Opening Day Roster Predictions

[jay87shot]

10 days away from opening day, who do we think is on the 26 man?

[jay87shot]

I think the position players are pretty straight forward. 

Contreras, Vaughn, Turang, Ortiz, Hamilton, Sal, Mitchell, Chourio, Yeli, Sanchez, Rengifo, Bauers, Perk

Lockridge is deserving but Murph likes Perk to much. I just dont see anyone else overtaking anyone.

I am going to guess Woody is good to go at this point and Henderson goes to the IL or AAA from injuries.

Woody, Misi, Patrick, Harrison, Sproat

Megill, Uribe, Ashby, Koenig, Zerpa, Anderson, Hall, Rob Z

I think Rob Z gets the nod just because he is out of options. Sproat and Harrison get the starting nod over Gasser based on stuff.

[liveforoctober]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I think the position players are pretty straight forward. 

Contreras, Vaughn, Turang, Ortiz, Hamilton, Sal, Mitchell, Chourio, Yeli, Sanchez, Rengifo, Bauers, Perk

Lockridge is deserving but Murph likes Perk to much. I just dont see anyone else overtaking anyone.

I am going to guess Woody is good to go at this point and Henderson goes to the IL or AAA from injuries.

Woody, Misi, Patrick, Harrison, Sproat

Megill, Uribe, Ashby, Koenig, Zerpa, Anderson, Hall, Rob Z

I think Rob Z gets the nod just because he is out of options. Sproat and Harrison get the starting nod over Gasser based on stuff.

I'm not saying you are wrong ... but that is just so many lefties in the bullpen. If we are saving Megill/Uribe for 8/9 that means we only have one right handed option out of the bullpen for the middle innings?

The league is 2/3 right handed hitting ... again, I am not saying you are wrong but that will be wild if true.

[sveumrules]

46 minutes ago, liveforoctober said:

I'm not saying you are wrong ... but that is just so many lefties in the bullpen. If we are saving Megill/Uribe for 8/9 that means we only have one right handed option out of the bullpen for the middle innings?

The league is 2/3 right handed hitting ... again, I am not saying you are wrong but that will be wild if true.

League average wOBA the last two years has been about .308 so looking at the splits below the worst offenders vs RHP have been Koenig (.314) who they've still trusted in leverage spots, Hall (.328) who will probably be more of a long man anyway, and Zerpa (.351) who I have to imagine the Brewers have some kind of plan in mind for to bring that number down. 

Rob Z is small sample zone all the way around, but he'll probably be getting lower leverage innings too.

24-25 Koenig
vsL (51.2 IP) .235 wOBA
vsR (76.1 IP) .314 wOBA

24-25 Zerpa
vsL (50.1 IP) .291 wOBA
vsR (68.0 IP) .351 wOBA

24-25 Ashby
vsL (34.1 IP) .248 wOBA
vsR (60.2 IP) .281 wOBA

24-25 Hall
vsL (27.2 IP) .253 wOBA
vsR (54.0 IP) .328 wOBA

2025 Anderson
vsL (23.1 IP) .299 wOBA
vsR (46.1 IP) .281 wOBA

24-25 Rob Z
vsL (16.2 IP) .216 wOBA
vsR (13.0 IP) .290 wOBA

[jay87shot]

I agree keeping Rob Z makes to many lefties. However that is with Gasser and Drohan going to AAA as well, we just have an overabundance of lefties. I don't see us keeping McGee or Yoho. The front office just seems to like to keep as much talent as possible. Keeping Rob Z at least for a couple weeks would seem to fit that build. 

I personally would cut ties and go with Yoho or McGee. I just dont see the org. doing that.

[Playing Catch]

9 hours ago, jay87shot said:

an overabundance of lefties.

No such thing. Just an under-abundance of roster spots.

My thought is that DFA'ing a righty is no big deal. You can pick one up on waivers anytime you need to bridge innings. Lefties are harder to get when you need one, so release one at your own risk.

That's my theory, anyway.

[liveforoctober]

I would be taking calls on Rob Z for certain. 

[Ewitkows1]

I just don't see what the FO sees in Hamilton. I'd rather give Fischer a shot at 3b and see if he can mash. We need more power on the team.

 

[sveumrules]

19 minutes ago, Ewitkows1 said:

I just don't see what the FO sees in Hamilton. I'd rather give Fischer a shot at 3b and see if he can mash. We need more power on the team.

 

Fischer has a total of 87 professional PA with the Timber Rattlers.

Even recent guys on the super fastest of tracks like Soto (8 games at AA) and Pujols (3 games at AAA) got a little upper minors experience before their MLB debuts,.

