Milwaukee, WI

Here are the moves involving the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2024-2025 offseason

Published

1 year ago

November 5, 2024

Here are the moves involving the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2024-2025 offseason

Keep track of all the offseason moves the Milwaukee Brewers have made leading into the 2025 Major League Baseball season. As of Nov. 4, free agents were eligible to sign with new teams.

Upcoming dates to know

Nov. 5-7: General manager meetings in San Antonio.
Nov. 19: Deadline for free-agent players to accept a qualifying offer (3 p.m. CT) and deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft (5 p.m.). Players to watch at this stage include Willy Adames, who was given a $21.05 million qualifying offer for one year from the Brewers, and minor-league pitcher Logan Henderson as a potential add to the 40-man. Adames will almost certainly decline the offer, in line to make far more on the open market.
Nov. 22: Deadline to tender contracts for players on the 40-man roster; those not tendered a contract by this date become free agents. Players to watch at this stage include Hoby Milner.
Dec. 9-11: Winter meetings in Dallas, which includes the MLB draft lottery on Dec. 10 and the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 11.
Jan. 10: Deadline for salary arbitration-eligible players and teams to exchange monetary figures.
Feb. 12: Pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Brewers essentially cut ties with Jake Bauers and Bryse Wilson

Nov. 4: First baseman Jake Bauers and pitcher Bryse Wilson were placed on waivers over the weekend, indicating the Brewers were going to non-tender both later this month. They cleared waivers and became free agents.

Wilson pitched in a variety of roles for the Brewers over the past two seasons and was named the club’s Unsung Hero of the Year in 2023 after pitching to a 2.58 earned run average in 76⅔ innings. Wilson had a 4.04 ERA this season, giving him a mark of 3.42 in 181⅓ innings with Milwaukee.

Bauers largely scuffled at the plate during his one season with the Brewers (he had a .662 OPS) but did provide some power (12 homers), played great defense at first base and delivered one of the biggest hits of the year with a pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the wild-card series.

Frankie Montas declines his option

Nov. 4: In an unsurprising move, Frankie Montas will hit free agency after declining his $20 million mutual option. Montas’ contract comes with a $2 million buyout.

Montas may not get that same value on the open market as a free agent, but it was an inevitability that the Brewers were going to decline the mutual option, so the right-hander ultimately opted out.

Montas was acquired by the Brewers at the trade deadline from the Cincinnati Reds for Jakob Junis and Joey Wiemer. He pitched Game 2 of the playoff series against New York.

Kevin Herget, Rob Zastryzny claimed off waivers

Nov. 4: The Brewers waived relievers Kevin Herget and Rob Zastryzny, and both were claimed by the Mets and Cubs, respectively.

Herget pitched to a 1.59 ERA in 11⅓ innings, showing a changeup that was at times devastating.

Zastryzny, a left-hander, appeared in nine games and threw 7⅔ innings, allowing just one run. He started three games as an opener, but left elbow tendinitis landed him on the injured list in late July and he never returned to the majors.

Brewers decline options on Devin Williams and Eric Haase, but they remain with organization

Nov. 3: The Brewers declined options for both closer Devin Williams and backup catcher Eric Haase, but both remained under club control.

Williams, instead of earning the $10.5 million on the deal he signed before the 2024 season, will enter his third and final offseason of arbitration, en route to becoming a free agent in advance of the 2026 season. He was expected to earn just less than $8 million in arbitration.

Haase, likewise, will go through the arbitration process for the first time.

Brewers waive starting pitcher Colin Rea and pick up option on Freddy Peralta

Nov. 2: With no intent to pick up starting pitcher Colin Rea’s $5.5 million club option for 2025, the Brewers informed the 34-year-old of their intent to place him on waivers.

It counted as the biggest surprise of the early offseason after Rea threw 167⅔ innings in 2024. It essentially meant the team was moving on, whether he was claimed on waivers or if he wasn’t, at which point the team would simply pay a $1 million buyout. He cleared waivers shortly thereafter.

