Freddy Peralta gets $1.17M signing bonus in $15.5M Brewers deal

PHOENIX — Milwaukee pitcher Freddy Peralta gets a signing bonus of $1,174,800 as part of his $15.5 million, five-year contract with the Brewers, a deal with two club options that could be worth $30 million over seven seasons.

Under the deal announced Feb. 28, Peralta's signing bonus is payable within 60 days of the contract's approval by Major League Baseball. The 23-year-old right-hander gets salaries of $575,200 this year, $1 million in 2021, $2.25 million in 2022, $3.5 million in 2023 and $5.5 million in 2024. Milwaukee has an $8 million option for 2025 with a $1.5 million buyout and an $8 million option for 2026 with no buyout.

His deal covers two years of club salary control and his three years of arbitration eligibility. If he turns into a star, the Brewers will have him at far under market value. But for now, he has a contract guaranteeing nearly 30 times the $533,258 he earned last year.

Peralta signed with Seattle in 2013 as a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic for $137,500. Obtained by Milwaukee from the Mariners in the December 2015 trade that sent first baseman Adam Lind to Seattle, he was 6-2 with a 3.10 ERA in 13 starts for Triple-A Colorado Springs when he was called up to make a spot start in place of Chase Anderson on May 13, 2018.

He went 6-4 with a a 4.25 ERA in 14 starts and two relief appearances for Milwaukee that season and added three scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the playoffs. He began last season in the rotation but was 1-1 with an 8.31 ERA in five outings when he was sent to the bullpen for the first time. He pitched exclusively in relief from mid-June on and finished 7-3 with a 5.29 ERA in eight starts and 31 relief appearances that totaled 85 innings.

He would get $500,000 for winning a Cy Young Award $250,000 for finishing second in the voting, $150,000 for third, $100,000 for fourth and $50,000 for fifth. Peralta would get $100,000 each time he is an All-Star, $50,000 each for World Series MVP, League Championship Series MVP, Comeback Player of the Year, Silver Slugger and the Rivera/Hoffman reliever of the year award. He would receive $25,000 for winning a Gold Glove.