Assessing Brewers Starting Rotation After Colin Rea Is Placed on Waivers

[Ryan Pollak]

The Brewers shocked their fanbase by placing reliable starter Colin Rea on waivers Saturday. What does that mean for the 2025 starting rotation?

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Well, this is an odd turn of events. This weekend, the Brewers had to make a decision on seven players who had 2025 options in their contracts. While some of them were pretty easy (like buying out the likes of Wade Miley and Gary Sánchez), almost no one was anticipating the Brewers placing Colin Rea on waivers.

We knew there was a chance the club would have to shed some contracts to lower payroll. However, Rea's $5.5-million club option seemed reasonably cheap. Whichever team elects to claim him will cover Rea's contract. If he goes unclaimed, the Brewers will likely decline his club option and only pay $1 million. If they had any other intention, surely, they would not have made this move.

So, what does that leave the Crew in the starting rotation, now that Rea, Miley and presumably Frankie Montas are all gone? Let’s take a look.

The Locks: Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers
It would’ve been insane if the Brewers didn’t accept Fastball Freddy’s $8-million club option for the 2025 season. The current ace has struck out 410 batters over his last two seasons. Peralta has been a regular starter since his All-Star-caliber season in 2021, so he’s going to hold down the top spot in the rotation.

Joining him is Myers, who was a nice surprise for the rotation when injuries plagued the team. The 2024 rookie, who’s probably going to get a down-ballot Rookie of the Year vote or two, put up impressive numbers and ended the season with a 3.00 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and a 140 ERA+. His best performance was in June, where he allowed only five runs across five starts, including one start where he worked through eight innings allowing only one hit.

Since Myers wasn’t called up until mid-April, the Brewers have six years of club control with the 26-year-old. There’s a good chance they've struck gold with another pitcher for years to come.

The Likely Return: Brandon Woodruff
Woodruff, who missed all of 2024 with a right shoulder anterior capsule tear, is probably itching to get back on the field and help this rotation. He's expected to make a full recovery by the start of the 2025 season, but this type of injury hasn’t boded well for the future performances of previous hurlers. (See Johan Santana, for example, who had the same surgery in September 2010.)

He may not be the same pitcher he was prior to this injury, but hopefully, Woodruff can still play a decent role in the rotation. It’s risky, but he'll be considered a starter come spring training.

The Brewers have some work to do in the rotation. It might not exactly be the three-headed monster they had in prior seasons, but it could be very effective this upcoming season. Much will depend on how well they're supported by the rest of this group.

The Expendables: Aaron Civale, DL Hall
Civale would be a lock for the rotation if it weren’t for his projected salary for next season. He joined the team in a trade with the Rays on Jul. 3, with Milwaukee hoping to bolster their rotation. In return, the Brewers gave up infielder Gregory Barrios.

In his 14 starts with the Brewers, Civale pitched a modest 74 innings, with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. The last time he was touching those numbers was during his time with the Guardians organization.

Civale is entering his last year of arbitration. According to FanGraphs, he is projected to make around $8 million. In most cases, that salary isn’t too bad, given the upside he showed and his track record. If the Brewers are planning on cutting payroll, though, he might be a casualty via the trade market. It feels as though waiving Rea was their way of creating space to keep Civale, but we won't know that for sure until a few weeks from now, when teams have to decide whether or not to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.

Speaking of upside, DL Hall has been an interesting option for the rotation. The organization has viewed him as a starter from the moment they got him from the Orioles in the Corbin Burnes trade. Due to injuries, however, Hall didn’t have a fair chance at securing a spot in the rotation in 2024, and unfortunately, he didn't make the most of the chances he did have.

In his seven starts in 2024, Hall had a 5.81 ERA with a 1.84 WHIP. He did perform better in the second half, at least, including a start in which he went seven innings and allowed four hits in 24 batters faced.

There’s still a lot to work on, and he can take the length of spring training to figure it out. But, if he starts to struggle, there might be a few young units on the way to take a spot in the rotation for themselves.

The Prospects: Robert Gasser, Carlos F. Rodriguez, Jacob Misiorowski
We have already seen a sample of what Robert Gasser can do. In five starts last season, he had a 2-0 record, allowing eight earned runs in 28 innings. While he wasn’t a strikeout guy (5.1 K/9), he wasn’t a walk guy, either, as he only walked one batter all season. He might well step right into the middle of the rotation, once he returns from Tommy John surgery. Because he had that operation in late June, though, even an optimistic timeline only brings him back for the second half. It's very possible he won't return to big-league action until 2026.

We saw a little bit of Rodriguez, too. He was called up to make a few starts for the Brewers in June. In that sample size, he allowed three home runs in three starts. With an opponent batting average of .365 and an ERA of 7.30, the Brewers had no choice but to send one of their top prospects back to Triple-A Nashville.

The two-time Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year is looking to bounce back and reenter the big leagues as an arm in the rotation. But there might be one more prospect who could be an option, too, with a bit more upside.