In a no-brainer move, the Brewers also picked up the $8 million option on the contract of starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, the team’s No. 1 starter in 2024.

Brewers trade Wisconsin native Owen Miller to Colorado Rockies

Nov. 2: Owen Miller, the Ozaukee High School alumnus who had spent time with the Brewers each of the last two seasons, was traded to Colorado for cash considerations.

Miller had a big month of May in 2023 but wasn’t able to cement an everyday roster spot with the Brewers over the next 1½ seasons. Miller was designated for assignment in July 2024 and he spent the remainder of the season with Class AAA Nashville.

Brewers part ways with catcher Gary Sánchez

Nov. 2: Backup catcher Gary Sánchez hit the open market after the Brewers declined the team option for 2025 and paid a $4 million buyout.

Sánchez batted .220 with a .699 OPS and hit 11 home runs in 89 games and 280 plate appearances in his first and only season with Milwaukee, serving primarily as the backup to William Contreras and facing left-handed pitching.

Brewers decline option on pitcher Wade Miley

Oct. 31: Left-handed starter Wade Miley could still be back in some capacity, but it won’t be on the $12.5 million club option for 2025. The Brewers declined that and paid a $1.5 million buyout instead. Miley missed the vast majority of the 2024 season with injury.

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Milwaukee, WI

What to know about nuisance properties and how to hold owners accountable

Published

19 hours ago

December 5, 2025

Press Room

What to know about nuisance properties and how to hold owners accountable

Residents at Fifth Street School apartments, a senior apartment building at 2770 N. 5th St., pleaded with the property owner for help when drug use, public nudity and other illicit activity took over the public spaces in the complex.

The trespassers, residents said, created an environment where tenants felt unsafe in their own homes. They notified the property manager and owner, Gorman & Company, requesting one thing − a security guard.

Residents who spoke to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said they spent years expressing their grievances to the property management and Milwaukee Police but saw no real change.

Since 2020, there have been over 500 police calls made to the Fifth Street School apartments, according to Milwaukee police records. Despite this, the property was not listed as a nuisance − a designation that could result in fines for the property owner if changes aren’t made and additional enforcement support from the police department and the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Residents in the apartment told the Journal Sentinel, recently, they stopped calling the police to report issues within the building over the last year because they felt nothing was being done.

The Fifth Street School Apartments is not listed as a nuisance because they do not currently meet the number of calls required to fit the designation, according to Milwaukee police. It is unclear why the property was previously not listed as a nuisance.

After about two years of residents pleading for help and a Journal Sentinel investigation into the conditions at the property, Milwaukee Police are now working with Gorman & Company to address the issues at the property, and according to residents, discussions about hiring a security guard are taking place.

Once a property is listed as a nuisance, the departments will work with the property owner to resolve the problems, according to Neighborhood Services.

Still, some residents at the property asked the Journal Sentinel what it takes for a property to be considered a nuisance since the Fifth Street School does not meet the requirements.

“I can’t believe what’s going on here hasn’t been considered a nuisance,” said Piper Thomas, a resident at the apartment complex.

What makes a property a nuisance?

The two main government entities that deal with nuisance properties are the Milwaukee Police Department and the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services.

A property can be labeled as a nuisance when there is regular “activity” that affects the whole neighborhood, residents of the building or workers in a commercial space, according to Neighborhood Services.

Some examples of nuisances include:

Pets or animals that disturb neighbors

A property can be considered a nuisance if a minimum of three phone calls to the police in 30 days in under a year. Milwaukee police do not need to convict anyone for the three calls to count towards a nuisance classification.

Police also do not need to witness the nuisance activity for the property to fit the classification, according to a Milwaukee police procedural document.

Milwaukee Police stated that the Fifth Street School Apartments do not currently meet the call volume requirements to be listed as a nuisance property, despite receiving hundreds of police calls in the last five years.

