It seems like just yesterday the Milwaukee Brewers reported to Maryvale, Ariz., to open their defense of the 2018 National League Central championship, but Cactus League play is already significantly more than halfway over. The early weeks of spring training, however, have not provided many new answers to the questions the Brewers brought along to American Family Field of Phoenix.
Here are some things we still don’t know with a little more than two weeks left until Opening Day:
How Do the Brewers Sort This Bullpen?
Through multiple weeks of Cactus League games, the Brewers still had 29 healthy pitchers in camp, and the majority came to Phoenix to compete for one of a handful of available relief jobs. To date, the most notable candidate ruled out of the chase was Bobby Wahl, whose season is likely over due to an ACL injury.
With incumbents Corey Knebel and Josh Hader and newcomer Alex Claudio seemingly all but assured jobs—plus Jeremy Jeffress (if healthy) and Matt Albers (according to Craig Counsell)—there might be as few as three spots available in the Opening Day bullpen; that’s if the Brewers don’t opt to keep an extra starter in the bullpen or give up an eighth reliever to keep an extra position player.
The list of potential candidates for the back of that bullpen includes many pitchers with MLB experience, including incumbents Jacob Barnes, Junior Guerra and Taylor Williams and the array of veterans in camp on non-roster invitations, including Deolis Guerra, Jay Jackson and Angel Perdomo. Phrases like “preserving organizational depth,” “opt-out clause” and “options remaining” will likely be cited as factors in whatever decisions the team makes.
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What Will the Brewers Do with Eric Thames?
A year ago, Eric Thames was the entrenched incumbent at first base, and Jesus Aguilar had an at best murky path to the MLB roster or any significant playing time. This year, the roles are reversed: Aguilar is coming off of his first All-Star season, and Thames, despite significant and recent success in the majors, doesn’t have a clear assignment for Opening Day.
However, last year, Aguilar taught everyone a valuable lesson that even a player with no clear route to relevance can still, if things break right, find himself in the thick of things once the season gets underway. Thames’ limited positional flexibility, the Brewers’ likely desire to use a roster spot on an extra reliever and their abundance of left-handed power make him a challenging fit for the roster, but it’s impossible to rule out the possibility that the Brewers will find a way to keep him around. In the meantime, all Thames can do is keep hitting and hope it lands him a job somewhere.
Are the Brewers Done Making Moves?
If recent springs have taught Brewers fans one thing, it’s this: If David Stearns and company find an opportunity to make a meaningful addition to the roster in the days before or shortly after Opening Day, they won’t hesitate to take it. In 2018, it was left-handed reliever Dan Jennings joining the team on the season’s second day and going on to make 72 relief appearances. In 2017, it was Jared Hughes, who went on to pitch in 67 games. In 2016, it was Carlos Torres, whose 72 relief appearances led the team.
Given the bullpen logjam mentioned above, it seems unlikely the Milwaukee Brewers would add even more confusion to the mix by signing a late-spring reliever for the fourth consecutive year. Recent history would suggest, however, that they’ll be closely monitoring the list of players that becomes available as other teams make their own final roster cuts.
