Bullpen

[wallus]

Most of the bullpen is likely set but maybe you have a different opinion. Lots of lefties but this group is strong.

Leverage

Megill

Uribe

Ashby

Koenig

 

Non Leverage

Hall

Zerpa

Anderson

Zas

[DonBarclay]

I’d have a hard time believing they have 5 lefties in the bullpen. 

[wallus]

10 minutes ago, DonBarclay said:

I’d have a hard time believing they have 5 lefties in the bullpen. 

The problem is you likely aren't going to option the top 4 (Koenig, Hall, Zerpa and Ashby) and you lose Zas if you cut him. 

I also think they are going to really use openers against teams with left handed hitters at the top of their lineup.

[DonBarclay]

Barring an IL stint for one of those 5, or Ashby slotting into the rotation, I would not be surprised to see a trade. Zas for a lotto ticket. The Brewers don’t want the last guy in the bullpen to be out of options, they love to use that as a shuttle slot. 

[liveforoctober]

Rob Z has an uphill battle in camp IMO. Easiest trade candidate of the group. RHB batters have a career OPS over .8 against him... so he is the one who is the true 'lefty specialist' of the group and we just don't need that currently with the arms and depth we have.

Barring a trade of Hall or Koenig for some reason... I think we flip Rob for something cheap to someone.

*edit: I see DonBarclay already beat me to this

[SF70]

1. Megill

2. Uribe

3. Koenig 

4. Zerpa

5. Yoho

6. Hall

7. Anderson

8. Henderson

 

I think Ashby rotations to open the season. Henderson bullpens to limit his innings early in the year. 

[wntrtxn21]

Megill -- Uribe -- Koenig -- Ashby -- Anderson -- Hall -- Zerpa -- Sproat

I believe either Henderson or Sproat will be the 5th starter with the other going to the pen as a long man. If Yoho has a very good S.T. he could take Zerpa's or Anderson's spot. 

[long ball]

I think Wallus has the right group here and loosely defined roles seem right too. 
 

to add to the Zastryzny discussion… Andrew Chafin only got a minor league deal this off season even though he had a relatively strong year in 2025. Chafin has a better track record of health and performance so I’m not sure he’d garner much trade interest even as teams deal with the attrition of spring training. What I personally see as most likely is that he will make the opening day roster if healthy. But he hasn’t stayed healthy much over his career. If he’s ineffective he’s a Dfa candidate since he’s on a minimum deal and has no options. I probably like Zastryzny more than most, but this is the life of a non-leverage reliever who is out of options. 
 

the shuttle squad basically comprises of everyone left on the 40 man roster who isn’t on the active roster. Regardless of whether they’re pitching as a starter or reliever in AAA. The quality of the arms on the 40 man right now is really good. Aside from Zastryzny, I really only see Sammy Peralta and Carlos Rodriguez as possible DFA candidates if they need space at some point this year. I think the rest are big leaguers or have high enough upside to stick around. 

[wallus]

I think they keep Zas on the OD roster because you won't need to shuttle anyone for a while and there is bound to be an injury within the first couple of months 

[MVP2110]

I expect Zerpa to be a leverage guy. They traded for him because they really believe they have something with him

[Jopal78]

2 hours ago, long ball said:

I think Wallus has the right group here and loosely defined roles seem right too. 
 

to add to the Zastryzny discussion… Andrew Chafin only got a minor league deal this off season even though he had a relatively strong year in 2025. Chafin has a better track record of health and performance so I’m not sure he’d garner much trade interest even as teams deal with the attrition of spring training. What I personally see as most likely is that he will make the opening day roster if healthy. But he hasn’t stayed healthy much over his career. If he’s ineffective he’s a Dfa candidate since he’s on a minimum deal and has no options. I probably like Zastryzny more than most, but this is the life of a non-leverage reliever who is out of options. 
 

the shuttle squad basically comprises of everyone left on the 40 man roster who isn’t on the active roster. Regardless of whether they’re pitching as a starter or reliever in AAA. The quality of the arms on the 40 man right now is really good. Aside from Zastryzny, I really only see Sammy Peralta and Carlos Rodriguez as possible DFA candidates if they need space at some point this year. I think the rest are big leaguers or have high enough upside to stick around. 

