PHOENIX -- Freddy Peralta’s representatives pushed the merits of going year-to-year, but the 23-year-old right-hander felt the time was right to commit to a long-term contract with the Brewers.

Could his five-year deal mark the start of a new phase in David Stearns’ tenure running the team?

“Way back when I started this, I talked a whole lot about, ‘acquire, develop, retain,’” said Stearns. “That’s still a philosophy we harp on. There is a ‘retain’ part of that equation.”

It marked the first time with Stearns as general manager that the Brewers locked up one of their own players on a contract beyond two years. The only comparable deal was Chase Anderson’s extension in October 2017 that guaranteed two years and $11.75 million plus a pair of club options. The only other multiyear guarantee for an in-house player was Brent Suter’s two-year, $2.5 million deal earlier this month.

• Peralta 'very thankful' for 5-year extension

Peralta, who will either open the season in the Brewers’ rotation or in the bullpen, entered the year among several promising young players for whom a long-term contract could make sense.

Stearns declined to say whether the Brewers were engaged in any other such talks, but here is a non-exhaustive list of some candidates:

IN THE WHEELHOUSE

Adrian Houser
MLB service: One year, 10 days
Contract status: Pre-arbitration, controlled through 2024
Pros and cons: The Brewers are extremely high on Adrian Houser entering this season, and they have said the right-hander will open the year in the starting rotation. But his Major League experience amounts to 127 innings over 44 games, so it may be in everyone’s interest to see what he can do over a full, big league season. He’s also more than three years older than Peralta.

Corbin Burnes
MLB service: One year, 49 days
Contract status: Pre-arbitration, controlled through 2024
Pros and cons: Corbin Burnes is essentially in the same position as Peralta, both in terms of Major League service time and Major League success. Burnes was a key bullpen piece for the Brewers in the second half of 2018, including the postseason, but the right-hander couldn’t hold a spot in the starting rotation in 2019. Like Peralta, he worked hard over the winter on his arsenal of pitches and could serve a hybrid role in 2020 as a starter and a reliever. Burnes is 19 months older than Peralta.

Brandon Woodruff
MLB service: One year, 161 days
Contract status: Pre-arbitration, controlled through 2024
Pros and cons: Brandon Woodruff’s extra days of service make a big difference, since he projects to be eligible for arbitration as a Super 2 player following this season. The right-hander also has had significantly more Major League success, including a spot on the National League All-Star team last season, and thus would require a heftier commitment from the club.

Eric Lauer
MLB service: One year, 160 days
Contract status: Pre-arbitration, controlled through 2024
Pros and cons: Eric Lauer is in the exact same position as Woodruff, minus the All-Star Game berth. But the big difference is that the left-hander has yet to throw a regular-season pitch for the Brewers.

LONGER SHOT

Josh Hader
MLB service: Two years, 115 days
Contract status: Signed for $4.1 million in 2020, controlled through 2023
Pros and cons: Josh Hader is arguably the best reliever in baseball, but there is some volatility inherent in that. Then there’s the matter of his arbitration hearing earlier this month. After losing his case, the left-hander expressed dissatisfaction with the system. From his point of view, if he already feels as if some money was left on the table, would he be willing to risk leaving more by committing to a long-term deal?

“It’s a risk tolerance for both sides,” Stearns said. “In any of these types of pre-arbitration or arbitration negotiations, each side has to do a risk assessment, but ultimately, it’s the player’s choice. Some players are very comfortable going year to year through the arbitration process and ultimately get to free agency. Some players prefer the security a little earlier in their careers.”

Christian Yelich was one of those players. He was 23 and coming off his first full Major League season when he signed a seven-year, $49.5 million contract with the Marlins in 2015. That deal bought out all of Yelich’s arbitration years plus two years of free agency.

Now, it’s getting close to time to talk about his next contract. Which brings us to …

THE BIG FISH

Christian Yelich
MLB service: Six years, 69 days
Contract status: Signed through 2021, plus $15M club option for 2022
Pros and cons: Yelich loves playing for a competitive team in a small market, and the Brewers obviously would love to keep him. The question is whether the sides could make the money work. Ryan Braun's five-year, $105 million extension is by far the richest contract the Brewers have ever awarded, and even with the most generous “hometown” discount, Yelich would obliterate that. There are no indications that the sides are talking now, but it might be something they have to explore following this season. If they are too far apart, the Brewers would have to start thinking about whether it’s wise to let Yelich play out his contract or whether to begin weighing a trade before the outfielder gets too close to the end of his deal.

For all of those players and more -- catcher Omar Narváez and infielder Luis Urías are among the young hitters who could emerge as extension candidates if their debut seasons in Milwaukee go well -- it’s a matter of weighing earning potential versus security.

Peralta opted for security.

“It definitely isn’t an easy decision, but for me, it somewhat was,” Peralta said. “We had a lot of meetings. I talked to my representatives a lot. We had a lot of phone calls and in-person meetings, and we went over a lot of options and a lot of different situations that could happen. At the end, I just felt like for me it was the right opportunity, the right decision. It took me days to think about it. I thought about it over and over in my head for days, and I felt it was the right opportunity for me, the right decision at this point in my career. I thought it was the right way to do it.”