Jacob Misiorowski, MLB Pipeline's No. 80 overall prospect, is just about ready to make his major-league debut. With Biloxi last season, he struck out 105 batters in 79 2/3 innings. His 3.50 ERA and 1.28 WHIP helped him earn a promotion to Nashville.

Interestingly, though, the Sounds used him as a relief arm in 12 of his 14 appearances. Granted, it was justified, as the organization was trying not to overwork the pitcher, but it almost sounds like they could consider him a bullpen arm in the long run. Even MLB Pipeline suggests this could be the move, due to his walk issues.

Misiorowski could have the same route as Josh Hader did. Hader, too, was thought to have been a potential starter, before becoming one of baseball’s top closers. It's something to monitor, but he can still be a back-half rotation piece in 2025, while he seeks a new level of command.

The Spot Starters: Bryse Wilson, Aaron Ashby
If, for some reason, the rotation begins to struggle or the injury bug comes back with another fierce bite, the Brewers have a couple long relief arms who can step up. We saw Wilson do it often this last season, as he started nine games. In those appearances, he had a 4.75 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP. (These statistics don’t include the times he came from the bullpen after an opener.)

Wilson is one of the eight players who are arbitration-eligible, and he might be a non-tender candidate. He is projected to make around $1.5 million for 2025, if they want to keep him. He doesn’t have any more minor-league options, so they couldn’t send him down to the minors without him clearing waivers. That puts him in a tenuous situation.

Ashby is another potential spot starter for the team. According to Brewers beat writer Curt Hogg, it just might be a real possibility.

Ashby is a really nice relief arm. His 1.37 ERA in 12 relief outings from last season is impressive evidence. But he has a very sketchy past when it comes to starting, and that includes the times before he had surgery on his shoulder in 2023. Yet, despite an extremely rocky first couple of outings, Ashby has a career 4.90 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP in 25 starts. You know what, that doesn’t sound too bad.

Yes, the Brewers have time to develop Ashby into a great starter, as he is signed through the 2027 season. However, they might’ve found a place for him in high-leverage middle relief. Neither Wilson nor Ashby should be part of the first draft of the rotation, but they're each plausible fallback plans.

Free Agency
The offseason is just beginning, so there are plenty of arms to look at from the crop of free agents. Obviously, though, don’t expect players like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried or Gerrit Cole to be options for the Brewers. If the Brewers were going to take a flier on a free agent, it would likely be a pitcher looking to prove their worth. For example, leftry Matthew Boyd showed promise in his few starts with the Guardians after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Now he’s looking to get a full season in and return to the postseason.

Another example is Mike Soroka, a former Braves All-Star and runner up for Rookie of the Year thereafter plagued by injuries. He struggled in the oxygen-deprived baseball atmosphere that was the White Sox last year, but maybe a change of scenery can get him back on track.

If they are looking for a real veteran pitcher, maybe the Crew bring back Miley on a cheap deal. While it would be an even bigger bet on turning a player's career around than signing Soroka would be, Patrick Corbin might have some appeal. He really hasn’t been the same All-Star pitcher he was back when the Nationals won the World Series, but he did deliver reliable innings for Washington over the ensuing half-decade.

It’s going to be a diamond-in-the-rough type of search. The Brewers made Julio Teherán look good a few years ago so they could do it again.

Despite letting a reliable arm go by waiving Rea, the Brewers have 10 incumbent pitchers who can battle for the starting rotation. The names might not be flashy, but the club has taken a chance on these guys, and it has worked well enough to win two straight division titles. Whether they are rejected misfits, or prospects and players who came up through the farm system. It looks like (for the time being) the Brewers can make do with the starting rotation options they have.

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Who would you like to see in the starting rotation next season? Should the Brewers go after a player in free agency? Could there be a trade or transaction that can better the rotation? Let us know.

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[CheezWizHed]

While it is surprising to cut Rea, he certainly had a real downturn at the end of the year.  Not sure if he wore down, was figured out, or what happened. Obviously the Brewers felt that $8M wasn't worth the chance. 

[Stubby66]

Big mistake because you didn't mention Henderson, Patrick and Crowe. I expect the end of year will be a rotation  Woodruff, Peralta,  Myers, Ashby, Civale and Henderson. Look for Rodriguez,  Hall, and Crowe as the depth.

Edited November 4, 2024 by Stubby66
Forgot to mention Patrick

[Ryan Pollak]

1 hour ago, Stubby66 said:

Big mistake because you didn't mention Henderson, Patrick and Crowe. I expect the end of year will be a rotation  Woodruff, Peralta,  Myers, Ashby, Civale and Henderson. Look for Rodriguez,  Hall, and Crowe as the depth.

Those are all solid options as well. I can see the guys you listed as potential starters. But I mentioned these other guys to show that there are options on the 40 man roster already that can fill the void. Misiorowski isn't on the 40 man just yet, but is the top prospect that's getting the most noise atm.