Easton McGee.

 

[Playing Catch]

3 hours ago, DonBarclay said:

I’d have a hard time believing they have 5 lefties in the bullpen. 

Unless they believe the pitchers are basically split-neutral. I think with the development of the cut-fastball, if you can teach a sweeper or changeup, you've got a way to get righties out without risking a bunch of dingers with your fastball. All of Zerpa, Ashby, and Hall have starter-quality arsenals.

[long ball]

42 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Easton McGee.

 

I assume you’re adding him as a possible DFA candidate. He’s probably be next on my list too, but I like McGee. I thought he was pretty good at times. The tough thing about being the last guy in the bullpen and being added as the “fresh arm” is that he’d get abused at times. When he was only asked to go one inning he was pretty good. When they made him soak up multiple innings it didn’t go as well. 
 

I do appreciate that being a single inning guy in a shuttle/low leverage role makes you less useful. Your main job in that role is to eat innings to give the main guys a day off. 
 

I think he survives the year in the org. 

[DonBarclay]

8 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Unless they believe the pitchers are basically split-neutral. I think with the development of the cut-fastball, if you can teach a sweeper or changeup, you've got a way to get righties out without risking a bunch of dingers with your fastball. All of Zerpa, Ashby, and Hall have starter-quality arsenals.

They’re all veterans, to expect that they suddenly abandon their career splits would be fools gold. Ashby is the only one that you can argue is close to being split-neutral. 

Hall: .727 OPS vs RHB / .586 OPS vs LHB

Koenig: .712 / .595

Zastryzny: .813 / .543

Zerpa: .809 / .624

Ashby: .686 / .634

[MNBrew]

Consider.... After Rob Z. started having a few bits of success after his return from lengthy injury last year, they started leaning on him a bit more.  And it seemed to me at the time that the more they did so, the more frequently he didn't do great. . . . It's my thoroughly unresearched opinion that as much as they like Rob Z., even if his OD roster odds are decent, I wouldn't be surprised if by June(-ish) he loses his roster spot to someone more effective or in whom the Brewers have more invested.

The odds might seem long for this, but I'd love for Pete Strzelecki to rediscover his mojo and earn a BP spot.

[Playing Catch]

11 hours ago, DonBarclay said:

They’re all veterans, to expect that they suddenly abandon their career splits would be fools gold. Ashby is the only one that you can argue is close to being split-neutral. 

Hall: .727 OPS vs RHB / .586 OPS vs LHB

Koenig: .712 / .595

Zastryzny: .813 / .543

Zerpa: .809 / .624

Ashby: .686 / .634

Sure, but all of Misiorowski, Priester, Patrick and Sproat also have typical splits. being able to be more flexible with how they dole out innings could be helpful, or maybe not. Perhaps you are correct, and they have "too many" lefties and should trade one or more. But I think the reason they have a bunch of lefties is because they want more lefties.

[liveforoctober]

26 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Sure, but all of Misiorowski, Priester, Patrick and Sproat also have typical splits. being able to be more flexible with how they dole out innings could be helpful, or maybe not. Perhaps you are correct, and they have "too many" lefties and should trade one or more. But I think the reason they have a bunch of lefties is because they want more lefties.

I'm not arguing for or against this, but it would go against conventional wisdom to fill a pitching staff with left-handed folks who have usual splits against hitters because 75% (65% + 10% switch) of hitters hit from the right side. 

Of course, you could be correct and the Brewers have found some other value play in baseball that they are exposing... Who knows.

[Roderick]

21 hours ago, MVP2110 said:

I expect Zerpa to be a leverage guy. They traded for him because they really believe they have something with him

I know he is already into arby, but they still have options, so I would think we could start the year with him in AAA stretching out his arm.  Then he is available as needed for starter or pen role.  That is assuming everyone else looks so good and stays healthy that he is not one of our starters on opening day.

[DonBarclay]

2 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Sure, but all of Misiorowski, Priester, Patrick and Sproat also have typical splits. being able to be more flexible with how they dole out innings could be helpful, or maybe not. Perhaps you are correct, and they have "too many" lefties and should trade one or more. But I think the reason they have a bunch of lefties is because they want more lefties.

