What William Contreras wants from Brewers in arbitration

Salary arbitration is one of the toughest parts for any player or team come offseason time. The player has to file a salary number that they think they’re worth, while the team typically files a lower number and both sides have to argue each other’s merits. This is why most would prefer to avoid arbitration entirely. But the Milwaukee Brewers, a notoriously small-market team, found no such luck with catcher William Contreras.

Contreras is in his second arbitration year, and Spotrac even has him projected to make $11 million for the 2026 season. The Brewers catcher filed an arbitration number lower than that, at $9.9 million, as per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. But Milwaukee somehow offered a significantly lower figure than what Contreras is looking for, as they submitted $8.55 million for their starting catcher’s salary next season.

It’s safe to say that Contreras did not appreciate that the Brewers are valuing him this lowly. He had a one-word reaction that sums up his disbelief with the entire situation.

“Wow,” Contreras wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).

Are the Brewers nickle-and-diming William Contreras?