the clubhouse. His attitude and his aptitude are connected, and a player so dedicated to the team and its city is more likely to make the kinds of adjustments that turned around Megill's career than would be one who isn't wired that way. This isn't controversial, and it doesn't run against the Brewers' heavily analytical approach to team-building. They factor in the person when they evaluate a player and a decision. In Megill's case, though, they'd have to consider the intangibles to be exceptionally valuable to change the calculus.

It's important that the team stay committed to its philosophy this winter. Start making exceptions, and it's often hard to tell where to stop. Bauers will get to decide (more or less) whether he becomes an exception, but the team holds the cards when it comes to Megill. The pair are just the tip of the iceberg. Winning the World Series is awesome; it's worth any amount of extra headaches that come with it. Those headaches do come, though. Things will get more complicated, and stay that way. Extra layers like these will be piled on most of their future decisions. If the front office is as good as they believe they are, they'll know better than to ignore those new layers. Instead, they'll have to incorporate them into a new, more complex paradigm.

Image courtesy of USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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[Frisbee Slider]

Is there a recent precedent for any player taking a meaningfully below market value deal to stay with their current team?

Max Muncy probably took below market value to stay with the Dodgers this past season.

 

[82brewcrew82]

I hope they don't start making decisions based on emotion.