A team is more likely to sub vs a reliever, whether it be late in the game or to match up against an opener. ~8% of plate appearances in 2025 were lefty / lefty. Having 56% of your bullpen geared towards such a small chance of advantageous platoon splits simply does not make sense. 
 

The 4 pitchers you mention average a .132 OPS platoon split difference. The 5 lefties average .153, and will have a higher percentage of plate appearances on the wrong side of the platoon. 
 

Beyond that, the pitchers you mention aren’t really the ones that would likely be in line for that last bullpen spot. Miz, Patrick, Priester are all in rotation. If Sproat is not in the rotation, he’s in AAA to save service time and stay stretched out. So I don’t really see the relevance of the comparison, even though it furthers my opinion. 

[ErnieRilesBrianGiles]

1) Megill; 2) Uribe; 3) Koenig; 4) Ashby; 5) Patrick; 6) Hall; 7) Zerpa; 8) Anderson

In this arrangement, I can see Ashby, Patrick, Hall, Zerpa piggybacking/opening 2-3 innings for starters Woody, Miz, Priester, Harrison, Gasser, If our starters get through five, we could be pretty hard to score against.

[Playing Catch]

6 hours ago, DonBarclay said:

A team is more likely to sub vs a reliever, whether it be late in the game or to match up against an opener. ~8% of plate appearances in 2025 were lefty / lefty. Having 56% of your bullpen geared towards such a small chance of advantageous platoon splits simply does not make sense. 
 

The 4 pitchers you mention average a .132 OPS platoon split difference. The 5 lefties average .153, and will have a higher percentage of plate appearances on the wrong side of the platoon. 
 

Beyond that, the pitchers you mention aren’t really the ones that would likely be in line for that last bullpen spot. Miz, Patrick, Priester are all in rotation. If Sproat is not in the rotation, he’s in AAA to save service time and stay stretched out. So I don’t really see the relevance of the comparison, even though it furthers my opinion. 

My point in comparing the splits was merely that we allow pitchers with typical splits to pitch to wrong-handed batters all the time when a guy is a "starter," because we want the innings. But why can't they do that for left-handed relievers? You can still bring them in to face the key guy, but they can go back out in the next inning. All of those lefties are dang hard to hit, regardless of which side of the plate a guy is standing on. As a right-handed hitter, myself, I sure as heck would feel uncomfortable facing Ashby. But you're right, it's unconventional. I just think a lot of those lefties are going to make the team. Although I suppose Zastryzny and Gasser and Hall all are subject to options/demotions/DFAs/trades. So, you are correct that it is probably more likely they end up with a typical bullpen when the season starts.

I think, too, that the Brewers are looking at leaderboards like this, and want to make sure they have plenty of lefties. If you can make Ohtani, Soto, PCA, or Elly De La Cruz face a lefty as often as possible, you'll give your team a better chance to win the series.

[DonBarclay]

3 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

My point in comparing the splits was merely that we allow pitchers with typical splits to pitch to wrong-handed batters all the time when a guy is a "starter," because we want the innings. But why can't they do that for left-handed relievers? You can still bring them in to face the key guy, but they can go back out in the next inning. All of those lefties are dang hard to hit, regardless of which side of the plate a guy is standing on. As a right-handed hitter, myself, I sure as heck would feel uncomfortable facing Ashby. But you're right, it's unconventional. I just think a lot of those lefties are going to make the team. Although I suppose Zastryzny and Gasser and Hall all are subject to options/demotions/DFAs/trades. So, you are correct that it is probably more likely they end up with a typical bullpen when the season starts.

I think, too, that the Brewers are looking at leaderboards like this, and want to make sure they have plenty of lefties. If you can make Ohtani, Soto, PCA, or Elly De La Cruz face a lefty as often as possible, you'll give your team a better chance to win the series.

At the end of the day, the Brewers win on the margins. Maximizing platoon split advantage is certainly one of those margins they look to exploit. 

[Playing Catch]

12 hours ago, DonBarclay said:

At the end of the day, the Brewers win on the margins. Maximizing platoon split advantage is certainly one of those margins they look to exploit. 

Yeah. After further consideration, most of their guys have options. A lot of them will probably spend some time in Nashville. Probably a silly thread for me to keep pulling on.