Brewers 2025 Opening Day Roster Projection, v. 3.0: Injuries Shaking Things Up

The loss of Blake Perkins for (at least) the first month of the season was a major blow for the Brewers. They need to play superb defense all over the diamond to defend their two straight NL Central titles, and Perkins has been a linchpin of that defense. They signed two players to minor-league deals to attempt a quick fix for the problem, but until Perkins returns, the Brewers won't quite be whole.

That said, Perkins's loss clarifies some needs and begins to crystallize possibilities for the Opening Day roster in late March. Here's our best guess as to the shape of that roster, as of today.

Lineup

1. Brice Turang - 2B
2. Jackson Chourio - LF
3. Christian Yelich - DH
4. William Contreras - C
5. Garrett Mitchell - CF
6. Rhys Hoskins - 1B
7. Joey Ortiz - SS
8. Sal Frelick - RF
9. Caleb Durbin - 3B

Bench

• Eric Haase - C
• Oliver Dunn - IF
• Vinny Capra - IF
• Mark Canha - OF/1B

The team doesn't automatically need to have a strong defensive center fielder take Perkins's place, thanks to the defensive chops of Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, and Jackson Chourio, and the ability of Christian Yelich to play left field competently on at least a part-time basis. Thus, Mark Canha gets the probabilistic nod over Manuel Margot, who also signed a minor-league deal and is theoretically better suited for center, but who isn't as good a hitter as Canha and had a poor season defensively for the Twins last year.

Meanwhile, Vinny Capra is penciled in here over Tyler Black and Jake Bauers. Black still doesn't really have any big-league utility, until he finds his way to some power or ends up in a defensive spot he can actually play. Bauers is less needed with Canha in town, since the latter can man first base as a complement to Rhys Hoskins. Capra being out of options gives him a tiebreaker over either of these two or Andruw Monasterio, so if he performs well this spring, he'll earn at least a short-term role.

Starting Rotation

• Freddy Peralta
• Tobias Myers
• Nestor Cortes
• Aaron Civale
• Aaron Ashby

This group is suddenly much thinner than hoped, with Brandon Woodruff likely to start the season on the IL and DL Hall seemingly far from a return. That's why we're now hearing José Quintana connected to the team as a potential free-agent target. For now, though, this quintet looks like the best bet. If they can stay healthy for the relatively short time before Woodruff gets back into the mix, they should be fine—but they had so many problems early last season that it's a source of anxiety at this stage of camp.

Bullpen

• Trevor Megill
• Joel Payamps
• Jared Koenig
• Elvis Peguero
• Bryan Hudson
• Nick Mears
• Tyler Alexander
• Connor Thomas

The bottom two here are both candidates, if unlikely ones, to slot into the starting rotation at some point in the early going. The catch is that, since Alexander was a free agent signing and Thomas a Rule 5 Draft pick, they can't be sent to the minor leagues. That means keeping them stretched out in the bullpen, if they are to be available for that final rotation spot. If one were to win the job outright over Ashby, the latter might go back one more time to Triple-A Nashville, just out of roster convenience. Should that happen, look for Grant Anderson to get the first shot at the freed-up spot in the pen. Anderson, the low-slot righty, would nicely balance a pair of overhand hurlers (Megill and Mears) and a bevy of lefties in the current projected relief corps.

Five weeks out from Opening Day, there's still ample uncertainty here. Four of these 26 spots are fluid, even before accounting for injuries. Right now, though, the Crew looks capable of surviving their spate of unfortunate early injuries. We'll see how the plan shifts over the next several days.