Brewers Not Yet Settled On Late-Game Bullpen Roles
The bullpen was again a strength for the Brewers in 2025, and closer Trevor Megill led the way with 30 saves, a 2.49 ERA over 49 innings, and an All-Star nod. As well as Megill has pitched in the ninth-inning role over the last two seasons, however, manager Pat Murphy was non-committal on the topic of who his closer will be in 2026.
“I feel like we’ll look at the matchups and see what’s best. We’ll look at the health of the pitcher. You might see other guys in that mix too,” Murphy told Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While noting that it is still early in Spring Training for such decisions, Murphy hinted at more of a committee approach by saying “I mean, that’s kind of like the message to the whole Milwaukee Brewers team, right? You have to be uncommon. That’s an uncommon mindset for us to thread the needle the way we want to.”
Megill’s status might’ve been more secure if it hadn’t been for a right flexor strain that sent him to the injured list late last August. Megill missed a little over a month of action and was able to return for one regular-season game before the postseason got underway, as well as five playoff appearances. Megill had a 2.25 ERA over his four postseason innings, but as Rosiak notes, the Brewers used him in non-closing leverage roles. This even included a perfect inning for Megill as the opener in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the NLDS. which ended up being a 3-1 Brewers victory over the Cubs.
While Megill was on the IL, fellow hard-throwing righty Abner Uribe stepped in to record five saves as the fill-in closer, adding to Uribe’s resume over a dominant season. Uribe posted a 1.67 ERA, 53.2% grounder rate, 30.2% strikeout rate, and 9.1% strikeout rate over 75 1/3 innings and 75 appearances. By comparison, Megill had a 2.49 ERA, 39.3% grounder rate, 31.3K%, and 8.9BB% across his 47 frames, and SIERA had the two pitchers as virtually equal — Uribe with a 2.89 and Megill with a 2.93.
Uribe’s 75 appearances tied him for the seventh-most games of any pitcher in 2025. This durability could mean that Megill ultimately ends up closing more games, if Milwaukee returns to Uribe as a heavily-used reliever for all sorts of leverage or set-up situations. The Brewers’ projected bullpen is unusually heavy on left-handed pitchers, so the right-handed Uribe and Megill could conceivably be used in more situational high-leverage scenarios, with a southpaw like Jared Koenig or Angel Zerpa deployed to lock down the ninth.
As of last week, Megill said he hadn’t heard anything about his role for the coming season. While he felt “I think we can probably roll the same way we rolled last year,” Megill stressed that he is happy in whatever job the Brewers see fit, and praised his partnership with his friend Uribe as “a great dynamic.” On the health front, Megill added that he had a PRP injection during the offseason to help address his right flexor.
The bigger-picture element of bullpen lineup is that Uribe may now be viewed as Milwaukee’s long-term closer of the future, if not the immediate present. Uribe doesn’t turn 26 until June and he is under team control through the 2030 season. Megill is entering his age-32 season and has one more year of arbitration eligibility before he hits free agency following the 2027 campaign.
Megill and the Brewers avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $4.7MM salary for the 2026 season. It’s a healthy raise over the $1.94MM Megill earned in 2024, and reflective of how save totals can quickly boost a pitcher’s earning potential. Arbitration panels favor traditional counting stats like wins, strikeouts, or (in a reliever’s case) saves ahead of advanced metrics, so consistent ninth-inning work usually leads to bigger paydays through a closer’s arb years.
The Brewers could be looking to curb Megill’s 2027 salary potential by limiting his save totals in 2026, though there is probably a better possibility that Megill’s future salaries will be another team’s problem. The Brewers tend to trade higher-salaried players as they approach free agency, including past closers as Josh Hader and Devin Williams. Megill’s first extended taste of closing work came in 2024 when Williams was sidelined with stress fractures in his back, and while Milwaukee was likely always going to be trading Williams during the 2024-25 offseason, Megill’s success as the stopper certainly made the front office’s decision easier.
