Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios for the 2025 Brewers in the Bullpen

[Harold Hutchison]

Brewers relievers have been reliably able to lock down leads going back decades, even on some of the teams that struggled the most. Will that remain true for 2025?

The Roster Situation
In recent years, the Brewers have seen some turnover at closer. Since the start of 2022, they had Josh Hader (traded to the Padres), Devin Williams (eventually dealt to the Yankees), Abner Uribe (struggled in 2024, so much that he never truly established himself in the role), and Trevor Megill (the current incumbent). Yet, this team could be almost as solid as ever in the pen.

Megill and Uribe look to hold down the late innings for the Brewers in 2025, while Bryan Hudson and Jared Koenig are the team’s top lefties. Elvis Peguero and Joel Payamps have been solid since coming over via trade before the 2023 season. Rule 5 pick Connor Thomas, rescued from the focus of evil in the National League Central, is likely to serve as a long-relief option. The team has Nick Mears on the injured list as another option.

While the hope is for them to be starters when they return from the injured list, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall have been dominant as multi-inning options in the bullpen. Elvin Rodriguez and Tyler Alexander are also capable of getting more than three outs in a game. In the minors, the Brewers have Grant Wolfram and (when they get healthy enough to shuttle him back to Nashville) Grant Anderson as options, while Craig Yoho is the team’s closer of the future.

The Best-Case Scenario: The Brewers Actively Market Payamps and Peguero in May
Why would the Brewers having what amounts to a fire sale of relievers be good news? Several reasons, not all of them mutually exclusive: Craig Yoho forces his way into the MLB bullpen (and it could be argued he should have been on the Opening Day roster); Milwaukee’s injured pitchers come back soon and in top form; The Brewers could elect for Logan Henderson and Jacob Misiorowski to fill the roles that Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff filled in the 2018 season.

Short version: Payamps and Peguero are solid options as middle relief for the Brewers, but the Brewers have a lot of higher-ceiling relief options that could fuel not just a late-season run to make the playoffs, but to help the team get past the first round.

The best case is for the team to be able to flip Payamps and Peguero (and possibly others) to help recharge the farm system – not only providing short-term bullpen help, but setting the team up for future success as well. Payamps and Peguero may be middle relief in Milwaukee, but they could be closers or set-up men for about a dozen MLB teams.

After all, they will have to make space for Yoho and Misiorowski somehow… why not get a decent trade return in the process?

The Worst-Case Scenario: The Brewers Are Trading For Relief Help In July

Like the starting rotation, the Brewers have a lot of internal options for the bullpen. So they should not need to be looking to external options barring an insanely good offer. If they are, then the Brewers have had a rash of injuries and/or ineffectiveness at the MLB level, and pitchers like Yoho and Misiorowski are not available or have seriously regressed.

If this is the case, then the Brewers will have real problems in 2026 and beyond, because their pitching development will have suffered a serious hiccup. While the team could bank on a return to form by prospects, it is far more likely in this case, that the Crew would have to consider tanking for a year or two to rebuild.

It should be noted that this would be an extremely worst-case scenario. If 2025 is going the way that Brewers fans hope it will, the team is going to be transitioning to a new generation of relievers.

Overview

The Brewers’ success at developing pitching has not just helped their starting rotation. It’s also helped the bullpen by providing a landing spot for a surfeit of pitching talent.

It says much that pitchers of the quality level of Jared Koenig, Elvis Peguero, and Joel Payamps are in middle-relief roles for the Brewers, and that they have a regular pipeline of new bullpen assets between the minor leagues and low-profile free agency signings.

It’s possible for the bullpen to go wrong for the Brewers in 2025, but that possibility is extremely remote.

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