Residents told the Journal Sentinel some tenants recently stopped calling the police to report problems within the building because they had lost confidence that something would be done about the issues they faced.

If the property does not meet the call volume requirement, but there are still concerns about resident safety, the police department’s Community Partnership Unit may still follow up with the property.

If the Community Partnership Unit steps in, the next steps may include assigning an officer to lead an investigation into the property and imposing potential penalties if the property owner does not work to resolve the problems with the property.

What happens once a property is labeled as a nuisance?

The Department of Neighborhood Services will send a letter to the property owner requesting a plan to fix the issues once it is given a nuisance designation. The owner must send over their plan for remediation, and if it is approved by the department, they have 45 days to put the plan into action, or they can be fined.

If the owners feel the designation is unwarranted, they can appeal; however, if the appeal is denied, the owner must then send over a plan to resolve the issues or face potential fines.

If there are no calls reporting nuisance activity in those 45 days, then it will remain listed as a nuisance property for one year. The nuisance designation will expire at the end of the year-long monitoring period if no continued issues arise.

If the problems continue, Neighborhood Services will ask the property owner for a modified plan, and the owner will need to submit one within 10 days of the request, and the year-long monitoring period will restart.

The property owner will be billed every 30 days if the problems are not resolved. Three bills in one year will cause the property to be labeled as a “chronic nuisance,” and the citations could increase to amounts between $1,000 and $5,000.

How to get a property investigated as a nuisance

If residents are concerned that a property presents severe public safety issues, they should first contact the property owner or manager to resolve the issues.

Concerned neighbors can use the Department of Neighborhood Services’ property data to find contact information for nearby property owners or call (414) 286-2286 for assistance.

If that does not work, they contact Milwaukee Police through its non-emergency number at (414) 933-4444, or the anonymous tipline, P3Tips, which can also be reached at (414) 224-TIPS. It will help to have photos or other pieces of evidence to show to officers.

Residents can also request an inspector from Neighborhood Services. Depending on the tip, the inspector may come to the property and provide the police with their findings.

Local organizations like Community Advocates can also help with tenant-landlord disputes and things related to nuisance properties. If a resident is living in a Berrada Properties building, the organization has a division dedicated to tenant settlement compensation and assistance.

If anyone is unsure if a property is already listed as a nuisance or for general information, call the city help line (414) 286-CITY (2489).

Everett Eaton covers Harambee, just north of downtown Milwaukee, for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Reach him at ejeaton@gannett.com. As part of the newsroom, all of Everett’s work and coverage decisions are overseen solely by Journal Sentinel editors.

Support for the Dispatch comes from Bader Philanthropies, Zilber Family Foundation, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. The project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36‐4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association. 

Learn more about our community-funded journalism and how to make a tax-deductible gift at bit.ly/MJS_support . Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation with “JS Community Journalism” in the memo, then mailed to: Local Media Foundation, P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.

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Milwaukee, WI

Have you seen this car? Milwaukee family’s car stolen with Christmas gifts inside, asks for community help

Published

1 day ago

December 5, 2025

Press Room

Have you seen this car? Milwaukee family’s car stolen with Christmas gifts inside, asks for community help

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee family is asking for the community’s help after their car was stolen from their driveway with all their children’s Christmas presents inside.

Kristina Fults-Yang asked her husband Eli to start their 2014 Toyota RAV4 on what seemed like any other winter morning to warm it up before she headed out for the day.

“I came outside, literally didn’t see any cars here,” Eli said. “So I’m like, okay, someone stole our car.”

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

The couple discovered their blue Toyota RAV4 was gone from their backyard driveway earlier this week, leaving them without transportation and facing a devastating loss during the holiday season.

“On top of that, we had all of their Christmas gifts in the car, and we were just devastated,” Kristina Yang said.

The stolen items included approximately $300 worth of Christmas presents for their four children, plus their daughter’s car seat and stroller.