Megill was involved in some trade rumors of his own this winter, as such teams as the Yankees and Mets were reportedly interested in acquiring the right-hander. It’s not entirely out of the question that Megill is still dealt, which could be why the Brewers have been hesitant about naming a full-time closer. While Opening Day is still over a month away, however, the fact that camp has already started probably lowers the chance of a Megill trade. Moving your closer in Spring Training is far different than moving your closer at the trade deadline a la the Hader deal in 2022, but since trading Hader infamously disrupted the Brewers’ chemistry, the team is certainly more sensitive about how such transactions can shake up a clubhouse.
For Megill, he took the trade speculation in stride, saying “There’s always people calling and seeing what’s what. I’m sure they’re still doing it. But just knowing how the team is and the cycle of the closer here, you just see it more as business and it might happen at any time. Just have to be OK with that and be a good teammate until it happens.”
Mets, Yankees Among Teams Inquiring On Brewers’ Trevor Megill
Though much of the trade chatter surrounding the Brewers will focus on ace Freddy Peralta, who’s a free agent following the season, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that closer Trevor Megill is drawing interest from an even wider number of clubs. That includes the Yankees and Mets, per the report.
Megill, 32, popped up as a speculative trade candidate last month after Brandon Woodruff accepted his one-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer. That decision pushed the Brewers’ payroll up to its currently projected $135.5MM, per RosterResource, which would stand as the highest Opening Day total in franchise history.
There’s no indication that Milwaukee needs to shed salary now — they wouldn’t have made the QO to Woodruff had they been wholly unwilling to risk him accepting — but the budget has obviously tightened since he decided to forgo the open market. In the aftermath of that trade, both president of baseball operations Matt Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio publicly indicated that Woodruff accepting his QO and any decision on whether to trade Peralta (or other veterans on notable salaries) were separate issues. The fact that Milwaukee tendered contracts to its entire arbitration class, including a borderline non-tender candidate in Jake Bauers, supports that thinking.
Still, the Brewers are perennially open-minded when it comes to trading established veterans as they inch closer to free agency. They traded Josh Hader when he had one and a half seasons of club control left. Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams were traded in the offseason prior to their final years of club control. Stretching further back, the Brewers traded Jonathan Lucroy when he was a year and a half from free agency, too. Listening on someone like Megill, who’ll be a free agent after the 2027 season and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.2MM in 2026, is par for the course.
It’s also plenty understandable that the flamethrowing Megill would be drawing widespread interest. Not only is he controllable for two more seasons and projected for a relatively bargain salary — he’s also quietly established himself as one of the more overpowering relievers in the game.
The Brewers acquired Megill in a heist of a deal with the Twins early in the 2023 season, sending a player to be named later to Minnesota, who’d designated Megill for assignment after one season. The Twins had claimed him off waivers following a DFA by the Cubs the offseason prior. Chicago had previously selected him from the Padres in the Rule 5 Draft. Suffice it to say, Megill’s path to being a high-end reliever was anything but direct.
That’s precisely where he finds himself now, though. Since landing in Milwaukee, Megill has bumped what was already plus-plus velocity, climbing from an average of 98.1 mph on his four-seamer to 99.2 mph this past season. He’s dropped his earned run average in four consecutive seasons, culminating in last year’s sterling 2.49 mark.
In 128 innings with the Brewers, Megill touts a 2.88 ERA (2.99 SIERA, 2.62 FIP). He’s fanned an outstanding 31% of his opponents and done so while showing average command, evidenced by an 8.2% walk rate. He’s prone to hard contact in the air when opponents do connect — 91 mph average exit velocity (93.6 mph in the air), 40.2% hard-hit rate, 44.4% fly-ball rate — but Megill also boasts a big 14% swinging-strike rate and an opponents’ contact rate of just 71.5% in three years as a Brewer. (League average is just under 77%.) He’s also saved 50 games, including 30 in 2025.
Megill missed time late in 2025 with a flexor strain, which could complicate trade talks, but he returned prior to the end of the season and then fired four sharp innings in the playoffs (one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts). He’s allowed one run in 7 1/3 playoff innings over three seasons in Milwaukee, totaling a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio along the way.
Two years of Megill at what would amount to something in the $10-11MM range (depending on the scope of next winter’s arbitration raise) would be a raucous bargain. In free agency, he’d command more than that total per year — likely over three or four years. It’s the sort of surplus value and the general price range that should command interest from all walks of postseason hopefuls.
