3 Brewers Who Won't Be Back in 2026

It was a tough way to go out for the Milwaukee Brewers, the unexpected 'Average Joes' who soared to the best record in baseball for the 2025 regular season. A four-game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers ended their playoff run last week, and the team is already thinking about a potential drastic change.

But there will be more than one move coming for the roster this offseason with several contracts that are expiring. Let's have a look at three Brewers who will almost certainly not be back in 2026.

Brandon Woodruff

This will be a tough one to take for Brewers fans, who watched their other staff ace, Corbin Burnes, get traded two years ago. Woodruff came back from shoulder reconstruction and an entire year off in 2024, to show he can still be the dominant co-ace starter he was before the injury. As a result, it's highly unlikely that he'll pick up his side of a $20 million mutual option, as he'll be in demand on the free agent market, where the price for starting pitchers has skyrocketed.

Brewers will not be picking up mutual options for two veterans

Rhys Hoskins

Milwaukee took a flyer on Hoskins in free agency ahead of the 2024 season, betting that he could come back from a full year out of the majors due to an ACL tear that ended his seven-year run in Philadelphia. He was a mixed bag in '24, with 26 homers and 82 RBIs, but only a .214 average and a .722 OPS that was the lowest of his career. His 2025 season showed signs that he might be well on his way to a career resurgence through the end of May, when he was hitting .276 with an .849 OPS and 35 RBIs, on pace for over 100. But then the bottom fell out in June when he hit just .150 with a .532 OPS, and he lost his job for good by the beginning of July when the Brewers brought in Andrew Vaughn, who went on a tear and locked down first base into the future.

Hoskins was left off the playoff roster, and it's pretty certain that Milwaukee will not pick up the $18 million mutual option. Hoskins will be back on the open market.

Danny Jansen

The little-used catcher will be another victim of a mutual buyout that the team will decline. $12 million is pretty pricey for a backup catcher. The 30-year-old performed well enough when called on in his 25 games (.779 OPS, 117 OPS+), but with William Contreras catching over 120 games a year, the Brewers don't need such an expensive backup.