The Brewers’ Rotation Options After Peralta Trade
The Brewers traded ace Freddy Peralta and swingman Tobias Myers to the Mets last week. Milwaukee generally, though not always, trades its best players as they approach their final year before free agency. There was never much chance they were going to meet Peralta’s asking price on another contract. That left the front office to decide whether to move him for controllable pieces or hold him through his final arbitration year and collect a compensatory draft pick when he signed elsewhere.
They opted for the former once the Mets put Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat on the table, albeit in a deal that also cost them a potential rotation arm in Myers. It’s obviously not the start of a rebuild for a team that had MLB’s best record and advanced to the NL Championship Series a year ago. They’re counting on their pitching pipeline to continue to produce as they aim for a fourth straight division title.
How will Pat Murphy’s starting staff line up?
Locks
Woodruff is back as the veteran anchor and their clear #1 starter. The righty accepted a $22.025MM qualifying offer, a move that probably surprised Milwaukee’s front office to an extent. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold acknowledged that getting Woodruff back made them more comfortable parting with Peralta (relayed by Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The 2026 payroll factors into that to an extent, yet Peralta’s $8MM salary shouldn’t have been a hang-up even by Brewers’ standards. There were other players they could have moved (e.g. Andrew Vaughn, Trevor Megill) if ownership mandated a payroll reduction.
The Brewers can feel comfortable about having an established top-of-the-rotation starter. The big question is how many innings they can reasonably expect. Woodruff missed all of 2024 rehabbing from shoulder surgery. A handful of smaller injuries delayed his ’25 debut, and he sustained a season-ending lat strain after 12 starts. He has pitched 131 2/3 frames over the past three seasons. Woodruff enters camp fully healthy, but it’s fair to wonder if he can shoulder 150 innings.
The 25-year-old Priester is now the second-most experienced Milwaukee starter. He and Robert Gasser are the only other starters with more than a year of MLB service time; the majority of Gasser’s service came on the injured list working back from UCL surgery.
Priester began the ’25 season in Triple-A with the Red Sox. Dealt to Milwaukee in a rare April trade of significance, the former first-rounder was a revelation. He tossed 157 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball behind a massive 56.1% grounder percentage. Milwaukee had a stretch of 19 consecutive wins in his outings between May and September. Priester has serviceable but not elite swing-and-miss stuff. It’s a sinker-slider profile geared toward keeping the ball on the ground. That approach comes with some batted ball variability but plays well in front of a strong infield defense.
Upside Plays
Misiorowski was arguably the #1 pitching prospect in MLB when the Brewers called him up in June. He began his career in electric fashion, allowing two earned runs or fewer in six of his first seven starts. Milwaukee didn’t let him work deep into games, but he lit up the radar gun while missing plenty of bats. His performance wavered down the stretch, and evaluators’ longstanding concerns about his command pushed him into a bullpen role for the playoffs. Misiorowski impressed again in October, striking out 16 over 12 innings of three-run ball in a trio of postseason outings.
Overall, the 6’7″ righty finished his debut campaign with a 4.36 ERA across 66 innings. He’s certainly not going to be the back-end innings eater usually associated with a mid-4.00s ERA, though. Misiorowski has ace stuff with walk issues that may yet land him in high-leverage relief. He should get a full look in the rotation this year, albeit with questions about his start-to-start efficiency.
Henderson may not be a Misiorowski-level prospect, yet his 2025 debut was also highly anticipated by Milwaukee fans. He was called up in April and pitched well over four starts before being squeezed off the MLB roster. The Brewers brought him back up after the trade deadline. He made one start before being diagnosed with elbow inflammation and spending the rest of the season on the injured list. The 23-year-old righty allowed five runs while striking out a third of opponents over his first 25 1/3 MLB innings.
Baseball America ranked Henderson 96th on their Top 100 prospects list last week. They credit him with plus control and a plus changeup, while his 93 MPH fastball plays above its velocity because of his release angle and spin. Henderson has always been effective in the minors, posting a 3.26 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate over his career. Can he continue to miss bats at a high rate against MLB hitters without really trusting his cutter or slider? He might also run into some home run trouble as a fly-ball pitcher with average velocity whose fastball works best at the top of the strike zone. There are questions about the ultimate ceiling, but Henderson’s first five starts couldn’t have gone much better.
Sproat will try to immediately replace Peralta in the starting five. He also landed in the back quarter of the aforementioned BA prospect list — a few spots above Henderson, in fact. Sproat has much bigger stuff, sitting 96-97 with above-average to plus grades on his slider, curveball and changeup. His command isn’t nearly as polished. Sproat walked 10.4% of opponents over 26 Triple-A appearances last year, and he was hit around a little bit over four starts as a September call-up. The 6’3″ righty has a shot to be a mid-rotation starter, but the command will need to improve if he’s going to get there.
