NEWSLETTER
Rumored a couple days ago, and now it’s happening: the Milwaukee Brewers are locking down a huge pre-debut contract for top prospect Jackson Chourio.
The report from Ken Rosenthal that kicked it off, and then the scoop from Jon Heyman that it’s happening:
The news is significant not only because of the team control it’ll extend over Chourio – looks like it’ll take him to age-30 – but also for the money the Brewers are locking in. The risk here is that Chourio doesn’t pan out, and you’ve just spent $75 million more than you would have otherwise had to. The reward here is that if Chourio becomes the star many think he can be, you just got his arbitration years for super cheap, plus at least two years of free agency super cheap, plus two team options still probably way cheaper than his actual free agent price tag.
That is all to say, this is so worth it for the Brewers. Maybe they wind up wrong, but the risk is worth the upside, and I really hate that it’s happening. Good for Chourio to lock in that life-changing money just in case, and I certainly don’t begrudge him. I just hate that this might wind up being an absolute steal for the Brewers.
Meanwhile, the news is significant because, with a deal in place, Chourio is going to be on the Opening Day roster for the Brewers. There will be a learning curve and bumps along the way, but that center field job is now his. That leaves the Brewers with quite a surplus of young outfielders from which they could make other deals, and also probably frees them up to deploy resources elsewhere (if they are aiming to compete in 2024, rather than do a mini-rebuild).
I figure there’s more coming on this today.
