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Contact extension in hand, Aaron Ashby has a chance to blossom with the Brewers in the same way that Freddy Peralta did two years ago.
The Brewers and Ashby agreed to a five-year extension Saturday that looked strikingly similar to the deal struck between Peralta and the team during Spring Training 2020. Here are some of the details of each deal as widely reported:
Peralta
Age at the time: 23
MLB experience: 4.79 ERA, 11.6 K/9, 163 1/3 IP
Years of club control: Five
Contract: Five years plus two club options
Guarantee: $15.5 million
Potential total including options: $30 million
Ashby
Age: 24
MLB experience at the time: 4.56 ERA, 10.9 K/9, 100 2/3 IP
Years of club control: Five after this season
Contract: Five years plus two club options
Guarantee: $20.5 million
Potential total including options: $46 million
In both instances, the Brewers got cost certainty for all of the remaining years of club control for a pitcher they liked in terms of stuff and makeup, and the player got security in exchange for leaving some potential future earnings on the table. That’s been the trade-off for Peralta, who took a big step forward during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season thanks to a new slider, then made the All-Star team during his breakthrough 2021 season and would have been arbitration-eligible in ‘22 had he gone year to year. Instead, he is a bargain for the Brewers at $2.25 million (though he’s been on the injured list since late May).
Peralta was clear-eyed at the time he signed the deal about the risks and benefits of signing an extension so early in his career.
“I know my agent and representative weren’t too happy. They didn’t really want to take it,” Peralta said back then. “But in the end of the day, I know they wanted to wait a little longer, but it was my decision, and I made the decision for myself and for my family.”
Ashby sounded a similar tone Saturday at American Family Field.
“If we had a fortune teller here, that would be great. But we don't,” Ashby told reporters. “In this sport, you see every day how fragile it could be. I'd love to be able to say I'm going to be a superstar and I hope I am. I was telling some guys before that I hope I outperform the contract. You want to outperform every contract. For me, it was a decision I was comfortable with.”
He made two big commitments last week. Over the All-Star break, Ashby proposed to his now-fiancée, Avery.
They’re hoping to spend the rest of his MLB career in Milwaukee.
“This is the organization that drafted me in 2018, and I've felt nothing but love, to be honest,” Ashby said. “Everyone in the Minor Leagues that has helped me, Jim [Henderson, now Milwaukee’s bullpen coach] has been with me the entire time. I owe a lot of things to him for what he's done to help my career. There's a level of comfort here that's awesome.”
Brewers fans would probably like to see the team keep going. It has a number of talented players inching toward free agency, from closer Josh Hader, who would be a free agent after 2023, to shortstop Willy Adames and starters Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, who are all free agents after ‘24.
But it’s easier said than done to make a deal that suits both sides, as Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns often notes. That’s especially true the closer a player gets to the open market.
“These types of negotiations can take time, from first broaching a topic like this to understanding what a structure might look like to understanding what sort of timeframe could work for both sides to ultimately putting pen to paper on dollars,” Stearns told reporters. “It goes through stages. It requires some level of patience on both sides. In this case, we were able to get to the finish line. That doesn’t always happen. In fact, most of the time it doesn’t happen.”
Now, with the contract out of the way, Ashby and the Brewers can focus on development. Like Peralta at the time he signed, Ashby is still working to gain a foothold as a Major League starter.
“This is a person we feel very good about,” Stearns said.