Back-End Arms
Patrick was a 26-year-old rookie whom the Brewers acquired from the A’s in 2023 for journeyman infielder Abraham Toro. There wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare when he broke camp for his MLB debut last spring. Patrick went on to a seventh-place finish in Rookie of the Year balloting after tossing 119 2/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball. There’s a decent chance he would have placed more highly had the team’s rotation depth not pushed him to Triple-A when Woodruff returned to action on July 6.
The righty spent six weeks in the minors through no real fault of his own. He worked in a swing role once he was recalled in the middle of August. Patrick pitched well in either role and had an excellent postseason, firing nine innings of two-run ball with 11 strikeouts. He has a six-pitch mix led by a plus cutter that helped him punch out a quarter of opponents. Patrick probably doesn’t have the ceiling of some of his teammates but should enter camp with a leg up on Henderson and Sproat for the fourth or fifth starter role.
Acquired from San Diego in the Josh Hader trade, Gasser had an impressive five-start debut in 2024. He blew out and underwent elbow surgery that kept him off an MLB mound until last September. The southpaw started two games and gave up six runs (only two earned) with four walks and five strikeouts across 5 2/3 frames. His minor league rehab numbers were quite a bit better. The 26-year-old Gasser has a 3.72 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate in just over 200 career Triple-A frames. He’s on the older side for a prospect because of the injury but still looks like a viable back-end starter.
Likely Relievers
Angel Zerpa, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall each have starting experience but fit better in the bullpen. All three were used primarily as relievers last season — with the Royals, in Zerpa’s case — and join Jared Koenig in giving Milwaukee a quartet of big arms from the left side out of the bullpen.
Zerpa has solid command and gets a ton of ground-balls, but his sinker/slider combination leaves him vulnerable to right-handed hitters. He’d probably need to pick up a splitter or cutter if he’s going to turn over a righty-heavy lineup twice in a game. Ashby hasn’t managed to stay healthy as a starter, while Hall’s command is too big an obstacle. They’re all capable of working multiple innings and could get some action as openers, as Ashby did a few times in the postseason to match him up against Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani.
The other two starters on the 40-man roster, Carlos Rodriguez and Coleman Crow, project as up-and-down arms. Rodriguez has decent stuff but has been walk-prone in the minors. He has allowed 18 runs in 22 career big league innings. Milwaukee added Crow to the roster at the beginning of the offseason to keep him out of minor league free agency. He’s the organization’s #30 prospect at Baseball America and has fringy stuff despite impressive strikeout rates in the minors.
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Even without Peralta, Milwaukee has a talented group of starters. Their collective lack of experience behind Woodruff means they’ll probably add a fifth starter or swingman on a one-year deal to reduce the load on their young arms. As is always the case for the Brewers, they’re likely to mix in some tandem starts/openers while shuffling pitchers up and down from Triple-A. Woodruff is their only starter who can’t be sent to the minor leagues, while Rob Zastryzny is their only out-of-options reliever. They’ll have a lot of roster flexibility if they want to incorporate bullpen games or a six-man rotation to keep pitchers’ innings in check.
Brewers Place Brandon Woodruff On 15-Day Injured List
The Brewers announced today that they’ve placed right-hander Brandon Woodruff on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain. Woodruff’s IL placement is retroactive to September 18. Left-hander Robert Gasser was recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding move and is slated to start today’s game for Milwaukee.
Woodruff’s retroactive placement on the shelf means that he’ll be eligible to return in time for the start of the NLDS on October 4. Of course, that would require Woodruff to be shelved for only a minimum stint on the IL, which is far from guaranteed. According to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Woodruff is suffering from a “moderate” lat strain in the words of manager Pat Murphy, and it is too early to tell how Woodruff’s playoff availability may be impacted by the injury. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports that Woodruff is seeing a doctor in St. Louis today in order to get his injury assessed after the strain occurred during the righty’s bullpen session on Saturday.
At the very least, the news brings Woodruff’s regular season to an abrupt end. Woodruff will end the regular season with 12 starts under his belt, and a 3.20 ERA/3.18 FIP in 64 2/3 innings of work with a sensational 32.3% strikeout rate. Woodruff made just 11 starts in 2023 due to shoulder issues and ultimately went under the knife in October of that year. That caused him to miss the entire 2024 season, and an ankle injury during his rehab this season delayed his return to the big league mound until early July. He immediately slotted back into the top of Milwaukee’s rotation upon his return, and helped to sustain the hot streak that thrust the Brewers to the best record in all of baseball.
The timing of this latest ailment is surely frustrating for both the Brewers and Woodruff himself, given its proximity to the playoffs. Woodruff acknowledged as much himself in comments made to reporters (including McCalvy) this morning. Woodruff noted that he “wasn’t surprised” by the injury and noted he’s been managing his shoulder for some time, adding that a setback could have occurred in June or July and that it’s just “crappy timing” that this happened to come up right before the postseason.
