Brewers, Christian Yelich Closing In On Massive Extension

Christian Yelich is one of the best players in baseball, but hasn’t been paid like one yet. Yelich signed a team friendly contract with the Marlins canceling out multiple years of free agency. Yelich was scheduled to make just $41.5 million over the next 3 years. Now Milwaukee has taken care of Yelich before they had to. The two parties have agreed on a 7 year extension worth more than $200 million.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had the information:

Jeff Passon of ESPN has added the deal is expected to be around 9 years total. That would suggest all or part of his old deal will be lumped into the agreement.

Obviously we don’t have the full details yet but this feels like a win for both sides. Yelich was very underpaid by a previous deal he should have never signed in Miami. The Brewers tried to do right by the player giving him a big money extension when they didn’t have to. It’s a win for Milwaukee keeping one of the best players in baseball long term for fewer dollars than he would have cost if they waited.

The Yelich deal will go down as one of the best in Brewers’ team history. Milwaukee acquired the outfielder for Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison, Isan Diaz, and Jordan Yamamoto. Not a single one of those players have been even a minor factor at the big league level. It’s one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history.

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Make no mistake about it, Yelich is one of the best players in the sport. Yelich, 28, has two batting titles, an MVP award, and a batting line of .327/.415/.631 with 80 home runs, 63 doubles, 10 triples, and 52 steals in two years in Milwaukee. The Brewers franchise player isn’t going anywhere.

UPDATE: Joel Sherman reports the deal is worth $215 million over 9 years with a team option to make it a 10th.