Brewers Bringing Back Wade Miley on a One-Year Deal, Also Sign Joe Ross

Wade Miley will stick with the Milwaukee Brewers for another year, even after declining a $10 million option earlier this offseason.

Did he get more for his trouble? Well, potentially:

So, it was a $9 million decision for Miley, which he declined, and then he instead gets $8.5 million guaranteed, with possible incentives worth up to $2.5 million. He breaks even as long as he hits 75 innings, which he has usually been able to do.

Miley, now 37, put up a great ERA with the Brewers last year (3.14), but managed just 120.1 innings, and his peripherals all kinda went in the tank, including the batted ball metrics that informed his previous success. It’d be a considerable surprise if he repeated his success in 2024. Miley posted a .234 BABIP against and an 81.6% LOB rate, each of which is unlikely to happen again.

All that said, Miley only has to be a slightly-below-average starter to be worth his contract. It’s probably fine for the Brewers. But it isn’t imposing. Right now, the Brewers’ rotation would project as Corbin Burnes (who is a free agent after the season and on the block), Freddy Peralta (who always got name-checked with Burnes and Woodruff, but actually wasn’t close to their level of performance the last two years), Miley, and … Colin Rea? Adrian Houser? Robert Gasser? Janson Junk? They might be able to cobble together a serviceable group, but yikes. On paper, it’s not exactly troubling to NL Central lineups.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are also taking a flier on former Nationals starter Joe Ross:

Ross, 30, has not appeared in the big leagues since 2021. He had an elbow injury that year, but didn’t have Tommy John surgery until the following May. He pitched only a little bit in the Giants’ system last season, but apparently showed enough for the Brewers to give him a Major League deal? A bit odd, particularly given that he cannot be optioned to the minor leagues.

So I guess throw him into that rotation competition?