With Woodruff sidelined, the Brewers’ potential postseason rotation is in flux. Freddy Peralta and Quinn Priester appear to be locks to start playoff games, but there’s little certainty outside of that. Woodruff would obviously get starts if and when he returns, and Jose Quintana could find himself in the conversation as well depending on his own recovery from injury. While those two are shelved, however, they’ll likely be forced to choose between struggling rookie Jacob Misiorowski and fellow rookie right-hander Chad Patrick to round out the rotation. Perhaps Gasser can put himself into the discussion with a strong outing today, but the southpaw has not yet pitched in the majors this year after undergoing elbow surgery last year and has just 38 innings of work in the minors under his belt this season.
Brewers Place Jose Quintana On IL Due To Calf Strain
The Brewers announced that left-hander Jose Quintana has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 15th, due to a left calf strain. Right-hander Nick Mears has been reinstated from the 15-day IL as the corresponding move.
Quintana started Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. He was pulled after throwing 67 pitches over four innings, having allowed three earned runs. After the game, manager Pat Murphy told members of the media that Quintana had been pulled due to a calf injury, adding that the lefty was in a walking boot and would require an MRI.
The Brewers took a few days to see how Quintana’s calf responded but have evidently decided that he’ll need to sit out a while longer. Even with the backdating, his regular season is over. He finishes the year with a 3.96 earned run average in 131 2/3 innings, though his underlying numbers are a bit less impressive than that ERA. His 9% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate are close to average but he only struck out 16% of batters faced. A low .259 batting average on balls in play seemed to help him, which is why his 4.83 FIP and 5.05 SIERA are both about a run higher than his ERA.
Even before the injury, Quintana wasn’t especially likely to be playing a meaningful role for Milwaukee in October. With the off-days in the postseason, teams are able to rely on just three or four starters instead of the usual five or six. Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski are all having better seasons than Quintana.
In the short term, the Brewers are still in a good position. They have already clinched a playoff spot and seem highly likely to get a bye through the first round. They are currently 4.5 games up on the Cubs in the Central. The Brewers are eight games clear of the Dodgers, who lead the West division at the moment, in addition to being a game and a half clear of the East-leading Phillies.
To finish the job, they will need to replace Quintana in the rotation for the near term. They have Woodruff, Priester and Misiorowski taking the ball in the next three games. Peralta started yesterday and won’t be available on normal rest by Saturday. Milwaukee doesn’t have an off-day until the 25th, next Thursday.
Chad Patrick has had success as a starter this year but he is currently in the bullpen. His two most recent appearances have been of the single-inning variety but he did pitch 4 1/3 innings as recently as September 9th, so perhaps he could cover multiple innings. It’s a somewhat similar situation with guys like Erick Fedde and Tobias Myers, who have done some starting but have been in shorter stints more recently.
Another option to help out fairly soon is Robert Gasser, who is nearing a return from last summer’s Tommy John surgery. He was reinstated from the IL at the end of August but was optioned to the minors. Most of his recent minor league outings have been around three innings, at intervals of three days or so. He won’t be available for a traditional start but could cover a few frames in some capacity. “I think you’ll see him soon,” Murphy said today, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Turning back to Quintana, he will presumably be trying to get healthy for the postseason. Assuming the Brewers eventually do secure a bye through the Wild Card round, he’ll have over two weeks until the Division Series begins. As mentioned, the Brewers probably don’t need him in their postseason rotation, though an injury to one of the other arms could always change that. Even if he’s not needed to make a start, he could perhaps work out of the Milwaukee bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Brewers Reinstate Jackson Chourio From 10-Day Injured List, Designate Oliver Dunn
The Brewers made a quartet of transactions prior to today’s game with the Blue Jays, including the headline news that Jackson Chourio has been activated from the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was optioned to Triple-A to create room for Chourio on the 26-man roster. Milwaukee also activated Robert Gasser from the 60-day IL and optioned the southpaw to Triple-A, and to create room for Gasser on the 40-man roster, infielder Oliver Dunn was designated for assignment.
Chourio last played on July 29, when he strained his right hamstring while running the bases after a triple. The injury cut short what had been a scorching stretch for Chourio, who had a 1.065 OPS over the 93 plate appearances prior to his IL stint. That hot streak brought Chourio’s season-long slash line up to .276/.311/.474 over 472 PA — almost identical to the numbers he posted in 573 PA during his 2024 season. The outfielder has also hit 17 homers and stolen 18 bases, approaching his 2024 totals of 21 home runs and 22 steals.
It is a testament to Milwaukee’s depth that the Brewers haven’t missed a beat in Chourio’s absence, as the club has gone 20-9 without a key piece of their starting outfield. The Brew Crew now have the good problem of too many outfield options for too few spots, as Blake Perkins will be shuffled into fourth outfielder duty with Chourio and occasionally Sal Frelick taking over as the primary center fielders. Isaac Collins has established himself as a regular left fielder, leaving Chourio and Frelick in center and right in some capacity, and Perkins providing excellent glovework off the bench.
