Injury updates

[Jopal78]

49 minutes ago, ClosetBrewerFan said:

I don't want to hear anymore from cubs fans about their pitching injuries.  

The Brewers had a ‘silent’ pitching problem before Woodruff’s injury: there was nobody on the roster who threw >150 innings last year. Further several of the arms they will need to count on with Woodruff likely done for the season (Henderson, Drohan, Gasser, Crow) pitched 100 or less innings in 2025z 
 

More than they need hitters or bullpen arms, the Brewers probably need two starting pitchers now if they realistically intend to stay in the race while protecting their young arms.

[biedergb]

On 7/9/2026 at 8:29 AM, Jopal78 said:

The Brewers had a ‘silent’ pitching problem before Woodruff’s injury: there was nobody on the roster who threw >150 innings last year. Further several of the arms they will need to count on with Woodruff likely done for the season (Henderson, Drohan, Gasser, Crow) pitched 100 or less innings in 2025z 
 

More than they need hitters or bullpen arms, the Brewers probably need two starting pitchers now if they realistically intend to stay in the race while protecting their young arms.

With Harrison out, and Sproat mostly ineffective except in spurts, the top 1-3 for the rotation down the stretch is Miz and ...... 

So if they don't get a SP or 2, the team may do well, but it will feel all to similar where there is constant scrambling to figure out who starts in key games in Aug/Sep and who pitches in the playoffs.

[Ro Mueller]

Woodruff moves to the 60-day IL.

I didn’t think we’d give him the qualifying offer, since I figured we’d likely only get 88 innings out of him. $22 million for 88 innings just didn’t seem sensible to me.

Well, we’ve gotten 45.1 innings thus far.

Nonetheless, I hope he figures it out and can pitch a few more seasons.

Really hope he somehow returns this September and helps on a magical run to World Series champs, but it seems more likely that we won’t see him in any playoff games. His last postseason game was October 12, 2021.

[JohnBriggs12]

They have the means to go get a starter.  Recent developments makes it quite likely they will.  

[biedergb]

4 minutes ago, Ro Mueller said:

I didn’t think we’d give him the qualifying offer, since I figured we’d likely only get 88 innings out of him. $22 million for 88 innings just didn’t seem sensible to

I would guess they were expecting/hoping for another team to sign him, or get exactly that 100 innings with that veteran presence.  But outside of Chourio - the only other players on the roster who account for a significant salary are Contreras (option at just under $10M - and he will be really interesting to see if they try to extend him, trade him , or do the “Adames” of play another year and then give a QO and let him go to FA after ‘27 season), and Yelich who like woodruff is not even close to making his salary count.  So next few seasons (if there is a 2027)will be interesting since very few committed high dollar salaries and only a few potential FAs (Bauers Sanchez after 2026; Megill, Contreras and Vaughn after 2027)so 2028 could be an interesting year.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think they can still afford 2 months of Robbie Ray

[Samurai Bucky]

I would take Joe Ryan.  There is another year of control.  At the end of the year, they can trade him.

[bensheeps]

43 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I would take Joe Ryan.  There is another year of control.  At the end of the year, they can trade him.

Agreed.  I think Ryan would be my first choice of a move.

Is it possible to get him without giving up Made & Pena?  (I would like to think so with the overall talent of our minor league system)

[endaround]

2 hours ago, bensheeps said:

Agreed.  I think Ryan would be my first choice of a move.

Is it possible to get him without giving up Made & Pena?  (I would like to think so with the overall talent of our minor league system)

The Twins are only 2.5 games out with a 35% or so chance to make the playoffs. Not sure why they would sell unless they crash out quickly.

[Team Canada]

On 7/11/2026 at 2:15 PM, biedergb said:

With Harrison out, and Sproat mostly ineffective except in spurts, the top 1-3 for the rotation down the stretch is Miz and ...... 

Henderson, for one. 
If Harrison is just out for a week or two, whatever. If this turns into something more extended, then yeah we got concerns.

[Jim French Stepstool]

22 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I would take Joe Ryan.  There is another year of control.  At the end of the year, they can trade him.