The Mets are an obvious fit, given president of baseball operations David Stearns’ ties to the Brewers organization. Stearns had already stepped aside as president of baseball operations at the time Megill was acquired, but he was still serving as an advisor to the aforementioned Arnold, who’d been his top lieutenant prior to that advisor shift. The Mets have already signed Williams — another former Brewer — on a three-year, $51MM contract. The bullpen remains a work in progress, however. Each of Tyler Rogers, Ryne Stanek, Gregory Soto and Ryan Helsley became a free agent at season’s end. Lefty A.J. Minter is on the mend from lat surgery. Reed Garrett and Tylor Megill — Trevor’s younger brother — will miss all of 2026 after undergoing UCL surgery (the former in October, the latter in September).
It’s a similar story across town in the Bronx. The Yankees lost Clay Holmes to free agency last offseason and saw Williams and Luke Weaver hit the open market this winter. Mark Leiter Jr. and Ian Hamilton were non-tendered. The top end of Aaron Boone’s bullpen is a bit more established than that of counterpart Carlos Mendoza over in Queens, but the Yankees are surely in the market for multiple bullpen arms to complement David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval and Tim Hill.
For clubs like the Mets, Yankees and other luxury-tax payors, Megill ought to hold extra interest. Both New York clubs are perennial residents in the top bracket of luxury penalization. They’re paying anywhere from 95% to 110% taxes on incoming additions. Getting Megill would “only” cost them a total of $8-9MM — plus whatever prospects are deemed necessary for the Brewers to part with him.
To emphasize once more, there’s no clear indication Megill (or Peralta) will actually change hands. The Brewers will understandably set a high asking price for either. They just tallied the best record in the National League and lost very few players in free agency. They’ll also get a full year out of the new-and-improved Andrew Vaughn (.308/.375/.493 in 64 games with Milwaukee) and can count on more innings from Woodruff (64 2/3 innings in 2025). Milwaukee has to be considered the division front-runner and a threat to make a deep playoff run. If they part with Megill and/or Peralta, it’ll very likely be for younger, affordable big leaguers who can be controlled for a much longer term — or at the very least for high-end prospects who could be subsequently spun into more controllable big league help.
Brewers Announce Injury Updates: William Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Sal Frelick
Milwaukee announced health news for several players on Thursday. Catcher William Contreras may be facing a corrective procedure for his finger, while infielder Caleb Durbin is expected to have elbow surgery, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, among others. Outfielder Sal Frelick was cleared of any concern, as were pitchers Trevor Megill, DL Hall, and Logan Henderson.
Contreras played through a fractured left middle finger for the majority of the season. The injury was announced in early May, but it was believed to have occurred during the 2024 season. Contreras is meeting with a hand specialist next week for a “potential correction,” noted McCalvy.
The 27-year-old backstop endured his worst season in his three-year tenure in Milwaukee. Contreras slashed .260/.355/.399 with a 113 wRC+. Those would be solid marks for most catchers, but Contreras had set quite the standard since coming over from Atlanta. He posted back-to-back seasons with a batting average above .280 and a slugging percentage over .450. Contreras didn’t miss any time with the finger injury, but it seemed to inhibit his power. He totaled 35 extra-base hits this past season after exceeding that mark in doubles alone in both 2023 and 2024.
Durbin is slated for arthroscopic elbow surgery next week. The infielder dealt with elbow irritation near the end of the season, reports Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He’s expected to be healthy for the 2026 campaign.
Durbin came to the Brewers this past offseason in the trade that sent closer Devin Williams to the Yankees. He opened the season at Triple-A Nashville, but was promoted to the big-league club a few weeks into the season. Durbin hit well enough to hold down the third base job for the rest of the year. He also made appearances at second base and shortstop. Durbin slashed a respectable .256/.334/.387 while recording double-digit home runs and stolen bases. He hit safely in six of Milwaukee’s nine postseason games, including two doubles and a triple.
Frelick battled knee soreness over the final months of the regular season. He missed a handful of games in early August, but never went to the IL. Offseason imaging on the knee came back clean, with the team describing the findings as “unremarkable.” Frelick is expected to have a normal offseason.