This surplus bodes well for the Brewers’ chances of making a World Series run, and Gasser might also factor into late-season plans. The former top prospect posted a 2.57 ERA over his first 28 MLB innings (and five starts) in 2024 before a Tommy John surgery quickly ended Gasser’s rookie campaign. He has already pitched in nine minor league games as part of his recovery process, including five outings with Triple-A Nashville.
The reinstatement from the 60-day IL relates to the end of Gasser’s allotted 30-day rehab window, and he’ll continue to get ramped up in Nashville while waiting for a probable call-up in September. Though Gasser has worked as a starter almost exclusively throughout his career, it seems likelier that the Brewers would use him as a reliever if he is included on a postseason roster. His stuff could play up well in a bullpen role and make him a secret weapon for Milwaukee’s relief corps for the playoffs, though it would be a pressurized environment for a 26-year-old has little big league experience, and is just coming back from a major surgery.
Dunn had his own 2024 rookie season ended early by a 60-day IL stint due to a back injury. Seen as a potential contender to win regular work as the Brewers’ third baseman heading into 2025, Dunn hasn’t hit much in his limited time in the majors, batting .206/.261/.290 over 145 plate appearances. Milwaukee optioned Dunn to Triple-A back in April, and now today’s DFA might end the infielder’s time in the organization altogether.
Teams interested in adding infield depth could consider a waiver claim, plus Dunn has a minor league option year remaining, which bolsters his roster flexibility. He brings some defensive versatility as a regular second and third baseman, plus some time as a shortstop and left fielder. The bat is Dunn’s big question mark, as he has hit only .205/.311/.338 in 459 career PA at the Triple-A level along with his uninspiring small sample size of big league at-bats.
Brewers Notes: Ortiz, Hoskins, Gasser
Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz is headed for an MRI on his left hamstring after leaving this afternoon’s game, manager Pat Murphy told reporters (including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy). The second-year infielder pulled up after running out a ground-ball and immediately favored the back of his left leg. It certainly had the look of a hamstring strain that’d require an injured list stint, though that won’t be official until tomorrow.
Andruw Monasterio finished the game at shortstop. Aside from one early-season appearance from Vinny Capra (who is no longer in the organization), Monasterio is the only player other than Ortiz to start a game at shortstop. He’s the likeliest option to step into an everyday role if Ortiz heads to the IL. A career .243/.318/.336 hitter, Monasterio has only tallied 72 plate appearances in 43 games this season.
The Brewers don’t have any other natural shortstops on the 40-man roster. Calling up Triple-A shortstop Freddy Zamora would require a 40-man move. Oliver Dunn, who is on the 40-man, has gotten some shortstop work in the minors and could be recalled as an emergency option off the bench. It’s unlikely Milwaukee would disrupt the routines of Brice Turang or Caleb Durbin by moving them to shortstop on an everyday basis, but either player could move there as a late-game substitute if the Brewers remove Monasterio for pinch-hitting or injury purposes.
Milwaukee’s win over the Cubs today pushed their lead in the NL Central back to seven games. They’re five and a half games clear of the Phillies for the top seed in the National League. That gives them the cushion to weather an Ortiz absence unless he suffered a significant enough strain to threaten his readiness for the postseason.
On the other side of the equation, Milwaukee has a few players nearing returns. Rhys Hoskins began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday. Hoskins has been sidelined since July 6 with a left thumb sprain. That injury forced the Brewers to call up Andrew Vaughn from Triple-A. They certainly wouldn’t have foreseen Vaughn going on a .320/.386/.578 tear with dramatically improved plate discipline metrics relative to his early-season stint with the White Sox.
Vaughn has mashed his way to an everyday role. Christian Yelich continues to get a lot of designated hitter work. Even if the Brewers felt Yelich could shoulder a bigger workload in left field, Isaac Collins has played far too well to leave the lineup. It leaves Hoskins without a clear path to playing time once he’s ready to return, which could be within the next week or two.
Hoskins may be relegated to part-time first base and DH work. The veteran got out to a great start to the season, hitting .276/.374/.475 through the end of May. He’d slumped to a .170/.269/.330 line in the next five weeks leading up to the injury. The Brewers wouldn’t have considered replacing him with Vaughn despite the slump, but the injury and the latter’s performance changed the calculus.
Robert Gasser has been rehabbing in Triple-A for the past few weeks. The lefty is working back from last June’s elbow surgery. Gasser is closing in on reinstatement after throwing four scoreless innings and building to 52 pitches on Tuesday. He may only need one or two more minor league starts. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, the Brewers are weighing whether to keep him built up as a starter or kick him to the bullpen in anticipation of his likelier postseason role.
Gasser impressed with a 2.57 ERA over his first five big league starts last summer. The Brewers no doubt view him as a long-term starter but have sufficient rotation depth that he’s unlikely to get a starting job this season. Gasser still has a full slate of minor league options, so the Brewers could keep him in Nashville even after he returns from the injured list (though they’ll need to clear a spot for him on the 40-man roster).