Ryan &/or Detmers are the guys I'd be most interested in. Detmers clearly looks like the one more likely to be dealt though.

If they DO shore up the rotation, a possible benefit to that could be a Drohan or a Gasser moving to the 'pen. Right now the L side of the bullpen is Ashby and................. . Koenig was a guy who used to throw 97-99 & his secondary stuff played off that pretty well. Now it looks to me as if he doesn't trust throwing anything BUT the secondary stuff.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 7/12/2026 at 2:31 PM, bensheeps said:

Agreed.  I think Ryan would be my first choice of a move.

Is it possible to get him without giving up Made & Pena?  (I would like to think so with the overall talent of our minor league system)

The Twins may very well not be sellers. But if they were & wanted Made & Pena for Ryan the proper response should be 'nice talking to you'.

It's almost always a waste of time trying to figure out who we might deal, what it would take to get this or that player, etc. But if I tried to hit a target on that dart board I might look at one of the OFs playing in Wilson, or one of the 1B-3B types in the 3 levels above that.

[RWeeksFan23]

Joe Ryan would be nice, but Skubal is the guy I want more than anyone.

He's the better pitcher, and he's left-handed, which matters if/when you play the Cubs/Dodgers in the playoffs and face Crow-Armstrong, Busch, Ohtani, Freeman, Muncy

[biedergb]

43 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

Henderson, for one. 

And Henderson also is a guy who misses time, and really limited experience. I mean I have high hopes for him, but right now if he is starter #2 in the playoffs I'm a little worried about our chances.  And I hope nothing long term for Harrison, but elbow soreness also makes you worry.

[Team Canada]

2 hours ago, biedergb said:

And Henderson also is a guy who misses time, and really limited experience. I mean I have high hopes for him, but right now if he is starter #2 in the playoffs I'm a little worried about our chances.  And I hope nothing long term for Harrison, but elbow soreness also makes you worry.

Agreed on both points. If we do get to the end of the year and Mis, Harrison, and Henderson are all in a good spot, I feel pretty good about at least getting to the point of having to fact the Dodgers again (while recognizing that anything can happen in a series). The key is do we get to the end of the season in that state.

[Turning2]

On 7/12/2026 at 11:29 AM, biedergb said:

I would guess they were expecting/hoping for another team to sign him, or get exactly that 100 innings with that veteran presence.  But outside of Chourio - the only other players on the roster who account for a significant salary are Contreras (option at just under $10M - and he will be really interesting to see if they try to extend him, trade him , or do the “Adames” of play another year and then give a QO and let him go to FA after ‘27 season), and Yelich who like woodruff is not even close to making his salary count.  So next few seasons (if there is a 2027)will be interesting since very few committed high dollar salaries and only a few potential FAs (Bauers Sanchez after 2026; Megill, Contreras and Vaughn after 2027)so 2028 could be an interesting year.

And that is exactly why this team is a perpetual carrot on a stick. It's always a year or two down the road when certain things are supposed to line up just right. Meanwhile they could more aggressively augment that prospect development by adding some impact along the way, players just below the top dollar guys. And they won't. 

[wiguy94]

8 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

And that is exactly why this team is a perpetual carrot on a stick. It's always a year or two down the road when certain things are supposed to line up just right. Meanwhile they could more aggressively augment that prospect development by adding some impact along the way, players just below the top dollar guys. And they won't. 

Regardless of how aggressive the Brewers get they still are going to only be second best in the NL on paper behind the Dodgers. The Dodgers are run just as well as the Brewers but with three times as much money. The Brewers are always going to be David facing Goliath so they want to get as many chances as they can at beating Goliath. It hasn't worked out so far but that doesn't mean it won't in the future. 

[Turning2]

On 7/12/2026 at 2:31 PM, bensheeps said:

Agreed.  I think Ryan would be my first choice of a move.

