When Bryce Harper inked a $330 million dollar deal averaging 25.3 million per year, most Brewers fans immediately thought about Christian Yelich. If Manny Machado and Harper got 300 million+ from two National League teams, what could the National League MVP get from his team or somewhere else? This is a common thought by Brewers fans all over the state of Wisconsin yesterday. But with the longevity of Yelich’s time here in Milwaukee, this is not the deal that Brewers fans have to worry about when Yelich becomes a free agent in 2023.

It is pointless to compare the two players together. Sure, they have NL MVP honors and played in the National League East yet there are so many differences. Harper wants to be the LeBron James of baseball. I’m not sure Yelich has that desire, therefore, the motivation could be different for these two guys. Not to mention, we have a long way to go before Yelich and free agency even gets brought up. Who knows what can happen in the next four years in Milwaukee. They could be World Series-winning or Yelich could have hit his peak last year with him never being able to hit that mountain top again.

There is a comparison out there for Yelich, but it doesn’t come until 2021. Mike Trout is a free agent in 2021. To me, that’s the deal all Brewers fans should be paying a close eye on. Trout will be two years younger than Yelich at 29, but that will give us a peek at what type of contract figures Milwaukee will be looking at for the outfielder. And yes, the contract could be even bigger with Trout considering his ability and talent, but this is not the NFL. People try to one-up each other, but Yelich would have to have a monster four years to put him on the level of Trout’s contact.

The other thing to consider is baseball could completely change free agency. No one is happy right now with how the league looks, although, I’d argue it’s pretty healthy in the National League with only a few teams resetting their franchises. The league could enact a salary tax or figure out a way to keep players in their cities with thing that resembles an NBA Supermax. Or you could have guys saying screw free agency and signing extensions prior to their free agency like Nolan Arenado did last week with the Rockies getting a 260 million dollar deal.

Yelich and Harper will be tied together yet Trout is the one to pay attention to in two years.

Charlie.