The Brewers have locked up young righty Freddy Peralta on a long-term deal two years before he’s even arbitration eligible, so this is a really significant extension.
Freddy Peralta deal with #Brewers, per source: Five years, $15.5M plus two club options that could bring value to $30M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 26, 2020
The deal looks very similar to the one recently signed by the White Sox and lefty Aaron Bummer. Peralta, 23, gets locked in for his five remaining years of team control, and gives up two very affordable option years for his first two would-be free agent years.
If he breaks out, this will be one of those otherworldly steals of a contract. But if he struggles to establish himself, then he guaranteed himself $15.5 million instead of risking being dropped in a year for nothing. He’s had a mixed couple partial years in the big leagues so far, with some really interesting peripherals (but meh results). He he’s so young and apparently was really impressive over the winter, so I’m sure the Brewers were excited to take a chance.
Apparently they’re not alone, either, so stay tuned:
The long-term deals Freddy Peralta and Aaron Bummer signed this week are no anomalies. Teams across baseball are trying to lock up pre-arbitration players to multi-year contracts that buy out free agent years, per sources. There could be a rash of such deals in the coming weeks.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 26, 2020
It’s actually been a long time since we’ve seen a wave of *pre-arb* extensions around baseball. They used to be in vogue, but lately teams have been waiting for guys to establish themselves in their arb years to cut deals.