Brewers wrap up Yelich for nine years, $215M.
PHOENIX – Christian Yelich made his long-awaited 2020 Cactus League debut Friday against the San Francisco Giants as a designated hitter.
But only after he tended to a little business first:
Making his new mega-contract with the Milwaukee Brewers official.
The nineyear deal, which reportedly will pay
Yelich $215 million, will keep the 28year-old with the team through the
2028 season and includes a mutual option for 2029. The deal is by far the largest in club history, easily surpassing Ryan Braun's five-year, $105 million extension that runs through this season, and cements Yelich's status as the face of the franchise for the next decade.
“It's obviously an exciting day for myself and my family,” said Yelich, flanked by team principal owner Mark Attanasio and president of baseball operations David Stearns at the hastily arranged news conference within the team's headquarters at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
Also on hand were Yelich’s mother, Alicia; his stepfather and aunt; agent Joe Longo; and teammates Ryan Braun and Lorenzo Cain, who broke off from pregame preparations and stood to the side in uniform while showing their support.
“It was a unique process. It was interesting at times. I’m really glad that I’m able to spend the foreseeable future here, the rest of my career as a Milwaukee Brewer.
“I’ve said many times that I’ve only been here for two years, but it feels like it’s been a lot longer. Ever since I came here it just felt like a natural fit, a place that was great for myself and my family. I’ve formed a connection with the community, my teammates, everyone from ownership, the front office on down.
“As a player, that’s what you want. You want a chance to win. Something that feels organic. It felt right to me. I didn’t really have aspirations to play anywhere else, and fortunately we were able to work things out to where we won’t have to worry about that anymore.
“I just really enjoy playing in the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. The fan base embraced me from Day 1, and for me it’s just a really special place to play and our goal is to bring a World Series to Milwaukee and the Brewers organization, and we’re now going to have that opportunity over the next nine years.”
While word of the agreement broke Tuesday, Attanasio divulged the sides had been in discussions since last fall.
And that Yelich was the one who got the ball rolling.
“Over the two years that Christian’s played for us, we’ve developed an intimate relationship with the ability to discuss things openly,” Attanasio said. “Christian had indicated to me that he might like to talk about an arrangement which would allow him to retire as a Brewer.
“And so Joe Longo reached out to me and we got together for lunch on Halloween. So, I guess it was trick-ortreat, but it turned out to be a treat.”
Four-plus months of negotiations were finalized early this week.
Yelich had two years plus a club option in 2022 remaining on the sevenyear, $49.57 million deal he signed while playing with the Miami Marlins before being acquired in a trade for four prospects on Jan. 25, 2018. The salaries of $12.5 million this season and $14 million in 2021 remained in place, but a $15 million club option for ’22, which included a $1.25 million buyout, was thrown aside.
Yelich will draw salaries of $26 million from 2022-28, with the mutual option for $20 million in ’29 that includes a $6.5 million buyout.
“One of the things I said to Christian was a transaction over $200 million in size in the corporate world I come from, this would be considered fast,” Attanasio said with a laugh. “It’s complex, it’s structured, it’s a huge amount of money and at every step we were moving forward.
“Of course, you always want to move forward quicker. But there were a lot of elements to it and we’re pleased we were able to get it done before Christian’s played his first game (this spring).”
Yelich, whose deal with the Marlins was his first experience with big-money, long-term negotiations, indicated waiting for his new contract to come together was an exercise in patience.
When asked when he thought the deal was actually going to happen, Yelich said with a laugh, “Probably the day that it did. They’re always kind of up in the air. I’ve been through this process once and realized that it starts a long way out and then you don’t really know if it’s ever going to see the finish line until right at the end.
“We all got together many times in the last few weeks, and there was a lot of communication going back and forth. I think the goal was always to get it done and see the finish line, but you just never know until it’s official.”
Both sides made a commitment for the full nine years, with Yelich wanting no opt-outs and the team including a full no-trade clause.
“It was a partnership, and I didn’t want to just go into something like this just to leave it at some point,” Yelich said. “We never even talked about the possibility of an opt-out. It wasn’t something that was, frankly, important to me.
“I didn’t care about it because I wanted to be here for the long haul.”
Attanasio added the quickest part of the agreement from the Brewers’ end was giving Yelich the no-trade clause.
“The foundation of this whole thing was a mutual desire to make Christian a Brewer for the remainder of his career,” Stearns said. “When that’s the foundation, opt-outs and trade protection become pretty easy points.”
Since word trickled out about the deal, there has been much discussion about whether Yelich accepted a hometown discount to stay with the Brewers – especially when one considers MVP-caliber players are drawing average annual salaries of $35 million a year or more.
But Yelich made it clear more went into his decision than just how much money he’d be netting.
“This is the place that I wanted to play and to be,” Yelich said. “I realize that I had three years before free agency, but I meant it when I said I wanted to finish my career as a Milwaukee Brewer. And not only do that, but be a part of winning teams as a Brewer. That’s very important.
“It’s a large sum of money. People are always going to ask the what-ifs – ‘Did you leave (money on the table) or did you not?’ But I play the game to win and be part of a place that I feel comfortable and take pride in representing.
“For me, this was that place, and that’s how I made the decision. It wasn’t one that I took lightly. I spent a lot of time talking about it with my family and representatives. But at the end of the day we felt that this was right. I felt it was right, and I couldn’t be happier today.”
For a small-market team with financial constraints like Milwaukee, signing a superstar for the long term is a borderline stunning achievement. But now the challenge becomes keeping enough talent around Yelich to keep the Brewers competitive during his tenure.
“The first step in having a competitive team is having a player of Christian’s caliber on the roster,” Stearns said. “Knowing that Christian’s going to be here now for the better part of a decade certainly helps us plan and allows us to map out how we’re going to remain competitive for that time period. That was a priority of Christian’s.
“And we have the ability to remain competitive during his term as a Brewer. We believe we can, and that was part of our discussions internally of how we could make that happen.”
With the heavy lifting on the contract now done, Yelich finally can focus on playing games again – something he hasn’t done since last Sept. 10 in Miami when he fouled a ball off his right kneecap and broke, ending his quest for a second consecutive National League MVP award.
Yelich, who has won two batting titles and made two all-star teams as a Brewer, begins 2020 a .327 hitter with 80 home runs, 207 runs batted in and a 1.046 OPS in 277 games in a Milwaukee uniform.
“It’ll be nice to play today, for sure,” he said. “It’s been a while. It’ll be nice getting out there, just getting back to playing baseball again with my teammates and preparing for the season. It’ll be a regular spring training after that. We’ve got plenty of time to get ready, and it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to.”