Megill and Hall both returned from injuries just in time for the playoffs. Megill’s flexor strain and Hall’s oblique issue were deemed fully recovered. Henderson’s season was cut short by a flexor strain of his own, but he’s also good to go now.
Quinn Priester is expected to have a normal offseason after dealing with wrist soreness. He never went to the IL with the injury and was available for a pair of postseason appearances. The issue will be managed with treatment and rehab heading into the 2026 season.
Brewers Outright Erick Fedde
September 30: As expected, Fedde went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He can stick in the organization for the rest of the postseason in case injuries open a path back to the big league bullpen.
September 28: The Brewers announced today that left-hander DL Hall and right-hander Trevor Megill have been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. In corresponding moves, they have optioned right-hander Carlos Rodríguez and designated righty Erick Fedde for assignment. It was reported in recent days that Megill would likely be back from the IL today.
Fedde, 32, was picked up off the scrap heap about a month ago. A rough first half with the Cardinals led to him being designated for assignment in July. He landed with Atlanta but was released a few weeks into August.
The Brewers had suffered a few injuries and brought Fedde aboard. Since then, he absorbed 16 innings over seven appearances out of the Milwaukee bullpen. His 3.38 earned run average in that time was fine but his matching 10.6% strikeout and walk rates were both subpar.
Milwaukee has just one regular season game remaining and then have a bye through the Wild Card round. They don’t really need a long reliever anymore and Fedde wasn’t going to be in line for playoff innings, so he’s been bumped off the roster.
He’ll be placed on outright or release waivers now but there will be no point in any club putting in a claim. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any other team and he is a free agent at season’s end. He would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, though he might accept an outright for the off-chance that the Brewers suffer some injuries and need him later in October.
Overall, between his three clubs, Fedde logged 141 innings this year with a 5.49 ERA, 13.3% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. That’s a hugely disappointed campaign when compared to his 2024 season.
After a seeming breakout in Korea in 2023, he returned to North American ball by signing a two-year, $15MM deal with the White Sox. The first year of that pact worked out quite well. Last season, he tossed 177 1/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 42.1% ground ball rate. The Cards acquired him from the White Sox ahead of the deadline. He’ll face a far softer market in his return to free agency this winter.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Brewers Notes: Misiorowski, Megill, Quintana
The Brewers need one win over the Reds or a Phillies loss to the Twins to secure the #1 seed in the National League. Although this weekend isn’t a meaningless series for the Brew Crew, they’re far more concerned about shaping plans for the Division Series that’ll begin eight days from now.
That includes using Jacob Misiorowski out of the bullpen in preparation for his expected postseason role. The 23-year-old will make his first career relief appearance behind lefty Robert Gasser tomorrow (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). Gasser will likely be limited to 3-4 innings as he continues building back from last year’s elbow surgery. Misiorowski should work multiple innings out of the ‘pen.
The rookie righty was so electric over his first few appearances that he was named to the All-Star Game five starts into his career. He has a 5.45 earned run average in the second half. Misiorowski has only gone beyond five innings once over his past nine times out. He has very little experience turning a lineup over more than twice. Milwaukee prefers to let him max out over shorter stints in high-leverage situations in October.
Milwaukee’s bullpen should get another big boost this weekend. Closer Trevor Megill is expected back from the 15-day injured list on Sunday, reports Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Brewers will probably get him into that game regardless of the score to ensure he gets on the mound before the start of the postseason. Megill, who has 30 saves with a 2.54 ERA, has missed the past month with a forearm strain. Skipper Pat Murphy has since used a committee approach in the ninth inning. Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig and Aaron Ashby have each recorded saves in Megill’s absence.
Jose Quintana won’t pitch this weekend but also seems to be trending towards a return in the Division Series. The veteran starter tossed three innings in a live batting practice session this afternoon (via the MLB.com injury tracker). Quintana has been down since the middle of September with a strained left calf.
If he’s healthy, Quintana could line up to start Game 3 of the NLDS. Milwaukee will very likely go with Freddy Peralta and Quinn Priester in the first two contests. Brandon Woodruff hasn’t officially been ruled out for the Division Series, but that’d require him returning from a lat strain after a minimal stint. If Woodruff can’t make it back, Quintana and rookie righty Chad Patrick would presumably be the options to take the ball in the third game. Murphy wouldn’t wait long to get into a deep bullpen in that one.
