The offseason has begun and already some controversial decisions have been made by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rather than pick up Mark Canha’s $11.5M option, they elected to trade him to the Detroit Tigers for a minor league pitcher. Additionally, Wade Miley declined his half of a $10M mutual option for the 2024 season. Lastly, we are still awaiting the fate of manager Craig Counsell.
A decision regarding Counsell is supposedly going to be made before general manager meetings November 7-9. The next big date the Brewers have to look forward to is the non-tender deadline. The cutoff date to tender an arbitration eligible player a contract for 2024 is November 17. Already we have seen Milwaukee part ways with Eric Lauer and there could be more well known names who drop off the roster.
Here's a look at four players who could be off the roster by Thanksgiving. The non-tender deadline is six days before the holiday, so these predictions revolve around that non-tender date.
1) RHP Corbin Burnes
By now it should not be shocking to see Burnes' name mentioned. While he will certainly be tendered a contract, the Brewers could look to trade him earlier in this off-season as opposed to later. The free agent starting pitcher depth is deep this winter and a lot of money will get shelled out to these players. This could incentivize other teams to push for a trade sooner while also driving up his already high trade cost.
2) RHP Brandon Woodruff
Woodruff is in a precarious position this offseason. 2024 will be his final year of team control, he is projected to make $11.6M and it is unclear if he will be able to play in 2024. A few options for Milwaukee to consider include non-tendering him, trading him or signing him to a two year extension knowing that there is a real possibility that they do not see him on the mound until 2025.
3) RHP Adrian Houser
Houser is also entering his final year of team control, with a projected 2024 salary of $5.60M. He covered 111.1 innings for the Brewers in 2023, made 21 starts, and had a 4.12 ERA. Milwaukee’s starting pitcher picture is very unclear right now and it will have to decide if the value that Houser provides fits the estimated price tag.
4) 1B/DH Rowdy Tellez
2023 was a very disappointing season for the fan favorite. The left-handed slugger belted 35 home runs in 2022, but after the month of April in 2023 he slumped, sustained a few different injuries and ultimately did not make the postseason roster. He too is in his final year of arbitration and has a $5.90M salary projection for 2024. It will be interesting to see if Milwaukee has him in its future plans or not.
Prior to the non-tender deadline, another date to be mindful of is November 14. This date represents the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. After that, Winter Meetings are scheduled to take place December 4-6 in Nashville.
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