Brewers, Bauers agree to deal; all 6 other eligible players tendered

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers avoided arbitration with first baseman and outfielder Jake Bauers on Friday by agreeing to a one-year, $2.7 million contract while agreeing to push forward in the arbitration process with all six of their other eligible players.

Teams faced a 4 p.m. CT deadline to decide whether to take the procedural step of tendering contracts to those players, committing to the process that guides salaries for those with several seasons of Major League service but who don’t yet qualify for free agency. If a team decides such players will cost too much in arbitration, it can non-tender him, making him a free agent.

In a typical year, the Brewers have players who fall into each category. But this year, after signing Bauers, they tendered contracts to all of their other eligible players: William Contreras, relievers Nick Mears and Trevor Megill, outfielder Garrett Mitchell, second baseman Brice Turang and first baseman Andrew Vaughn.

Essentially, that simply means the sides will continue negotiations toward a contract for next season and potentially beyond. The next deadline on the calendar is Thursday, Jan. 8, when teams and any remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible players will formally exchange one-year salary proposals through the league and the MLB Players Association. After that, negotiations continue and an arbitration hearing is scheduled for February in the event the sides cannot reach a compromise.

Of the Brewers’ arbitration-eligible players, Turang is in line for the biggest raise as a percentage of his 2025 salary -- which was $777,100 -- after qualifying for arbitration a year earlier than usual as a so-called Super Two player. The NL Platinum Glove Award winner for his defensive work in 2024, Turang took a huge leap forward offensively by slashing .288/.359/.435 with career highs for home runs (18) and RBIs (81). He was voted club MVP by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Other notable cases include Contreras, the two-time All-Star catcher who joined the group of arbitration eligibles when Milwaukee declined his $12 million club option for 2026, believing he would cost less in arbitration, and Mitchell, another former first-round Draft pick who is eligible for arbitration for the first time.

Mitchell is a tricky case because of the way his career has been interrupted by major injuries. He was rehabbing from a left oblique injury when he reinjured his surgically repaired shoulder at Triple-A Nashville and underwent season-ending surgery. When he visited the Brewers at Dodger Stadium during the NLCS, Mitchell was on track to be back to full health by Spring Training.

Meanwhile, Bauers, 30, has a deal for next season. That’s in contrast to last year when the Brewers didn’t wait for the nontender deadline to cut him loose, outrighting Bauers instead to Triple-A Nashville in an early November move that removed him from the 40-man roster. Bauers elected free agency, only to rejoin the Brewers after all on a Minor League contract that included an invitation to big league camp. He won a spot on the Opening Day roster and slashed .235/.353/.399 with seven home runs in 218 plate appearances, splitting time between first base, designated hitter duties and the outfield corners.

As things stand now, Bauers is in line to once again make up a left-right platoon with Vaughn, the right-handed hitter who revived his career with Milwaukee following a midseason trade.