The Milwaukee Brewers aren’t just planning to keep William Contreras around. According to a report, they’d also like to lock him up long term.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Brewers are telling teams the All-Star catcher is staying put and that they’d “love” to sign him to a contract extension.
“The Milwaukee Brewers are telling teams that All-Star catcher William Contreras is staying put, and that they’d love to sign him to a contract extension,” Nightengale wrote.
That lines up with the way Contreras has been viewed in Milwaukee ever since the postseason run that ended with him taking home World Series Most Valuable Player Award honors after the Brewers’ first-ever World Series championship. He was the club’s most reliable offensive presence throughout that stretch, and the buzz around him since the offseason opened has centered on the Brewers not likely moving him, even though he’s one year from free agency.
If Milwaukee does try to get a deal done now, it won’t come cheap. Contreras is 28, a three-time All-Star and a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and he’s firmly in the upper tier of catchers in the game.
In 2026, he hit .270/.341/.417 with a .758 OPS, 18 home runs, 94 RBIs and 27 doubles across 147 games. He finished with 2.9 WAR and has not ended a season below 2.6 wins above replacement since 2021, when he appeared in just 52 games.
The market at his position already gives a sense of where this could go. There are two catchers with nine-figure contracts: Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed a 10-year, $140 million deal, and Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, who landed a six-year, $105 million contract. Both were 28 when they got paid.
If Contreras gets a long-term extension, he has a case to join that group. Spotrac currently pegs his projected market value at a little over $86 million over six years, but that number may undershoot what he can command.
Raleigh’s deal is the obvious benchmark. Over the last four seasons, Raleigh has 16.3 WAR in 583 games, including a massive 2025 season that produced 7.2 WAR.
Contreras has 15.3 WAR in 593 games over that same span. Raleigh has the edge in home runs, 147 to 75, but Contreras stacks up well everywhere else: batting average (.275 to .222), on-base percentage (.357 to .321), OPS (.792 to .790) and doubles (130 to 78).
Raleigh got paid. Contreras has a strong argument to do the same. And if Nightengale’s report is any indication, Milwaukee is ready to make that conversation real.
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