The Brewers’ Surprising Rotation Depth
Less than two months ago, conversations surrounding the Brewers’ rotation depth struck a wildly different tone than they do at present. Early in the 2025 campaign, Milwaukee’s injured list read more like a litany, and the team was so pressed for starting pitching that it swung a rare April trade of consequence, bringing in righty Quinn Priester from the Red Sox in exchange for a Competitive Balance draft pick and two prospects.
Fast forward six to seven weeks, and the Brewers have incurred some fan backlash for optioning righty Logan Henderson to Triple-A Nashville amid a brilliant start to his big league career. Fellow righty Chad Patrick might be the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner at the moment — and he, too, could soon find himself optioned to Nashville. Manager Pat Murphy touched on the topic when asked by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about how the Brewers plan to handle their rotation when Jose Quintana and Brandon Woodruff make their respective returns from the injured list within the next week or two.
Optioning Patrick wouldn’t be due to any concerns with his performance — far from it. The 26-year-old righty has never been a particularly touted prospect — he was acquired from the D-backs for journeyman infielder Jace Peterson and did not rank among Milwaukee’ top 30 prospects at Baseball America at any point — but has nevertheless emerged as a key piece of the pitching staff in 2025.
Patrick has pitched 57 2/3 innings and turned in a sterling 2.97 ERA with a slightly below-average 21.2% strikeout rate but a strong 7.5% walk rate. He’s probably going to have some regression in the home run department, based on his bottom-of-the-scale 26% ground-ball rate, a fair bit of hard contact allowed and a home park that’s quite conducive to the long ball, but that’s largely beside the point. Patrick’s production thus far has been nothing short of a godsend, and nothing in his performance would seem to dictate a demotion to the minor leagues.
As Murphy alluded to in his comments, however, such decisions aren’t always based on merit. The Brewers know all too well what it’s like to have a pitching staff stretched so thin that they need to go outside the organization for help. As already mentioned, they did just that within the first week of April. Teams try their best to avoid depleting depth and putting themselves in position to need to make that kind of move — which is how Patrick might well find himself in Nashville before long.
Milwaukee currently has Freddy Peralta, Aaron Civale, Patrick and Priester as starters on the active roster. Quintana and Woodruff are nearing returns. Both will be plugged into the rotation. Quintana was terrific for the Brewers before hitting the IL with a shoulder impingement. He tells Adam McCalvy of MLB.com that he expects to be activated to start this Sunday. Woodruff has in the past pitched like an ace when healthy and is in the second season of a two-year, $17.5MM deal. He’s going to get the opportunity to show he can again be a top-of-the-rotation presence.
When Quintana returns, the Brewers can go to a five-man staff. Woodruff’s return would present more questions. There aren’t enough starting spots for the number of generally competitive or established arms in Milwaukee’s rotation — a problem that seemed unfathomable in early April.
Priester has been the “weakest” performer of the group, carrying a 4.23 ERA in 44 2/3 innings. His paltry 16.6% strikeout rate and hefty 11.9% walk rate aren’t a great combination, prompting metrics like FIP (4.64) and SIERA (4.78) to cast a less favorable light on his performance. However, he’s also been doing his best work of late. Priester has a 2.76 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate over his past three turns. He’s also down to only one minor league option year. Priester was optioned to Triple-A by the Red Sox at the end of camp but recalled by the Brewers following the early trade; since he spent fewer than 20 days in the minors, Priester didn’t actually burn through that option. Sending him down now for a period of 20 days or longer would exhaust that final option year.
That type of consideration typically doesn’t sit well with fans, but effective option management helps to preserve depth and avoid situations like the one the Brewers faced early in the season when they had more than an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the injured list — most of whom incurred their injuries in rapid succession. Preserving Priester’s final option beyond the current season carries some notable benefit, but the Brewers will obviously have to give some real thought to exhausting it anyhow.
Moving Priester to a swingman role is another option, but that would require either burning the final option year for Aaron Ashby or DL Hall or parting with Tyler Alexander entirely. Again, any of those scenarios will probably be considered, but come with a blend of short- and longer-term ramifications. Fans will surely bristle if the short-term considerations lead to Patrick following Henderson to Triple-A, but all MLB organizations are always toeing the line between maximizing short-term results and preserving long-term depth. That’s especially true of a cost-conscious Brewers club.
Whatever comes of the ostensible logjam, it’s also bearing in mind that it’s a short-term issue in and of itself. Injuries are inevitable, and if the Brewers somehow get to the trade deadline with the quintet of Peralta, Woodruff, Civale and Quintana healthy, there will probably be pitching-hungry teams inquiring about established, affordable veterans like Quintana and Civale, who’ll be free agents at season’s end.
Peralta, of course, will draw interest and present the Brewers with their latest decision on a cornerstone veteran whose club control is dwindling; they hold a club option over his 2026 season, after which he’ll be a free agent. In many regards, he’ll present the Brewers with similar decisions to the ones they’ve faced in the past on Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and Willy Adames. They’ll surely have compelling trade offers this summer, in the offseason and at the 2026 deadline — or they could go the route they did with Adames: hang onto Peralta through the end of his control window and make him a qualifying offer.
