When right-hander Brandon Woodruff accepted the Milwaukee Brewers’ $22 million qualifying offer, the baseball world immediately began speculating that it could foretell a trade of ace Freddy Peralta. Ownership and the front office reassured fans that wasn’t the case – but a new report has team leadership growing increasingly concerned over payroll.
RosterResource had the Brewers finishing the 2025 season at $123 million – and with Woodruff on the books, they’re projected for what would be a team-record $136 million heading into next year. Now, Chicago Cubs fans should know by now that it’s too soon to rejoice. Milwaukee faces this conundrum what feels like every fall and always seems to come out the other side unscathed, even when it means trading a star like Corbin Burnes or Devin Williams.
There are a few avenues Matt Arnold and the front office could take to get the payroll closer to last year’s mark. Of course, trading Peralta, who is heading into his final year of team control and is set to make $8 million, is one path – but it doesn’t take a genius to see that wouldn’t come close to off-setting Woodruff’s $22 million.
Re-working Woodruff’s contract as a multi-year deal seems like a logical option, assuming the veteran is open to it. They could shop All-Star closer Trevor Megill, who’s projected to make $6.5 million, but that would be a significant late-inning loss for the reigning NL Central champions.
Woodruff is set to be just the second Brewers player in franchise history to earn more than $20 million in a season (joining Christian Yelich, who still has three years and $78 million, as well as a $20 million club option w/ a $6.5 million buyout in 2029). It’s just not how this franchise operates – so it feels like a safe assumption that Arnold will do something rather than just sit back and run a franchise-record payroll next year.
Brewers fans will be irate if there’s a salary-shedding move in the cards given the team just made an NLCS run and ownership pocketed extra postseason revenue. But it feels like a strong possibility.
Cubs, Brewers have very different payroll problems this offseason
Meanwhile, the Cubs have work of their own to do – and it’s almost an inverse of the situation the Brewers find themselves in. Milwaukee needs to level-set payroll after pushing the envelope with the Woodruff qualifying offer. Chicago has refused to flex its large-market muscle under Jed Hoyer, stripping itself of its biggest advantage over the rest of the NL Central teams.
It looks like payroll will be a storyline again for both teams as we move deeper into the offseason.