Maybe he gets a shot later this year if he really pushes the issue at Biloxi/Nashville, but I’d guess both of Jett & Wilken get a crack at 3B before Andrew based on proximity & 40 Man considerations.

[patrickgpe]

I am very interested to see how many lefties Murph will have in the pen. Could be up to 5 which is unheard of. 

 

[MNBrew]

On 3/16/2026 at 12:47 PM, jay87shot said:

I think the position players are pretty straight forward. 

Contreras, Vaughn, Turang, Ortiz, Hamilton, Sal, Mitchell, Chourio, Yeli, Sanchez, Rengifo, Bauers, Perk

Lockridge is deserving but Murph likes Perk to much. I just dont see anyone else overtaking anyone.

I am going to guess Woody is good to go at this point and Henderson goes to the IL or AAA from injuries.

Woody, Misi, Patrick, Harrison, Sproat

Megill, Uribe, Ashby, Koenig, Zerpa, Anderson, Hall, Rob Z

I think Rob Z gets the nod just because he is out of options. Sproat and Harrison get the starting nod over Gasser based on stuff.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Lockridge make the team out of the gate and Mitchell sent to AAA to play everyday and get his game going against slightly lesser pitchers.  Mitchell's missed a lot of time the last 3 years and I don't think some AAA time would hurt him.

[CheezWizHed]

17 minutes ago, MNBrew said:

It wouldn't surprise me to see Lockridge make the team out of the gate and Mitchell sent to AAA to play everyday and get his game going against slightly lesser pitchers.  Mitchell's missed a lot of time the last 3 years and I don't think some AAA time would hurt him.

I was debating if Lockridge might overtake Perkins if they can find someone interested in a trade.  Perk is Arb eligible next year.  Otherwise, the two are pretty close to twins.  

[AKCheesehead]

19 minutes ago, MNBrew said:

It wouldn't surprise me to see Lockridge make the team out of the gate and Mitchell sent to AAA to play everyday and get his game going against slightly lesser pitchers.  Mitchell's missed a lot of time the last 3 years and I don't think some AAA time would hurt him.

Hey, careful MNBrew don't jinx him.  He's had enough injuries.

[GAME05]

47 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

if they can find someone interested in a trade

Heck the whole 40-man roster looks like it's purpose-built for 2-3 May trades or a spate of injuries.

[CheezWizHed]

6 minutes ago, GAME05 said:

Heck the whole 40-man roster looks like it's purpose-built for 2-3 May trades or a spate of injuries.

I have begun to wonder what we would need to include to trade Yelich away... 😞At some point we need to be able to extend some of the younger players. 

[long ball]

On 3/16/2026 at 12:47 PM, jay87shot said:

I think the position players are pretty straight forward. 

Contreras, Vaughn, Turang, Ortiz, Hamilton, Sal, Mitchell, Chourio, Yeli, Sanchez, Rengifo, Bauers, Perk

Lockridge is deserving but Murph likes Perk to much. I just dont see anyone else overtaking anyone.

I am going to guess Woody is good to go at this point and Henderson goes to the IL or AAA from injuries.

Woody, Misi, Patrick, Harrison, Sproat

Megill, Uribe, Ashby, Koenig, Zerpa, Anderson, Hall, Rob Z

I think Rob Z gets the nod just because he is out of options. Sproat and Harrison get the starting nod over Gasser based on stuff.

This is the same 26 man opening day roster that I would predict. 
 

I know Matt Trueblood just posted the piece on Lockridge over Perkins, but I’m not ready to buy into it yet. I know if we are arguing over the 4th OF or the 8th reliever then the roster is in good shape. 
 

Luckily pretty much all of the fringe guys have options other than Zastryzny so we don’t have to make hard decisions. Regardless of whether it’s Perk or Lockridge. Or Hall or McGee. Or Sproat or Henderson. They’re all going to be in the org for when there is a need. 

[Frisbee Slider]

6 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

I have begun to wonder what we would need to include to trade Yelich away... 😞At some point we need to be able to extend some of the younger players. 

I think the morale of the story is we should not extend players because we likely would just have Yelich or Braun 2.0 when their performance declines with age and injuries.

[CheezWizHed]

3 minutes ago, long ball said:

This is the same 26 man opening day roster that I would predict. 
 

I know Matt Trueblood just posted the piece on Lockridge over Perkins, but I’m not ready to buy into it yet. I know if we are arguing over the 4th OF or the 8th reliever then the roster is in good shape. 
 

Luckily pretty much all of the fringe guys have options other than Zastryzny so we don’t have to make hard decisions. Regardless of whether it’s Perk or Lockridge. Or Hall or McGee. Or Sproat or Henderson. They’re all going to be in the org for when there is a need. 