None of this even touches on the presence of top prospect Jacob Misiorowski — one of the top young arms in all of professional ball. The 2022 second-rounder, who turned 23 last month, boasts a 1.60 ERA in 56 1/3 Triple-A innings. He’s averaging 97.4 mph on a four-seamer that can climb into triple digits and has fanned 32.2% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate. At some point, this summer, he’ll likely make his MLB debut. Injured lefty Nestor Cortes is a piece in this spiraling puzzle as well. He went on the injured list after just two starts due to a flexor strain but resumed playing catch earlier this month. Once he’s healthy, he’ll also be a rotation option.
The presence of Patrick, Henderson, Misiorowski, Priester, the already-optioned Tobias Myers and lefty Robert Gasser — on the mend from last year’s Tommy John surgery — is of extra importance with each of Woodruff, Quintana, Civale and Cortes reaching free agency at season’s end. (Quintana and Woodruff have mutual options, but it’s been more than a decade since any mutual option in all of MLB was exercised by both team and player.) It also gives the Milwaukee front office plenty of paths to consider at this year’s trade deadline. They could deal from their collection of established veterans in an effort to bring in some infield help and potentially backfill the rotation via in-house arms.
In all likelihood, there will be innings available for the entire contingent of young arms over the final two-thirds of the season. Regardless, they’ll all be in consideration for full-fledged rotation spots come 2026. That likely reliance on this group of young arms only makes it more understandable if the Brewers want to avoid burning the final option years on pitchers like Priester, Ashby and Hall, as that flexibility might be of greater utility next year when working with a younger staff.
Brewers Sign Tyler Alexander
The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed left-hander Tyler Alexander to a one-year, major league contract. He’s a client of SSG Baseball. Fellow southpaw Robert Gasser, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been placed on the 60-day injured list to clear space on the 40-man roster.
Alexander will earn a guaranteed $1MM on the contract, MLBTR has learned. He can earn an additional $1MM worth of incentives based on innings pitched. That breakdown is as follows: $50K for 40 innings, $100K for 60 innings, $125K for 80 innings, $150K for 90 innings, $175K for 100 innings, and $200K for both 110 and 120 innings.
Alexander, 30, has pitched in parts of six big league seasons between the Tigers and Rays. He owns a career 4.55 ERA over the life of 449 frames. That includes a 5.10 mark in a career-high 107 2/3 innings with Tampa Bay last year. The Rays non-tendered him back in November rather than pay a projected $2.8MM salary in his final season of club control (hat tip to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
A second-round pick by the Tigers out of TCU back in 2015, Alexander has spent the bulk of his career in a swingman role, oscillating between long relief, occasional spot starts and some bulk work behind openers. He doesn’t throw hard, averaging just 89.6 mph on his four-seamer and 89.7 mph on his sinker in 2024, but he has excellent command and typically manages at least a passable strikeout rate.
Alexander has only walked 5.2% of the 1900 batters he’s faced in the majors. His 19.1% strikeout rate is about three percentage points shy of league-average, but that’s skewed a bit by a career-low 14.3% mark in 2022. He punched out 20% of his batters faced prior to that season and has fanned 21.1% of his opponents since that time. Back in 2020, Alexander made headlines and history by punching out nine consecutive batters against the Reds.
The veteran Alexander gives the Brewers some much needed depth in the rotation and a potential long man in the bullpen. That need was already clear even before today’s revelation that fellow lefty DL Hall will be shut down for several weeks due to a lat strain. Between that and the possibility that Brandon Woodruff, still building back up after major shoulder surgery in October 2023, may not be ready for Opening Day, the Brewers only had four clear-cut members of the rotation: Freddy Peralta, Aaron Civale, Nestor Cortes and Tobias Myers.
Alexander likely joins southpaw Aaron Ashby and inexperienced righties Elvin Rodriguez, Carlos Rodriguez, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick as competitors for that final rotation spot. It’s always possible that the Brewers could add another more established arm to solidify the group, but Alexander is the first fully guaranteed free agent signing of the winter for GM Matt Arnold & Co. They’ve been up against an extreme payroll crunch and haven’t been able to spend anything to this point. That casts some doubt on the front office’s ability to further augment the group — at least via free agency. The trade market could open other avenues, either in the form of an inexpensive (likely pre-arbitration) starter or perhaps by shedding a contract from the current roster that’d free up some money for a different veteran pursuit.
Looking At The Brewers’ Rotation Depth Options
The Brewers have won the National League Central two years in a row and three of the last four. They will be looking to defend that title in 2025 but might face a steeper challenge than in years past. The Cubs have had an aggressive offseason, adding Kyle Tucker, Matthew Boyd, Ryan Pressly, Ryan Brasier and more. The Reds added Brady Singer, Gavin Lux, Austin Hays and will be getting several players back from injury. The Pirates have had a quiet winter but have a rotation loaded with young talent, fronted by Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. The Cardinals planned to do a teardown but ended up standing pat, so they’re going into the year with a very similar roster to the one that finished above .500 last year.
