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LAS VEGAS — Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold knows the question he’ll be asked the most as the best regular season in club history heads into the offseason.
“I think we’re going to get that question a lot,” Arnold said at the GM Meetings this week. “But he means a lot to our team.”
He’s referring to catcher William Contreras, who turned 29 on Christmas Eve and took center stage for the Brewers in the postseason, posting a 1.036 OPS against the Padres, Dodgers and Rays while controlling opponents’ running games and mastering the ABS pitching system at the best possible time. He commanded so many different aspects of the game that he beat out other worthy candidates like Jackson Chourio, Cooper Pratt and Aaron Ashby to become the first World Series MVP in Brewers history.
In each case, the player was going into a contract year. The Brewers got prospects in return.
But for every rule there is an exception. The Brewers faced a similar decision with shortstop Willy Adames through the 2024 season and decided to keep him, given his importance to the club and off the field. After that season, Adames was extended a draft offer, which he predictably declined, and the Brewers received an additional Draft pick.
So with Arnold and Contreras, the question for the Brewers is: Is the catcher more like a pitcher or a shortstop?
“They’re hard to find, that’s for sure,” Arnold said.
How do the Brewers approach this season with Contreras?
“I mean, he’s really special and means a lot to our group,” Arnold said. “You saw what he did in the postseason, hitting 1,000 innings three years in a row, Silver Sluggers and All-Star appearances. I don’t think we could have won this championship without William Contreras.”
All-Star closer Trevor Megill is in a similar contract position and would be desirable in his own right if the Brewers make him available. He turns 33 on Dec. 5 and is coming off a career year in which he threw a career-best 61 2/3 innings and had 30 saves for the second straight year.
He is entering his final year of arbitration this winter.
“He got the last six outs of the World Series and I just went to a Metallica concert with him, so I like him. I like him a lot,” Arnold said.
This is a true story. Megill, who opened the house for Metallica’s The Four Horsemen, saw the band perform at The Sphere in Las Vegas this week while Arnold was already in town for GM Meetings. Megill met the group.
“You don’t have time. You just have to go,” Arnold said. “You get off the plane in Tampa and it’s immediate. … I feel like when that happens, you have a target on your back. It’s important for us to make sure we’re ready and we don’t put our feet up. We want to be ready to do it again next year.”