Brewers Place Trevor Megill On IL Due To Flexor Strain, Sign Erick Fedde
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
Trevor Megill Undergoes MRI On Knee, Seeking Second Opinion
The start of the 2025 campaign has been a bit of a mixed bag for Brewers right-hander Trevor Megill. The righty seemed like the natural successor to Devin Williams in the ninth inning after Milwaukee’s star closer was traded to the Yankees over the offseason, but a difficult spring appears to have carried over into the regular season. While Megill has struck out 36.4% of his opponents this year, that’s been paired with an 18.2% walk rate and a 5.79 ERA across six appearances.
That’s just 4 2/3 innings of work, a sample small enough for any reliever to run cold and have it be nothing more notable than that. That hasn’t stopped the Brewers and Megill from seeking answers, however. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy noted last night that Megill has been pitching through a knee issue that proved to be bothersome enough that the club sent him for an MRI. The initial results came back clean, but McCalvy later added this morning that Megill told reporters this morning that he’s seeking a second opinion on his knee after the first look at his recent imaging showed “nothing alarming.”
That’s certainly encouraging news, although the fact that Megill is experiencing enough discomfort that he’s seeking a second opinion is at least somewhat worrying. The righty was down for six days earlier this month before pitching in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, after which he opted to seek a second opinion. Until that updated review of Megill’s imaging results comes in, it’s hard to say whether or not an IL stint is in the right-hander’s future. At the very least, it seems likely the Brewers will hold him out of games until those results come back and confirm that he’s healthy enough to pitch. Losing the right-hander for any amount of time would be a significant blow to the bullpen. Since joining the Brewers in 2023, Megill has been nothing short of fantastic with a 3.11 ERA and 2.69 FIP, including a 2.72 ERA in 48 appearances last year.
Those impressive numbers surely helped contribute to the club’s willingness to part ways with Williams this winter rather than hold onto him in his final year before free agency the way they kept shortstop Willy Adames in the fold last year due to his importance to the club’s ability to contend. No internal replacement can reasonably be expected to replace the production of Williams, who is on the shortlist for the very best relievers in all of baseball. Even so, his departure for the Bronx over the offseason makes Megill all the more important for the Brewers in a season where the NL Central figures to be far more competitive than it was last season, when Milwaukee cruised to a division crown with a ten-game lead over the second-place Cubs and Cardinals in the standings.
If Megill were to require a trip to the injured list, the Brewers do have some internal options they could lean on in the late innings. Righty Abner Uribe as well as lefties Bryan Hudson and Jared Koenig have all looked excellent to this point in the season and have past success with the Brewers in leverage situations and any of them could reasonably called upon in the ninth inning if Megill does require a trip to the shelf to address his ailing knee at some point. Elvis Peguero is the only reliever on the 40-man roster who’s available in the minors to be called up should a roster move be necessary, though Deivi Garcia and Vinny Nittoli are among the non-roster players with big league experience the club could turn to if they so desire.
Brewers To Place Trevor Megill On 15-Day Injured List
The Brewers will be placing right-hander Trevor Megill on the 15-day injured list due to a back problem, according to multiple members of the team’s beat (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Acquired in a trade with the Twins in April 2023, Megill is the latest in a string of relievers to hit a new level of performance after coming to Milwaukee. Megill had a 6.03 ERA over his first 68 2/3 career big league innings with the Cubs and Twins in 2021-22, but with some intriguing secondary metrics that hinted at a higher ceiling, and he delivered on that potential with a 3.63 ERA over 34 2/3 frames with Milwaukee last season.
Megill has been even better in 2024, with a 2.41 ERA and excellent walk (5.9%) and strikeout (29.4%) rates over 33 2/3 innings in the Crew’s bullpen. While he has allowed a lot of hard contact and has become rather an extreme fly ball pitcher this season, Megill’s 98.8mph fastball has been one of baseball’s more dominant offerings, pairing nicely with his curve to fool batters.