Milwaukee hasn’t done a lot to remake its roster relative to last year. They have added Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin but lost Willy Adames, Devin Williams and others. Whether the team is better or worse than last year is debatable.
The rotation wasn’t a strength in 2024. Their starters put up a collective 4.09 earned run average, putting them 17th out of the 30 teams in the league. Their bullpen was one of the best, however. Their relievers had a collective ERA of 3.11, second only to the Guardians, which helped the team cruise to that division title. That was despite Williams being injured for much of the year.
Going into 2025, the rotation looks like it could be in a similar situation overall, though with some personnel changes. Of the seven players that made at least nine starts for the club last year, four of them are gone. Frankie Montas and Joe Ross hit free agency at season’s end, the former by declining a mutual option. Bryse Wilson was outrighted and Colin Rea had a club option turned down, so they also hit the open market as well.
Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale are the three holdovers. Cortes was brought in from the Yankees as part of the Williams trade. In an interview this week with Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, manager Pat Murphy confirmed that those four make up his rotation core to start the season. Brandon Woodruff, who missed 2024 recovering from shoulder surgery, will be in there at some point but probably won’t be ready by Opening Day.
“I would think those four guys are [penciled in],” Murphy said, “and you can put Woody in there, too. But you can’t have him ready to start the season; he probably won’t be. But I think it’s pretty safe to say that those five guys are starters that, when healthy, are going to get opportunities.”
Taking things easy with Woodruff makes sense after his lost season, but that means the club will likely have to reach into its depth. Perhaps that will only be for a short time, but injuries are inevitable over the course of a season. For the long term, the need will be even greater. Civale and Cortes are both slated to be free agents after the upcoming season. Woodruff will certainly join them, as his deal has a $20MM mutual option for 2026 with a $10MM buyout. That was basically designed so that he would re-sign but with the club able to kick most of the payment down the line until the end of 2025. Peralta can be retained for 2026 via an affordable $8MM club option but is slated for free agency after that.
That means Myers is the only guy slated to still be on the roster when November of 2026 rolls around. Even he is not a lock to keep a spot going forward, as his strong 2024 season came after several years of poor minor league numbers. In short, the long-term rotation is wide open. Can the Brewers fill some of that in with guys already in the system? Let’s take a look at some of the options.
Ashby, 27 in May, seemed like a potential rotation building block a few years ago. He tossed 139 innings in a swing role over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. His 4.47 ERA wasn’t especially impressive but his 27.1% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 57.8% ground ball rate seemed like a solid recipe for success.
The Brewers were intrigued enough to make a bet on the lefty, signing him to a five-year deal during the 2022 campaign which guaranteed him $20.5MM and also came with club options for 2028 and 2029.
Unfortunately, shoulder problems got in the way. Arthroscopic surgery wiped out his 2023 season. He returned last year and was kept mostly in a relief role, but with some good results. Down the stretch, he tossed 19 2/3 innings over 12 appearances with a 1.37 ERA, 36.8% strikeout rate, 3.9% walk rate and 51.1% ground ball rate.
With those numbers, it might be tempting to keep him in a bullpen role, but the club seems interested in stretching him out. Back in November, Murphy said the club still hopes to see what Ashby can do as a starter. He still has one option year and can be sent to the minors if the club would like.
Hall, 26, was a first-round pick of the Orioles in 2017 and went on to be a top 100 prospect. He came to the Brewers as part of the Corbin Burnes trade last offseason. He hasn’t lived up to that prospect hype just yet.
He has pitched in the past three seasons but logged only 76 innings. His 4.74 ERA doesn’t impress but his 25.1% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate make for a decent mixture. A left knee sprain hobbled him last year, limiting him to just 84 frames between the majors and minors. In 2022 and 2023, the Orioles shuttled him between the majors and the minors, as well as moving him between starting to relieving. He tossed 98 innings in 2022 between the majors and minors, then 71 1/3 in 2023. His minor league work has generally featured big strikeout numbers but also plenty of walks.
Hall is still a work in progress but the Brewers probably don’t want to give up on him, given the upside here. Like Ashby, he has one option year remaining, so pitching out of the Triple-A rotation isn’t off the table. He has one year and 74 days of service time, meaning he is currently slated for five years of club control, though a lengthy optional assignment could push that to six. Either way, he’s cheap and controllable for a long time to come.
Gasser, 26 in May, won’t be an option in the short term but is definitely part of the long-term plans. A former top 100 prospect, he debuted with a splash last year by posting a 2.57 ERA in his first five big league starts. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in June, wiping out the second half of his 2024. He’s now slated to miss most or perhaps all of 2025. He has less than a year of service time at the moment and the Brewers therefore have six years of club control over him.
