3:45pm: Lefty Aaron Ashby will serve as the opener tonight with Fedde likely to follow in a bulk role, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Quinn Priester was previously schedule to start tonight. McCalvy adds that Priester has a “wrist thing” which doesn’t require an IL stint but the Brewers are bumping his next start to Saturday.
2:45pm: The Brewers announced that they have signed right-hander Erick Fedde, who was released by Atlanta earlier this week. He will take the active roster spot of righty Trevor Megill, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right flexor strain, retroactive to August 25th. Righty Logan Henderson has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Fedde.
Megill himself provided an update on his status to reporters, including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He downplayed the severity and characterized the move as “taking a step back and getting right for the postseason.”
That’s a fairly positive outlook on the situation, all things considered. Regardless, it’s a notable development this late in the season. The Brewers are the best team in baseball and Megill is their closer. He notched 21 saves last year and has added another 30 this season. He has thrown 46 innings this year with a 2.54 earned run average, 30.7% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.
The Brewers have a strong bullpen on the whole and that should still be the case without Megill. Abner Uribe has a 1.71 ERA this year and could step into the ninth inning role. Still, no club wants to lose its closer, especially this close to the postseason. Teams generally lean harder on their relievers in the playoffs, where the off-days allow the top arms to pitch in almost every game.
For now, his roster spot goes to Fedde. Perhaps that is to give the club a fresh arm capable of covering multiple innings out of the bullpen. Thanks to a doubleheader last week, the Brewers are in a stretch of playing 19 games in 18 days. After on off-day on September 2nd, they play another eight straight. Put together, that makes for 27 games in 27 days.
Fedde hasn’t been having a good year. Between St. Louis and Atlanta, he has thrown 125 innings with a 5.76 ERA, 13.6% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. That led the Cards to designate him for assignment in July. Atlanta picked him up in a cash deal but then released him a month later.
For the Brewers, he’s cheap and doesn’t require a commitment. The Cards are on the hook for the remainder of his salary, as they ate it in the deal which sent him to Atlanta. Milwaukee only has to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster.
There’s also theoretically a bit of upside, as Fedde was far better last year. He tossed 177 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Cardinals with a 3.30 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. The Brewers have a good reputation for getting the best out of pitchers and could perhaps get him back on track, though it’s also possible he does some mop up work and then gets quickly cut from the roster.
As for Henderson, he hit the 15-day IL in early August due to his own flexor strain. This move suggests the club doesn’t expect him back before early October. Perhaps he will be healthy for the playoffs but he probably didn’t have a shot at cracking the postseason roster. He’s had good results this year but has mostly been squeezed to the minors due to the other talented pitchers on the staff.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Win streaks like the Brewers were on are a blessing and a curse. They jumped out to a great lead in the division, but winning that many games means your top arms are likely going to get used and abused. They peaked too early.
This is typically true but the Brewers have substantially more pitching depth than most teams. They should be able to move a couple of their younger starters (Gasser, Miz, Myers, and Hall) to the bullpen come September.
He pitched 6 innings during their 14 game win streak. That is hardly being used and abused.
@ssowl thanks for doing the legwork, a win streak wouldn’t mean he was over worked unless they were all close games etc
If anything, he may have been a little underused in that time period. That hurts pitchers too.
It’s possible but not likely, I’ve seen teams use closers many times winning it losing if it’s been a few days since they’ve pitched.
Fedde is there to eat a lot of innings in a very short timeframe and will be cast aside once Gasser is ready to come off of the IL
it also wouldn’t surprise me to see the Brewers play with a 6-man rotation in September to rest the likes of Woodruff and Miz. Neither one of those guys is used to the workload they will need.for a playoff stretch
Current state Woodruff isnt ready for the full workload of a 7IP. But he’s very much used to what that workload is like.
The 6 man rotation idea actually makes more sense when I think more of it. Woody gets an extra day to recover between starts.. patrick can;t go enough innings untouched to be a consistent starter right now either,, and they can leave Myers in he pen when they currently like him.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Fedde becomes a serviceable pitcher with the Brewers. They’re one of the teams that has a pitching clinic.
Here we go with late season injuries to premium Brewer Players. Chourio, Ortiz, and now McGill. Ortiz is a defensive premium before you reply how his bat is a negative. Fortunately, they aren’t out for the season.
Chourio is expected back this weekend, in fact. Ortiz may already be back next week..Mona has done well as a fill in, but doesn;t have quite the glove the Brewers prefer in the position.
Nice signing. Brewers catching lab will help Fedde.
Proves the point. NEVER give away pitching depth, no matter how much you have. Nestor Cortes would have been a valuable member of this staff. 3.2 era with Padres. Came up big against LA. Everyone was perplexed with that trade. Crew gets a lot of credit for their good trades….this was not one.
With a 5 xFIP and 5.5 FIP