Roster Moves Bring Medium-Term Plan into Focus for First-Place Brewers

[Matthew Trueblood]

Injuries have forced the Milwaukee Brewers into a couple of recent roster moves, but they've also made some proactive ones that reveal their plans for the next month or so.

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Wednesday, the Brewers optioned struggling infielder Oliver Dunn to the minor leagues, in favor of outfielder Chris Roller. After scooping up Roller amid the Guardians' roster crunch last August, the Brewers will now call on him for the first time. Roller is a right-handed batter and exclusively an outfielder, which makes calling him up and demoting Dunn a telling swap.

For one thing, Joey Ortiz now looks to be the everyday third baseman. He was slotted in at second Wednesday against the Pirates, with a lefty starter on the mound, but Brice Turang has earned the right to play even against most southpaws, and Ortiz has asserted himself sufficiently that it was time for the Crew to ensure his place in the lineup even with Turang and Willy Adames ensconced in the middle infield. Though a small move in itself (and hopefully not one that indicates any kind of permanent end to the Dunn experiment), this is a momentous occasion. Ortiz, the jewel of the Corbin Burnes trade and a player the team hopes will be a fixture for several years, got an unofficial but very real promotion Wednesday.

Equally interesting, perhaps, is that (after calling up Owen Miller, rather than Tyler Black, when they had to shelve Rhys Hoskins with a hamstring strain) the Brewers selected the right-hitting Roller to add to the outfield mix as they sent down Dunn. That leaves the following players who either bat left-handed or are switch-hitters on the active roster:

• Sal Frelick
• Blake Perkins (switch)
• Turang
• Jake Bauers
• Christian Yelich

Yelich (apart from occasional rest days to engender the best possible health for him throughout the season) will be in the lineup every day. Frelick has been pretty much an everyday guy, as well, though Perkins has pushed him a bit and has the ability to bat right-handed against tough lefties. In Miller and Andruw Monasterio, the team now has two players who can be platoon partners for Turang, when they think it prudent, and Miller will also spell Bauers against (at least some) lefties while Hoskins convalesces.

One possible reading of this sequence of moves, were Jackson Chourio and/or Frelick hitting a bit better, would be that we're now finally going to see Frelick play some third base. That's more plausible now than it was yesterday, but it still seems like it will be rare. Ortiz is the one who forced Dunn out, and Roller feels more like an answer to Yelich's difficulties in the field (he could DH more often, with Roller playing left) and Chourio's at the plate than like a replacement for Frelick's outfield reps. If this roster construction holds when Garrett Mitchell returns to the active roster, and if it's either Miller or Monasterio who goes down to Nashville at that point, Frelick could start to play more often at third base, but that's not a sure thing yet, and much could change before that time comes.

In short, then, we're settling toward a state of affairs in which William Contreras, Adames and Ortiz are the true everyday players in the lineup. Yelich, Turang, and Frelick will be close to that constant, but (for various reasons) might get a few more proactive days off. Chourio, Bauers, and Perkins are now in more of a "three days in four, or four in five" space, and the rest of the squad (Miller, Monasterio, Roller, and Gary Sánchez) will fill in as needed, rarely starting more than twice in a week.

The same clarity is at hand, at long last, for the pitching staff. A run of better health and some stabilizing (though not brilliant) performances have given the team a clear starting rotation (Freddy Peralta, Colin Rea, Robert Gasser, Joe Ross, and Bryse Wilson), and an equally obvious hierarchy at the back end of the bullpen (Trevor Megill, Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps, Bryan Hudson, and Hoby Milner). Then there are three slots for low- and medium-leverage relievers:

• One reserved for optionable arms with high middle-relief upside (current occupant: Jared Koenig)
• One that goes to the latest waiver claim or out-of-options guy who finally got the call, but who will be gone within a month, and who will only be trusted with more than low-leverage work when very short starts or multiple unavailable relievers put Pat Murphy in a corner (current occupant: Mitch White)
• Thyago Vieira's spot, which just belongs to Thyago Vieira; he's out of options, so they will have to lose him if he ever becomes truly untenable, but his blend of raw stuff, enthusiasm for the gig, and ability to soak up multiple utterly unimportant innings is valuable, even if he himself is not.

There will continue to be changes to the Brewers roster in the coming days and weeks, as players return from injuries and other injuries crop up. After about six weeks of fact-finding and testing, though, the team has found a bit more certainty about which players they want filling certain roles, and they're committing more to those players than they had before.

Already in first place in the NL Central, the Crew now has a clearer identity and more confidence in the optimal deployment of the players who make up that identity. They're not at full strength, but they're more ready to assert their dominance and surge forward through the summer than they were a month ago--even if their record is actually less impressive now than it was then.

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[keephopealive]

I'd love to see Uribe back up. I haven't forgotten how bad he was earlier this year (or the fact he has to sit out), but I also haven't forgotten how electric his stuff is when he can control it, and his FIP was a lot better than his ERA. Once Williams is back, it becomes harder for Uribe.  

[Michael Trzinski]

(Pats himself on back) after saying that Ortiz would be the starter at 3B in a pre-season piece :)

[Stubby66]

I think Uribe and Ashby will come back up then have Mitchell and Black take Monso and Roller spot we will be set.