I was thinking about this before Matt did his piece, so it seems like more than just I were thinking about it.  

ST numbers are funny money, so the fact that he is outhitting Perkins now doesn't mean much.  But I was being more pragmatic.... Both players are 29 yo.  Both play strong defense with limited offense (maybe the edge to Perk on D and Lock on O).  But Perkins will be arbitration eligible next year and Lockridge won't for a couple of years.  So it if it comes down to a bit of a roster crunch, it wouldn't surprise me...  

I hadn't thought about sending Perkins to AAA, so maybe that is an option too.  Keep the depth. Lara would be available for depth, but not much else down there. 

[tmwiese55]

10 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

I have begun to wonder what we would need to include to trade Yelich away... 😞At some point we need to be able to extend some of the younger players. 

Don't get me wrong, if a trade could happen to clear this I'd probably do it rather than risk another big injury that turns his contract back into the pumpkin it looked like about two years ago.  That's likely not happening this close to the season, but say he has another generally solid season. Other teams with bigger budgets could see a 2/50 type remaining contract as a fair bet.  I don't think I'm attaching anything of value to 'dump' him though coming off the good year he just had.

That said, we're already down to only 3 years left on this so its not thaaat bad as long as he stays healthy and being a solid contributor.  In addition, since its only 3 years left the money shouldn't affect anything with the young guys in terms of yearly budgets. By the time any of them start making real money he'll be gone.  But yes, they could overall look at it as $75 mil saved to spend elsewhere, or say on a more age aligned FA next year.   

With their relationship with him though, I don't think they're in any rush to get out of this contract now that he's rebounded to being a solid hitter again. He's probably even a guy they could go to and shift money into deferrals to help them out and he'd do it. 

[CheezWizHed]

1 minute ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I think the morale of the story is we should not extend players twice because we likely would just have Yelich or Braun 2.0 when their performance declines with age and injuries.

fixed.

The first extension for both was wonderful.  Second, not so much. 

[CheezWizHed]

1 minute ago, tmwiese55 said:

Don't get me wrong, if a trade could happen to clear this I'd probably do it rather than risk another big injury that turns his contract back into the pumpkin it looked like about two years ago.  That's likely not happening this close to the season, but say he has another generally solid season. Other teams with bigger budgets could see a 2/50 type remaining contract as a fair bet.

That said, we're already down to only 3 years left on this so its not thaaat bad as long as he stays healthy and being a solid contributor.  In addition, since its only 3 years left the money shouldn't affect anything with the young guys in terms of yearly budgets. By the time any of them start making real money he'll be gone.  But yes, they could overall look at it as $75 mil saved to spend elsewhere, or say on a more age aligned FA next year.   

With their relationship with him though, I don't think they're in any rush to get out of this contract now that he's rebounded to being a solid hitter again. He's probably even a guy they could go to and shift money into deferrals to help them out and he'd do it. 

Contreras.  He is the main one up for an extension prior to Yelich's contract being up. 

[Frisbee Slider]

24 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

fixed.

The first extension for both was wonderful.  Second, not so much. 

Yelich had just the massive 2020 extension with Milwaukee. The Brewers bought out Braun’s arbitration years plus a little bit of free agency in 2008. My broader point is extending players meaningfully beyond arbitration years rarely seems to work well.

[tmwiese55]

44 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

Contreras.  He is the main one up for an extension prior to Yelich's contract being up. 

I literally deleted a line because it seemed too long saying he would be the only one that would overlap but that's its essentially a lock that he isn't signing back, so it doesn't really matter.   In addition, if you worked it out as an 'extension' right now you could structure it around Yelich's remaining year

[MVP2110]

Not only is Lockridge having an awesome ST, I think what's more important is how good he was for us in a limited sample last year. He was worth 0.4 bWAR in only 53 PAs for the Brewers last season. Thats nearly a 4 win player if he got 500 PAs. Given both the small sample last year & what he's doing in ST I hope we give him plenty of PT early to see if any of it is sustainable 

[Jopal78]

15 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Yelich had just the massive 2020 extension with Milwaukee. The Brewers bought out Braun’s arbitration years plus a little bit of free agency in 2008. My broader point is extending players meaningfully beyond arbitration years rarely seems to work well.

But when you have a guy who won an MVP award while leading the team to game 7 of the NLCS, then nearly won a second MVP award the following year, you’re going to tell the folks who lease your luxury suites and buy season tickets that it’s probably not a good idea to extend Yelich as you send those people their renewal notices? 
 

Come on. Running a multimillion dollar corporation/brand is a little more tricky than looking at stat sheets after the fact and calling things a mistake.