Is it possible to get him without giving up Made & Pena?  (I would like to think so with the overall talent of our minor league system)

Absolutely when you consider what MIL got for Burnes. BALT got a full year of Burnes with the advantage of having him in house for influence to resign. A full year of a Cy Young caliber ace, and we got essentially a utility glove first / most infielder with no meaningful power, a starting pitcher who was quickly determined to be a middle reliever and a comp balance pick who might just be the most relevant of the three in a couple years. Ryan is nowhere close to the pitcher Burnes was / is. There is no reason we should have to give up a king's ransom for him. Ryan is a solid 2 or 3 like Fastball Freddie generally speaking, albeit with a full year of control beyond the rental period. With that said, I'd have no issue moving Pena as part of a package to get a solid #2/#3 starting pitcher. At some point you have to make the assumption that Pratt and Made are not  only here for the long haul but will become irreplaceable. And if so, where is Pena going to play when you factor Burke, Wilken, Adams, Fischer, Bitonti, Boeve and Adamcweski, Payne for future OF positions. 

[sveumrules]

3 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

A full year of a Cy Young caliber ace, and we got essentially a utility glove first / most infielder with no meaningful power, a starting pitcher who was quickly determined to be a middle reliever and a comp balance pick who might just be the most relevant of the three in a couple years.

FanGraphs valued that one full season of Burnes at 4.5 rWAR.

So far Ortiz is at 5.0 WAR by himself, and DL Hall has chipped in another 1.5 rWAR.

The big power hitting 3B everybody wanted from BAL (and couldn't believe the Brewers didn't hold out for) Coby Mayo has an 82 wRC+ and -0.2 WAR so far.

When the Orioles acquired Burnes they were coming off a 101 Win season with what was considered the most stacked young position player group in baseball. Of course they had to endure four years as the worst team in MLB from 2018 to 2021 losing 33 more games than the next worst team to get there.

In the three years since they won 91 games with Burnes (bounced in two games in the Wild Card), then 75 games and are currently 46 W - 51 L. From 2024 to present they have gotten 10,238 PA (11th) | 103 wRC+ (10th) | 35.6 WAR (13th) from their highly touted position players Age 28 and under.

In the three years since trading Burnes (& Williams & Peralta plus letting Adames walk in FA) the Brewers have increased their wins from 92 (last year with Burnes), to 93, to 97, to 59 W - 37 L at the break. From 2024 to present they have gotten 12,407 PA | (3rd) | 104 wRC+ (9th) | 58.4 WAR (1st) from their position players Age 28 and under.

16 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

Ryan is nowhere close to the pitcher Burnes was / is.

Over his last 416 IP Joe Ryan has an 81 ERA- | 81 FIP-.

Over the two seasons before being traded Corbin Burnes had 395 IP of 75 ERA- | 83 FIP-.

Burnes K% was in free fall by the time he was traded from 36.7% in his breakout 2020, to 35.6% in his CY season, to 30.5% in his follow up campaign, to 25.5% in his final Milwaukee season, to 23.1% in his lone Baltimore season.

When Burnes was traded, he was two full seasons removed from his peak form. Teams knew that 2020 to 2021 Burnes wasn't walking through the door.

On the other hand Ryan has taken a big step up this year (68 ERA- | 66 FIP- so far) compared to what he did in 2024 and 2025 (86 ERA- | 87 FIP-).

If the Twins decide to deal Ryan he should net a better return than Burnes did because he is better now than Burnes was after 2023, he has an extra year of control, and prices are typically higher at the deadline than in the offseason.

[Turning2]

12 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Regardless of how aggressive the Brewers get they still are going to only be second best in the NL on paper behind the Dodgers. The Dodgers are run just as well as the Brewers but with three times as much money. The Brewers are always going to be David facing Goliath so they want to get as many chances as they can at beating Goliath. It hasn't worked out so far but that doesn't mean it won't in the future. 

David had God on his side. God doesn't care about trivial human endeavors like sports. But I appreciate the simile regardless.

Yes, the only thing MIL can do is control what they can control. They can control making better risk / reward decisions in evaluating trades and acquisitions. They can control being more or less aggressive. They can control self-evaluating their prior approach and gauging how successful it was. They can control how to set their own internal definition of what "success" means compared to how the customers who continue to support their business define it. They can control determining how long will those customers tolerate bites at the apple while ultimately walking away from the table feeling hungry and dissatisfied. 