This performance has come in several high-leverage circumstances, as Megill has acted as Milwaukee’s closer (saving 20 of 23 chances) while Devin Williams has missed almost the entire season due to stress fractures in his back. Williams only made his season debut yesterday, so the Brewers are facing some unfortunate irony in losing Megill to a back problem just as Williams returns. Bryan Hudson was also just placed on the 15-day IL due to an oblique strain, in another big hit to the relief corps. Nick Mears was acquired in a trade with the Rockies on Saturday, but with Hudson and now Megill both out, the Brewers could certainly look to further bolster the bullpen prior to tomorrow’s trade deadline.
Brewers Notes: Megill, Uribe, Quero, Mitchell
Brewers right-hander Trevor Megill was placed on the 7-day concussion list this morning, the team announced. Right-hander JB Bukauskas is up from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot on the roster. The injury occurred in bizarre and frightening fashion, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (X link) Megill contracted food poisoning last weekend and in the aftermath felt light-headed, fainted and wound up suffering a concussion when his 6’8″ frame dropped to the ground.
It’s another tough loss for a Milwaukee bullpen that’s without closer Devin Williams for at least the next couple months. Megill, 30, was an unheralded acquisition by the Brewers last offseason who’s tossed 36 2/3 innings with a 3.44 ERA with a massive 35% strikeout rate against a solid 8.3% walk rate. With Williams sidelined, Megill, Joel Payamps and young flamethrower Abner Uribe were slated for significant late-inning work in first-year skipper Pat Murphy’s bullpen.
The Brewers didn’t provide a timetable for Megill’s return, which is plenty understandable given the nature of his injury. Concussions are difficult to predict, and the severity can vary greatly. Even ostensibly minor concussions can have lingering effects that impact a player for extended periods of time.
In Bukauskas, the Brewers will turn a bullpen spot over to a 27-year-old former top prospect whom they acquired off waivers early in the 2023 season. He pitched six shutout innings for Milwaukee last year but carries a 5.92 ERA in a tiny sample of 24 1/3 big league innings. Rough as that may look, Bukauskas also logged a 2.92 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in 37 Triple-A frames for the Brewers last year, and he fanned 16 of his 41 spring opponents (39%) en route to a 3.72 ERA. There’s plenty of uncertainty in the final few spots of the Brewer bullpen, so it stands to reason that with a strong first impression, Bukauskas could potentially carve out a role for himself. He’s controllable for another five seasons if he’s able to do so.
Megill’s injury will only further open the door for the 23-year-old Uribe to establish himself as a viable high-leverage option. He’s 3-for-3 in save opportunities on the young season and, dating back to last year’s MLB debut, carries a 1.87 ERA and 29.9% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings. Command is an issue for Uribe, who’s walked 15.3% of his opponents, plunked a hitter and unleashed six wild pitches in his young career. However, he’s also averaged 99.4 mph on his blazing sinker and induced grounders at a hearty 53.4% clip, showing clear late-inning promise.
The Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak spoke to Uribe and his teammates about the impressive young righty’s rise to meaningful late-inning work. “I live for it,” Uribe said of pitching in adrenaline-charged scenarios like the save situations he’s encountered thus far. Murphy tells Rosiak he’s been impressed with the right-hander’s demeanor despite his youth, noting that Uribe “has learned so far and really kept his emotions under control and focused on his task.”
Payamps has picked up one save in the Brewers’ first four wins of the year as well, but it seems Uribe will be the preferred option for ninth-inning work while Williams and Megill mend. Presumably, when Williams is able to return, Uribe will slide back down into a setup role. It’s always possible the command struggles will flare up and lead to a particularly rough patch, but at least this far in his young career, Uribe looks the part of a legitimate late-inning arm who can stick at the MLB level. If that’s indeed the case, Milwaukee can control him all the way through the 2029 season and he won’t be arb-eligible until after the 2026 campaign.
Elsewhere in the organization, the Brew Crew is still in the early stages of navigating a shoulder injury for touted catching prospect Jeferson Quero. The 21-year-old suffered the injury in Nashville’s season opener, and GM Matt Arnold this week announced that Quero has been diagnosed with a subluxation in his right shoulder (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). He’s had one MRI and is receiving a second opinion to determine the severity of the issue and get a clear sense of his rehab plan. The Brewers haven’t announced a timetable for his return or whether surgery might be required.
