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In his short time with the Brewers, Aaron Ashby has made an impression on both the Brewers and the fans. Now, he’ll be with the Brewers for several more years. Today, the Brewers announced that Ashby has been signed to a five-year extension.
LHP Aaron Ashby has signed a 5-year contract through the 2027 season with club options for 2028 and 2029. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/9dikJnCHHC
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 23, 2022
Joel Sherman of the New York Post has the details on the contract. Over the five guaranteed years, Ashby will make $20.5 million. That will cover his five years remaining of team control. There are also options included in the contract to cover his first two years of free agency. Between the two options and incentives, Ashby can earn a maximum of $46 million over the course of the contract.
This contract shows how committed the Brewers are to Ashby and his continued development. Though his numbers are not the greatest so far (4.56 ERA and 3.82 FIP over 100 2⁄3 major league innings), there’s plenty of reason to believe that he will get better over time. He sports a 10.9 K/9 strikeout rate, and his expected ERA and FIP are 3.44 and 3.29, respectively. He’s had a bit of trouble with walks (3.93 BB/9) and home runs (1.16 HR/9), but if he can get improve those a little, he will be a solid starting pitcher throughout those years.
With Ashby’s contract, here’s how the starting pitchers look going forward:
- Aaron Ashby (Under contract through 2027, options for 2028 & 2029)
- Freddy Peralta (Under contract through 2024, options for 2025 & 2026)
- Brandon Woodruff (Team control through 2024)
- Corbin Burnes (Team control through 2024)
- Eric Lauer (Team control through 2024)
- Adrian Houser (Team control through 2024)
There’s definitely a big concern after the 2024 season with all of those pitchers potentially becoming free agents around the same time, but the Brewers will likely make some moves before then. With a few prospects ready to be promoted in the minors, trading away one or two of those starters is looking like a strong possibility.
Here’s what manager Craig Counsell and David Stearns had to say about the extension.
“In this case we were able to get to the finish line. That doesn’t happen. In fact, most of the time it doesn’t happen.”
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) July 23, 2022
Here’s David Stearns on why the Brewers were eager to extend Aaron Ashby and a brief view into the negotiation process. pic.twitter.com/1wPnPmy04z
Counsell on the Ashby extension: "Aaron is the type of person and player that we think can be a Brewer for a long time. He’s very early in his big league career, but he's a player that I think everybody thinks can have great success in this league."
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) July 23, 2022
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