They need to be more aggressive. Not throw stupid money and prospects away on the shiniest free agent or trade deadline target, but by pursuing guys with better proven, recent record of production. That shouldn't be too much to ask. We don't need a Sabathia again. I'm not interested in Skubal. We DO very much need a Don Sutton. And they should be able to land someone like that with all the surplus prospect capital they have. They should also be able to land a quality upgrade at 3B. I keep getting bombed on for suggesting Brooks Lee and his current, steady .240+ batting average along with finding his power - 14 HRs. But that is EXACTLY the type of player they could afford to pursue but don't. I don't care about what ever nerd mythical metrics and splits etc blah blah blah that modern baseball gets erect over. The dude is a player. Old baseball people know it. He's coming into his own this year. He's controllable, so on the cheaper end of the spectrum, even for a small market team. 

Failure to do significant moves in this particular setting makes me feel like they view fans as suckers just here to be teased along with "next year". Felt like this last year too when the narrative was, oh just wait until Mis, Made, Pena, Pratt are the core in a couple years with Turang and Chourio still in their prime. It's the same routine every year. They need to be bolder in adding talent at the expense of the carrots. 

[Turning2]

41 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

FanGraphs valued that one full season of Burnes at 4.5 rWAR.

So far Ortiz is at 5.0 WAR by himself, and DL Hall has chipped in another 1.5 rWAR.

The big power hitting 3B everybody wanted from BAL (and couldn't believe the Brewers didn't hold out for) Coby Mayo has an 82 wRC+ and -0.2 WAR so far.

When the Orioles acquired Burnes they were coming off a 101 Win season with what was considered the most stacked young position player group in baseball. Of course they had to endure four years as the worst team in MLB from 2018 to 2021 losing 33 more games than the next worst team to get there.

In the three years since they won 91 games with Burnes (bounced in two games in the Wild Card), then 75 games and are currently 46 W - 51 L. From 2024 to present they have gotten 10,238 PA (11th) | 103 wRC+ (10th) | 35.6 WAR (13th) from their highly touted position players Age 28 and under.

In the three years since trading Burnes (& Williams & Peralta plus letting Adames walk in FA) the Brewers have increased their wins from 92 (last year with Burnes), to 93, to 97, to 59 W - 37 L at the break. From 2024 to present they have gotten 12,407 PA | (3rd) | 104 wRC+ (9th) | 58.4 WAR (1st) from their position players Age 28 and under.

Over his last 416 IP Joe Ryan has an 81 ERA- | 81 FIP-.

Over the two seasons before being traded Corbin Burnes had 395 IP of 75 ERA- | 83 FIP-.

Burnes K% was in free fall by the time he was traded from 36.7% in his breakout 2020, to 35.6% in his CY season, to 30.5% in his follow up campaign, to 25.5% in his final Milwaukee season, to 23.1% in his lone Baltimore season.

When Burnes was traded, he was two full seasons removed from his peak form. Teams knew that 2020 to 2021 Burnes wasn't walking through the door.

On the other hand Ryan has taken a big step up this year (68 ERA- | 66 FIP- so far) compared to what he did in 2024 and 2025 (86 ERA- | 87 FIP-).

If the Twins decide to deal Ryan he should net a better return than Burnes did because he is better now than Burnes was after 2023, he has an extra year of control, and prices are typically higher at the deadline than in the offseason.

 

Respectfully, I've posted time again that I hold no regard for metrics that have any factor that isn't purely calculable - primarily all the various WAR metrics. 

I can't speak to Coby Mayo, wasn't in that camp of "everybody" that wanted him. 

