The Brewers appear to be signing an extension with one of their prospects yet again. The club and outfield prospect Luis Lara have reportedly agreed to an extension, as first reported by Spencer Michaelis of the Brewers Fanatic Podcast. The full details of the pact are not fully clear. Michaelis says the deal is expected to be for roughly $30MM over eight years with two clubs options and incentives. Jon Heyman of The New York Post says it will be $31MM over seven years.
The Brewers will need to open a 40-man spot for Lara once the deal is complete, though they could easily do that by transferring an injured player to the 60-day IL. Lara could be kept in the minors on optional assignment but would require a corresponding active roster move if he is being called up.
It has become more common in recent years for clubs to commit to their young players before the make it to the majors, or perhaps after just a handful of games in the big leagues. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, from 2006 to 2016, there were six extensions signed by players with less than a year of service time. From 2017 to the present, that number is 25, with 15 of them being inked in the past four years.
Milwaukee has played a notable role in that data set, particularly in signing pre-debut deals. In 2023, they gave Jackson Chorio an eight-year, $82MM pact when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the league. That was the record deal for a pre-debut player at the time, though Colt Emerson later broke that record when he signed a $95MM deal with the Mariners. Earlier this year, the Brewers signed another pre-debut deal, though on a lesser scale. They and Cooper Pratt agreed to an eight-year deal worth $50.75MM back in April, though Pratt has remained in the minors on optional assignment since signing that deal.
This deal with Lara comes in at an even lower level. The guarantee is barely a third of what Chourio received and just a bit more than half of Pratt’s deal. Coming in well shy of Chourio is no real surprise. As mentioned, Chourio was one of the top prospects in the league at that time. Lara is a solid prospect but is perhaps more of a borderline top 100 guy right now. Pratt and Lara have some similar prospect rankings but the Pratt deal was seen by some as a bit of an overpay.
More to come.
