How Willing is Pat Murphy to Upset Trevor Megill?

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Well, they've gotta understand what's gonna happen at the end there," Pat Murphy said to reporters on Feb. 24. "Every team's gonna do this, unless you have a [Trevor Hoffman]. It doesn't mean that Megill won't get a lot of them, because Megill handles lefties real well. So that's kinda how it's always felt, but if we've got three righties coming, no pinch-hitters who'd make a difference in our minds, we might go Uribe—or Zerpa. Or Koenig. Or Coleman Crow."

The 'they' to whom Murphy was referring is the duo of Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe. The 'this' he was talking about is dividing save opportunities among multiple relievers. Entering the season, his vision for the back end of the bullpen can best be described as "closer by committee"; he wants the ability to play matchups and riffle through options in the ninth inning.

Is his 6-foot-8 erstwhile closer good with that collectivist approach?

Uh. no.

"I got no plans of seeing it change," Megill said on Mar. 5. "But, you know, we'll see what they say. The only thing I can do is go out there and just pitch the way I know how to, which I feel like I have, and things will line up the way they're supposed to."

Knowing that Megill has viewed himself as an eventual closer since 2023, took pride in filling in brilliantly for Devin Williams in 2024 and was the lion of the relief corps in 2025, that answer deserved a follow-up. If that weren't how things went—if Murphy did ask him to pitch the eighth (or even the seventh) more often—would he be ready to do whatever was asked, without friction?

A pause.

"I mean, I definitely see myself pitching the ninth," he said.

So, we've got a bit of a situation on our hands.

Because his focus is not primarily on data and because his method of facilitating the input of the front office is very personality-driven, it's easy to mistake Murphy for a typical modern players' manager. That's not who he is. The former college coach in him is alive and well, and that background informs his roster management. He isn't beholden to analytics, but his loyalty is to the pursuit of wins—even as he loves many of his players and wants the best for them.

As such, he's less squeamish about friction in the clubhouse than are many modern skippers. That Megill wants to be a traditional, unquestioned closer—at least for as long as he earns that kind of job—does matter to Murphy, but winning matters more.

It's understandable that Megill wants to rack up saves. Among relievers, only closers make any real money in arbitration, a process Megill will have to traverse one more time next winter. Saving 21 games as Williams's replacement for much of 2024 earned him $1.95 million in his first trip through arbitration, and 30 more saves last year spiked his earnings to $4.7 million. He'll earn much more next year if he does serve as the full-time closer than if he's relegated to any form of more flexible relief ace.

On the other hand, Uribe, too, craves the saves that pave the way to higher pay. More importantly, from Murphy's perspective, he faces the imperative of keeping both of his star righty relievers healthy—particularly because the team is much deeper from the left side than from the right in the bullpen. Murphy acknowledged last week that, in a perfect world, he would have one more trustworthy, high-leverage righty than he does, so he can ill afford to find himself with one fewer, instead.

Rather than asking Megill to pitch anywhere but the ninth, the plan might be simply to back off his usage overall—and, simultaneously, Uribe's. As Murphy has noted several times this spring, Uribe pitched more than 80 times last year, including the postseason. He's also pitching for his native Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic this spring. Rather than let either of his top-flight righties be used as heavily as they were last year just to have both available whenever they have a lead, Murphy could be more judicious about giving them each rest between appearances—which might naturally mean an extra handful of save opportunities for Uribe but no unwanted shifts into setup duty for Megill.

With Grant Anderson feeling good coming into camp again, the Crew can take that approach without undue fear. They'll need their top lefties—Ángel Zerpa, Aaron Ashby and Jared Koenig—to bridge the gaps, but that was necessary, anyway. Make no mistake: Megill will be upset if he doesn't get 30-plus save opportunities again this year. Murphy, however, is not obligated to bend to those whims. In the name of getting to the end of the year a bit more intact, he might ask his closer to be more open to days off, rather than trying to move him to any other place in the game—and it might just mean more save opportunities to go around, in the long run.

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[Jason Wang]

Trevor Megill trade incoming? Might not be until next year (assuming no lockout) since he does hit free agency in 2028 but that would be fall in line with the Brewers' MO.

[wiguy94]

Megill as the closer just makes the most sense. Does anyone think Megill could handle the workload Uribe had last year? Megill has been exclusively used as a RP since he was drafted in 2015. The most innings he's thrown in a season in that time is 60.2 back in 2019. Uribe threw 75.1 innings last year despite being suspended the first 4 games of the year.

[Frisbee Slider]

We should have traded Megill when we had the chance…

[wallus]

It's weird that you would "demote" an All-star closer. As everyone knows, I would trade Megill regardless

[Frisbee Slider]

5 hours ago, wallus said:

It's weird that you would "demote" an All-star closer. As everyone knows, I would trade Megill regardless

You can lose your role to injury or Uribe simply being the more effective reliever. Both 3.2 WAR players since 2023, interestingly.

[CheezWizHed]

I did post that a Megill trade made sense this past offseason - not to dump him, but to sell at a high point.  

Devon had some very uneasy moments in his last season as a Brewer.  I was starting to get that vibe from Megill last season - though not as strong. Trevor is also (surprisingly) 32 years old. 

Hopefully none of this (age, usage) drives down this value for a potential future trade, but my gut says that he peaked. 

[jay87shot]

I wouldn't demote Megill by any means, however I would "baby" him a little bit more and just give him more predecided days off so Uribe can close more. No 3 days in a row, no 3 of 4, etc. that way Uribe get his toes a little deeper into closing experience. Maybe by September is Uribe is in the 1.5 era range you just make him the guy but I wouldn't demote Megill unless he legit struggles.

[MattK]

Just so interesting the statement that the Crew would like another trustworthy (is that meaning proven?) righthander in the pen. Very unlikely there is a Megill trade coming, then.  Unless it is in June when they have some young guys having proven things?  They certainly have a lot of arms as options to work in the pen. 

[Brian]

Megill hasn't been right since middle to late last season when we shelved him for about a month.  He has arm problems plain and simple.