Yes, by and large the Brewers make the right moves for the regular season. They are truly literally a summer of entertainment. They don't do enough to make it an October to remember. It's been 40+ years since the Brewers lone WS appearance. Many people still cling to that, still know the players, still revel, even in disappointment at the memory. Forty plus years from now, if they still don't have a championship to their name, nobody is going to give 2 excrements about their upward trajectory of regular season wins. I'll be dead by then. But people my kid's age won't be able to name more than a player or two form memory from this year then. A year from now, nobody is going to care about winning 97 last year and being the best team in baseball for 2025. They don't hang banners for that. If the 2026 Brewers win a World Series, you bet your backside they will be able to remember the names. 

Joe Ryan is a dude. Maybe I have his value assessment off, but he's the type of 2nd tier SP they have the leverage to pursue, and probably won't. At some point, a man wants to ... ahem ... climax the situation, and when that never takes place, he moves on to the next situation. Fans have lots of options for their entertainment dollars. My Brewers fandom started around 1977. Perhaps yours did too, or even earlier. I only state that to establish that I'm not of a video game addicted, instant gratification, Excel spreadsheet generation mindset, and make no apology for it. I believe in real numbers and even then, they can be taken out of context as we all know. I think it's a mistake to essentially hand over baseball decisions to AI management, soulless and devoid of the human element and ability to assess players. 

 

 

[Jopal78]

6 hours ago, Team Canada said:

Henderson, for one. 
If Harrison is just out for a week or two, whatever. If this turns into something more extended, then yeah we got concerns.

Henderson threw 103 total innings last year. In 2024 he threw 81 total innings.

Henderson is at 52 innings now. His viability in the rotation depends on how hard they want to ride that inning total. Going to 120 innings would probably mean he could make another 14 starts at most. That may not be enough to get them to the end of the regular season. 

[snoogans8056]

Wonder if we’d give Hardin and Deberry a shot at some starts. Really go balls out with the young rotation.

[wiguy94]

Just now, snoogans8056 said:

Wonder if we’d give Hardin and Deberry a shot at some starts. Really go balls out with the young rotation.

I think it would be a lot more likely if either were Rule 5 eligible this offseason. The fact that neither of them are makes me think they would be last resort type options.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, Turning2 said:

 

Respectfully, I've posted time again that I hold no regard for metrics that have any factor that isn't purely calculable - primarily all the various WAR metrics. 

I can't speak to Coby Mayo, wasn't in that camp of "everybody" that wanted him. 

Yes, by and large the Brewers make the right moves for the regular season. They are truly literally a summer of entertainment. They don't do enough to make it an October to remember. It's been 40+ years since the Brewers lone WS appearance. Many people still cling to that, still know the players, still revel, even in disappointment at the memory. Forty plus years from now, if they still don't have a championship to their name, nobody is going to give 2 excrements about their upward trajectory of regular season wins. I'll be dead by then. But people my kid's age won't be able to name more than a player or two form memory from this year then. A year from now, nobody is going to care about winning 97 last year and being the best team in baseball for 2025. They don't hang banners for that. If the 2026 Brewers win a World Series, you bet your backside they will be able to remember the names. 

Joe Ryan is a dude. Maybe I have his value assessment off, but he's the type of 2nd tier SP they have the leverage to pursue, and probably won't. At some point, a man wants to ... ahem ... climax the situation, and when that never takes place, he moves on to the next situation. Fans have lots of options for their entertainment dollars. My Brewers fandom started around 1977. Perhaps yours did too, or even earlier. I only state that to establish that I'm not of a video game addicted, instant gratification, Excel spreadsheet generation mindset, and make no apology for it. I believe in real numbers and even then, they can be taken out of context as we all know. I think it's a mistake to essentially hand over baseball decisions to AI management, soulless and devoid of the human element and ability to assess players. 

 

 

I don’t like metrics either. Advanced metrics are descriptive, not predictive. They explain past performance, but people often treat them as proof future performance. 

That being said, it’s an unfair game. Going “all in” or making the moves to be able to go toe to toe with the Dodgers etc., would require them to trade away tomorrow’s Brewers. I think it’s safe to say they never want to go back to the 90s or early 2000s where the roster was devoid of talent and no help was on the horizon wither. So maybe that’s what it is: remembering the good times you had at the ballpark watching a good team, or the time you killed following a compelling club feeling like it was worth it.