Misiorowski, 23 in April, is not yet on the 40-man roster but is one of the top pitching prospects in the league. He reached as high as Triple-A last year, though the club eased off his workload by having him pitch shorter stints out of the bullpen to finish the year. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he tossed 97 1/3 innings on the year with a 3.33 ERA. He struck out 30.5% of hitters and got grounders at a 45.8% clip but also gave out walks 14.4% of the time. Though the club eased off the gas, that innings total is still his personal high thus far.
The righty is clearly going to factor into the mix at some point, but there’s clearly still some development going on. 2025 will likely be about reining in the control and getting the workload beyond the 100-inning mark, but it’s entirely possible that he throws some big league innings this year.
Rodríguez, 27 in March, is a wild card at the moment. He spent 2024 in a multi-inning role for the Yakult Swallows in Japan. He logged 45 innings over 32 appearances with a 1.80 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. Whether the Brewers view him more as a starter or a reliever is unknown.
Rodríguez, 23, made a limited MLB debut last year. He tossed 12 1/3 innings over three starts with a 7.30 ERA. Over the past three years, he has logged 365 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.49 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. Most prospect evaluators consider him a capable back-end starter but he’s still young and has a couple of options remaining, so he’ll likely be in the Triple-A rotation until circumstances change.
These two were each just added to the 40-man roster in November, to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Henderson, 23, is considered more of a legit prospect but he is still a question mark. Elbow surgery limited him to just 13 2/3 innings in 2022. He got that up to 78 2/3 in 2023 and then 81 1/3 last year. His minor league numbers are strong overall, with a 3.11 ERA, 34.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. However, he mostly gets by with a fastball/changeup mix that leads some to predict he’ll end up in the bullpen. Patrick is considered more of a depth/spot starter.
Bruce Zimmermann/Thomas Pannone/Easton McGee
These three signed minor league deals with the club this offseason. They all have a bit of major league experience and give the club some non-roster depth. Zimmermann has a 5.57 ERA in 158 1/3 innings and Pannone a 5.46 ERA in 118 2/3 innings, while McGee hasn’t allowed a run in his 9 2/3 innings.
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Though the Woodruff timeline creates some uncertainty, there are plenty of intriguing options here for the short term. But as mentioned, the Brewers will likely see three starters departing at the end of the year and a fourth after 2026. Ideally, guys like Ashby, Hall, Misiorowski and Gasser would step up take those spots, because the club usually doesn’t have a lot of spending power for bringing in free agents. That makes 2025 a key season in Milwaukee, since their future rotation plans are completely in flux.
Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins
Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.
It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.
There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.
Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.
Angels: Robert Stephenson
Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.
Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa
Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.
Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk
Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.
Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah
The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.
Braves: Joe Jiménez
Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.
Brewers: Robert Gasser
Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.
Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson
Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.
Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan
Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.
Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan
Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.
Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar
Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.
Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez
Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.
Mets: Christian Scott
Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.
Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson
Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.
Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells
Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.
Padres: Joe Musgrove
Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.
Pirates: Dauri Moreta
Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.
Rangers: Josh Sborz
Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.
Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim
The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.
Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy
Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.
Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson
Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.
Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long
Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.
White Sox: Jesse Scholtens
Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.
Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga
Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.
Brewers Select Joel Kuhnel
The Brewers announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Joel Kuhnel. In corresponding moves, right-hander Carlos Rodríguez was optioned to Triple-A Nashville while left-hander Robert Gasser was transferred to the 60-day injured list. The Brewers also announced their previously-reported deal to acquire Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners.
Kuhnel, 29, has bounced around the league this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the offseason and made that club’s roster in mid-April. He was later designated for assignment and flipped to the Blue Jays in a cash deal, though that club kept him on optional assignment before eventually designated him for assignment again. He cleared waivers and elected free agency, which led to his minor league deal with the Brewers a couple of weeks back.
Around those transactions, he has tossed 25 Triple-A innings between three different organizations with a 2.52 earned run average, 14.3% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and a lot of ground balls. Those peripherals are fairly in line with his major league track record, which consists of 85 2/3 innings dating back to his 2019 debut with the Reds. In that time, he has a 6.30 ERA, 19% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 52.2% ground ball rate.
He’ll give the club a fresh arm in their bullpen for the time being. He is in his final option season and can be easily sent back to Nashville at some point if the Brewers would like. He has not yet reached arbitration and could be retained beyond this season if he holds his 40-man spot all year, though he’ll be out of options next year.
Rodríguez was recently promoted for a rotation audition but currently has a 7.30 ERA through three starts. His optioning perhaps suggests that Keuchel will be added to the club’s roster to take that spot shortly. As noted by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com on X, the club lists tomorrow’s starter as TBA, with Colin Rea having previously been in that spot. That perhaps suggests that Keuchel will take the ball tomorrow and Rea will get an extra day of rest, though more information will undoubtedly be forthcoming between now and then.
As for Gasser, it was reported last week that he will require UCL surgery and is done for the year, so this transfer was an inevitable formality.