Brewers Almost Down to 25
The Brewers made a handful of additional roster moves in anticipation of paring the list down to 25 men to start the regular season on Monday, April 1st.
Here are the moves:
- Donnie Murphy exercised an “out” in his contract after learning he would not be making the 25-man roster and was released.
- Jeff Bianchi was officially placed on the 15-day DL today with left hip bursitis. Bianchi also dealt with a groin injury this spring which caused him to miss the World Baseball Classic. He was to play for Team Italy. Bianchi’s placement is retroactive to 3/22 (the earliest date you can backdate an injury to this year).
- Corey Hart was officially placed on the 15-day DL today as well, also retroactive to 3/22. Given the original estimate of recovery, the Brewers could have freed up a 40-man roster spot by having Hart start the season on the 60-day DL, but opted to go with the 15-day DL instead which probably means that they are optimistic of a return to the big league lineup prior to May 21st (which is 60 days after March 22nd).
The Brewers have only three more roster decisions to announce, but that won’t come until the team is back in Milwaukee this weekend for exhibition games against the Chicago White Sox.
Still to be decided are:
- Will the Brewers will begin the season with 13 pitchers? If so, it’s likely that an extra starter will be kept while Kyle Lohse ramps up.
- Who wins the final two spots in the bullpen? Brandon Kintzler is a lock in my opinion, but technically I suppose there are two spots for him, Alfredo Figaro, and Donovan Hand.
- Who wins the final bench spot (unless there are two)? With Yuniesky Betancourt, Logan Schafer, and Martin Maldonado locked in, if the team carries only 12 hitters that leaves one spot for either (in my opinion) Blake Lalli or Khris Davis. If the team only carries 12 pitchers, I think they both make it.
To hear who I think will make the team and win those battles, check out the latest podcast which should be posted tonight at some point.
The Brewer Nation 
Given the choices available, if the number is 12 then Lali and Davis both make it. If 13 pitchers are carried, then it’s Lali. Bentancort assumes the offensive role that Davis would have filled. Right handed pinch hitter with some pop. His defensive versatility, while not stellar, gives RR flexibility that Davis does not. Long term though, I don’t see Davis up for long, unless he really excels in a PH role. IMO it would hurt his development to sit the bench behind Braun for only a few PH opportunities a week. He needs to play, and the organization probably needs to decide if they want to invest in th growing pains of working him out at another position to give him options. Even his trade value is modest given an average arm and defensive range. It has been fun to follow him this year though.
Just because I believe human deserve to have their names spelled correctly… It’s “Lalli” and “Betancourt”.
That being said, most of what you said makes a lot of sense. Go check out my podcast for my thoughts. The one thing that I have to point out though is that Davis’ throwing arm isn’t “average” it’s “poor”.
My apologies for the poor spelling. I’m usually very particular in my accuracy. I neglected to look back at Lalli to double check, and I just brain cramped Betancourt. With a poor arm, even more reason to find another spot for Davis. The alternative is to get him back to AAA hope he has another big year offensively and maybe include him in a package to an AL team where he can DH.
Trade bait could very well be the best way he can help this team.