MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers signed backup catcher Eric Haase to a one-year contract on Friday to avoid arbitration, the first deal of what is expected to be a busy tender deadline.

Teams have until 7 p.m. CT on Friday to tender contracts to the unsigned players under club control, including arbitration-eligible players. Clubs have three choices for that situation: They can tender the player a contract, which means that the sides commit to proceeding in the arbitration process to determine a salary for next season, agree with the player on the terms of a new contract to avoid the arbitration process altogether, or “non-tender” the player and make him a free agent.

Even after previously cutting ties with three such players -- right-handers Colin Rea and Bryse Wilson and first baseman Jake Bauers -- the Brewers went into Friday’s deadline day with eight players still eligible for arbitration:

• RHP Aaron Civale
• C William Contreras
• Haase
• RHP Nick Mears
• RHP Trevor Megill
• LHP Hoby Milner
• RHP Joel Payamps
• RHP Devin Williams

Contreras, Mears and Megill were all eligible for arbitration for the first time. On the other end of the spectrum, Civale, Milner and Williams were all eligible for arbitration one final time before reaching free agency, a status that would allow their representatives to draw from a broader pool of comparable players to negotiate a salary for next season.

Arbitration-eligible players who are tendered contracts on Friday can continue negotiating with teams until Jan. 10, when those who remain unsigned will exchange formal salary proposals with the team. After that, a hearing is scheduled early in Spring Training, at which time each side argues for its figure and a three-member panel of judges picks one or the other.

Haase made a splash with the Brewers last spring by hitting .395 with five home runs in 38 Cactus League at-bats. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster but did stay in the organization, and he eventually found a niche on the Major League club as a third catcher and right-handed pinch-hitter with pop, delivering an .819 OPS in a small sample of 69 plate appearances down the stretch. With Gary Sánchez a free agent, Haase is currently positioned as the primary backup to starting catcher Contreras while Jeferson Quero, MLB Pipeline's No. 1 Brewers prospect, completes a comeback from shoulder surgery that cost him all of 2024.