Watch: Milwaukee family’s car stolen with Christmas gifts inside

Milwaukee family’s car stolen with Christmas gifts inside, asks for community help

“Really sad to know that all the hard work that we’ve done to get things done, I actually picked up some days at work to try to make some things happen,” Kristina said.

Milwaukee police are investigating the crime and searching for unknown suspects. The department has reported just over 4,800 vehicle thefts so far this year, down 19% from the same time last year.

The Yang family is asking anyone who sees their blue Toyota RAV4 with a crack in the window and a dent in the back to report it to the police immediately.

While the family has security cameras, they were not turned on the night of the theft, something they plan to change in the future.

“Just take caution because you don’t know until it’s you, and that’s how it was for us,” Kristina said.

The theft has put the family’s Christmas celebration in jeopardy, but they’re relying on their faith to get through this difficult time.

“It just kind of makes you wonder, is your family safe, is your household safe?” Eli said.

This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee County selects new DOT director to navigate bus system budget woes

Published

2 days ago

December 4, 2025

Press Room

Milwaukee County selects new DOT director to navigate bus system budget woes

Milwaukee County has appointed Joe Lamers as the new director of its Department of Transportation.
The appointment follows the resignation of the previous director amid a significant transit budget deficit.
Lamers previously served as the county’s director of the Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance.
The county’s transit system continues to face substantial budget shortfalls in the coming years.

Milwaukee County has chosen a new director to steer the county Department of Transportation five months after the previous director stepped down in the wake of a transit deficit that caught officials off guard.

Joe Lamers, who has spent the last eight years as director of the county’s Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance, will now head the transportation department, according to a Dec. 4 news release from the county executive’s office.

Lamers has been a pivotal player in the county’s efforts to become more fiscally sustainable as it faced a longstanding and ongoing structural deficit, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in the release. He has managed and developed recent budgets and led efforts to improve operations, grant development, public policy, and internal communications. The county’s reserve fund increased by about $90 million under his watch.

Lamers has also helped coordinate legislative affairs efforts, including negotiations for the state legislation known as Act 12, which delivered nearly $100 million in additional annual revenue for the county and addressed long-term pension funding challenges.

“Lamers has served my administration with integrity and expertise,” Crowley said. “His leadership in creating County budgets and initiatives has closed structural deficits and enhanced essential services for the community, including in public transit and transportation infrastructure.”

In late June, the county’s bus system agency, which is overseen and managed by the county DOT, blindsided local officials with news of a $10.9 million budget deficit, which now stands at $9 million after some course correcting. The shortfall resulted in service cuts in an effort to balance the agency’s budget.

Emails obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in October showed that leaders of the bus system agency, known as Milwaukee County Transit System, had been scrambling behind closed doors for several months to address the looming deficit crisis while keeping top county leadership in the dark.

The transportation department’s executive director at the time, Donna Brown-Martin, resigned on July 1. She had held the position since 2018.

Since then, Deputy Director John Rodgers has served as the department’s interim director.

Despite service cuts in 2025 and 2026, the county’s transit system faces significant budget challenges ahead.

The transit agency faces a projected $14 million deficit in 2026, along with a 2027 deficit between $17 million and $20 million based on current service levels, MCTS President and CEO Steve Fuentes told the county’s transportation and transit committee on Dec. 3.

In the news release, Lamers said he’s grateful to Crowley for the opportunity to serve in the new role.

“I look forward to working with staff throughout the department and advancing the important mission to provide safe and reliable transportation options. I also look forward to working with all partners necessary to develop viable and fiscally sustainable funding options to provide transportation and transit services into the future,” Lamers said.

Lamers will begin serving as acting director next week. His appointment is subject to confirmation by the county Board of Supervisors. Milwaukee County Strategy Director Isaac Rowlett will serve as interim director for the Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance as the search for a new leader of the department begins.

Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.

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