Quero is widely regarded not only as one of the Brewers’ best prospects but the best prospects in all of baseball, landing on top-100 lists at The Athletic (No. 12), ESPN (No. 32), Baseball America (No. 33), MLB.com (No. 35), Baseball Prospectus (No. 38) and FanGraphs (No. 40). The Athletic’s Keith Law calls Quero a likely plus defender behind the plate with the potential for 20-homer power during his prime years.
Quero spent the 2023 season as one of the youngest players in Double-A but more than held his own against older, more advanced competition. In 381 plate appearances, he slashed .262/.339/.440 (107 wRC+) with an impressive 10% walk rate against a lower-than-average 17.8% strikeout rate.
In better injury news, McCalvy tweets that outfielder Garrett Mitchell is on a timeline of four to six weeks to return from the fractured finger in his left hand, which is thus far healing as expected. The 25-year-old has gotten brief looks in the outfield in each of the past two seasons, posting a combined .278/.343/.452 slash (119 wRC+) with five homers and nine steals. It’s very strong production, but those numbers are also propped up by a wildly unsustainable .441 average on balls in play and mask a more ominous 38.3% strikeout rate. It’s only 141 plate appearances, but Mitchell will eventually need to significantly cut back on the strikeouts if he’s to carve out a long-term role in Milwaukee’s outfield.
Brewers Select Caleb Boushley, DFA Julio Teheran Amid Flurry Of Roster Moves
The Brewers have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Caleb Boushley, the team announced. To make room on the roster, Julio Teheran has been designated for assignment. In addition, the team has swapped out one lefty for another, optioning Ethan Small and recalling Clayton Andrews in his place. Lastly, the Brewers also placed right-hander Trevor Megill on the restricted list.
Boushley will be making his MLB debut, just two days ahead of his 30th birthday. Selected by the Padres in the 33rd round of the 2017 draft, he played in the Padres system throughout the first five years of his professional career. He joined the Brewers organization ahead of the 2022 season and pitched well for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, starting 25 games and posting an ERA of 3.25. The righty hasn’t performed quite so well this year, pitching to a 5.11 ERA in 29 games (26 starts). Still, he has evidently done enough to earn a call to the show after seven years in the minor leagues. It seems unlikely the Brewers are considering Boushley for a spot on the postseason roster, and with the NL Central crown already locked up, they might just be giving the career minor leaguer a long-awaited cup of coffee with the big league squad.
As for Teheran, this marks an unceremonious end to his mini-comeback season. The two-time All-Star had not played a regular role for an MLB club since 2020. He spent most of the 2021 campaign on the injured list and then split his time in 2022 between the Atlantic League and the Mexican League.
The 32-year-old looked excellent through his first six appearances with Milwaukee, posting a 1.53 ERA and averaging nearly six innings per start. However, he struggled through his next four outings before landing on the injured list and missing the next eight weeks of the season. Teheran returned in mid-September as a long reliever, and while he looked capable, giving up just two earned runs in nine innings of work, it was far from a guarantee that the Brewers would find a spot for him on the postseason roster.
Small was recalled on Wednesday and threw a single scoreless inning against the Cardinals. It was a substantial improvement over his last big league appearance back in May, when he gave up five runs on nine hits in three innings of mop-up work against the Giants. Nonetheless, the Brewers have decided to replace him with Andrews, another 26-year-old lefty with limited major league experience. Andrews made his MLB debut in July and has thrown a grand total of 1 2/3 big league innings, giving up eight earned runs on eight hits. Both pitchers have much better numbers at Triple-A, although Andrews was especially dominant over the final two months of the minor league season, pitching to a 2.12 ERA in August and September.
The Brewers have three southpaws higher up on the depth chart (Hoby Milner, Wade Miley, and Andrew Chafin), so it’s unlikely they’re auditioning Andrews for a postseason role. More likely, they’re just taking stock of the various arms in the organization over the final days of the regular season.
Finally, while the restricted list can sound ominous, Megill is simply spending an extra day with his wife and newborn baby, having maxed out his three days on the paternity list. He is expected back tomorrow, Craig Counsell told reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).