Brewers bring back Josh Hader and Brandon Woodruff; non-tender Alex Claudio, Ben Gamel, and Jace Peterson

The Milwaukee Brewers have non-tendered Alex Claudio, Ben Gamel, and Jace Peterson. Projections had Claudio making in the neighborhood of $2M, while Gamel was predicted to make around $1.7M. Jace Peterson was projected to make between $700,000 and $900,000.

Alex Claudio came to the Brewers via a trade with the Texas Rangers for the Brewers competitive balance pick in 2018. In two seasons with the Brewers, Claudio was a solid relief presence posting ERAs just above 4,00 each season. He was also non-tendered last season before being brought back on a lesser deal.

Gamel came to the Brewers in a trade with the Seattle Mariners for Domingo Santana. Gamel played the role of fourth outfielder, and he was decent. Looking as if he might be on the verge of a break out early in 2020, he cooled off substantially later. In the end Gamel played8 every outfield position competently while posting a bit below league average offense.

Jace Peterson played well for the Brewers in 2020. He posted a 113 wRC+ showing good plate discipline. Peterson turns 31 in May and has shown very little in the way of slug in his professional career.

Each of the players could be signed later on, but they are now on the open market. With the pay cuts to Orlando Arcia, Omar Narvaez, and Manny Pina as well as the non-tenders to Claudio, Gamel, and Peterson, the Brewers now have $5M plus more to work with in payeroll. Couple that with the trade of Corey Knebel to the Dodgers and the Brewers have an extra $11M to work with. Does that give David Stearns some more flexibility to do something intriguing?

Also, the Brewers have unsurprisingly brought back Josh Hader and Brandon Woodruff. Hader is projected to receive between $4.5-$6.8 mil in his second go-round through the arb process. Woodruff qualified as a Super Two player and is projected to get between $2.3-$4.5 mil.

Baseball statistics courtesy of Fangraphs