The Brewers have designated righty J.J. Hoover for assignment, per a club announcement. Milwaukee cleared another roster spot by optioning outfielder Brett Phillips.
These departures will make way for the addition of two new righties to the active roster. Junior Guerra and Jorge Lopez are both coming up to supplement the pitching staff.
[RELATED: Updated Brewers Depth Chart]
Hoover did not make the Milwaukee Opening Day roster out of camp, but was brought up just a week into the season. He ended up coughing up a game-ending home run last night. Even if the Brewers were willing to look past that performance, the club needed fresh arms and evidently decided that Hoover was the most expendable player on the roster.
The move could cost the Brewers the chance to hang onto Hoover, who turned in a solid performance this spring. In his 10 1/3 frames, he allowed just one run on six hits, though he also recorded only five strikeouts. He also filled some useful innings last year for the Diamondbacks, posting a 3.92 ERA with 11.8 K/9 (on a career-high 12.0% swinging-strike rate) and 5.7 BB/9 in 41 1/3 innings.
Instead, the team will give Lopez a shot at helping to bolster a relief unit that has worked more innings than those of all but three other teams. He spent most of 2017 as a swingman at the Double-A level, working to a 4.25 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. With a background as a starter, Lopez can perhaps offer some length to the Milwaukee pen.
Guerra, meanwhile, is scheduled to start tonight’s game. The 33-year-old struggled last year after his astounding, late-career breakout in 2016. But he turned in a strong showing in camp and a nice first outing at Triple-A. The Brewers would obviously love to see Guerra return to something like the form he showed in ’16, when he ran up a 2.81 ERA in 121 2/3 innings, after watching their rotation limp to a 4.92 ERA through its first dozen collective starts on the season.
Why would they lose Hoover? Can’t they keep him since both players they are bringing up are on the 40 man? Does he have a years of service situation that allows him to go to another team if they want him?
Well he was designated because they wanted the roster spot and he’s out of options. But yes his milb contract probably has opt outs to it.
How did he make the opening day roster
He wasn’t on the opening day roster
My guess is he doesn’t have any options left so he must be sent through waivers before being sent down. They also may have decided to just open a spot on the 40 man roster spot in case someone else becomes available
Options were something I did not consider. Probably that. Thank you.
I’m not fully aware of how options work but doesn’t it seem wasteful to bring a dude up for a day or two just to send him back down again like they are doing with Phillips?
Options are good for a year. So Phillips (or anyone with an option) can go up and down all year with only using that one option up.
When we see thing like, “he has two options remaining.” does that mean two options years?
Yes, exactly
I have also noticed that Betancourt has been making it very hard on the Brewers not to notice him the way he has been catching at AAA. Think Bandy’s days are numbered. That could give them an arm in mop up duty too in blow outs, along with pinch running. A great way to utilize a roster spot
Vogt is closer to returning, too. They’ll have to decide if CT is worth potentially losing both Vogt and Bandy. None of them have options.
Hmm…so our bullpen is among the most overused in the majors already, because our rotation is awful. Who saw that coming? Thanks, Stearns. Keep planning for that 2027 season when we’ll REALLY be ready to start thinking about maybe competing!
Relax it is the beginning of the season and we could say our bats have let us down more then our starting pitching has
Brewers lead the league in errors. It’s much more than a simple pitching question at this point
Finally, somebody who gets it. The offense and defense are more concerning right now than the starting pitching.
Sorry, but as previously mentioned the Brewers staff is awful. Starters aren’t going deep enough and bullpen not good enough. That will soon be their biggest problem.
That’s because Counsell is pulling them early since he knows our offense won’t score anymore.
Sucks to be Hoover.
I’ll leave now…
Try as you might, you can’t just sweep that comment under the rug…
Thanks, tip your waitstaff, try the veal…
Better yet. Try your waitress and cow tip a cow.
Tip your waitress and cough!
This guy is a home run machine. How he continues to be on rosters nobody knows
Hoover couldn’t pitch clean innings in his short stint. Probably a mistake to bring him up in the first place. He apparently is being paid 1.1 million dollars on a minor league contract so he’s not likely to be claimed, nor will he refuse the assignment to the minors and forfeit the dough to make the minimum somwhere else.
That is probably only guaranteed as pro rated figure based on the days that he is up in the majors.
They should consider releasing Oliver Drake with him. He’s been terrible for 2 years. He must have damaging picture of the decision makers, he make me quiver every time he hits the mound.
I agree but they seem to love that he’s a righty reliver that has good pitches to get out lefty swingers. Or so say Stearns and Counsell anyway.
What is this revolving door bs?! Gave up on woodruff as our 5, keeping pitchers in for 2nd innings constantly. Yanking starters too early….
I’d imagine the contract is pro-rated. Cant see a team blowing a full $1.1 million on a single appearance.
I see Nick Franklin has switched to catcher maybe Clint Coulter should do the same
I think I’d prefer Coulter to be cut from the roster entirely.
Good point