Revisiting Brewers' OD roster projections

Injuries to club's rotation, bullpen may provide opportunities

March 22nd, 2018

PHOENIX -- One week to go, and new circumstances for Brewers officials to consider as they ponder their Opening Day roster.
Injuries have knocked from the starting rotation and from the bullpen, forcing general manager David Stearns, manager Craig Counsell and their staffs to take a fresh look at how they will construct a 25-man roster for the season opener against the Padres on March 29 at Petco Park.
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"It's two less guys," Counsell said. "We'll keep open different ways to construct [the roster], but when you take away one guy that was a lock on the team and one guy who was certainly under strong considerations, it moves some other guys up. And it also makes us look at different ways to put it together."
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The Brewers are leaning toward beginning the season with only four starting pitchers, since they will not need a fifth starter until the eighth game. That helps a little, but it still leaves plenty of question marks for an outsider attempting to guess how things will look on Opening Day.
Here's another stab at it:
Catcher (2): and
March 15 projection: Pina and Bandy
Pre-camp projection: Pina and
Vogt will start the season on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. That cleared a path for Bandy.
First base (3):, and
March 15 projection: Thames, Aguilar and Braun
Pre-camp projection: Thames and Braun

Yes, that's still too many first basemen. But the Miley and Logan injuries were a good reminder that it's best to delay decisions until the last possible moment, and the Brewers could try to hold onto Aguilar as long as possible.
Second base (2): and
March 15 projection: Villar and Sogard
Pre-camp projection: Villar and Sogard
Villar was having a nice camp as of the one-week-to-go mark, slashing .326/.383/.442.
Third base (1):
March 15 projection: Shaw
Pre-camp projection: Shaw
Shortstop (1):
March 15 projection: Arcia
Pre-camp projection: Arcia
Arcia extended his Cactus League hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the first inning on Thursday. Shaw leads the team with four spring homers.

Outfielders (3):, , (and Braun)
March 15 projection: Cain, Santana, Yelich (and Braun)
Pre-camp projection: Cain, Santana, Yelich (and Braun)
After two months of trade speculation, it looks like Santana will make it to Opening Day with the Brewers.
Utility (1):
March 15 projection: Perez
Pre-camp projection: Perez
Mr. Versatility just needs to catch and he will have played every position in the Majors.
Starting pitchers (4):Chase Anderson, , ,
March 15 projection: Anderson, Davies, Chacin, Wade Miley
Pre-camp projection: Anderson, Davies, Chacin, , Suter

Suter could take Logan's spot in the bullpen, but Stearns said the team would choose Suter's role independent from Thursday's injury news. and Woodruff are the other options for that fourth starter spot, but since Suter opened the spring with a "leg up," as Counsell put it, we'll go with him.
Bullpen (8):, , Matt Albers, , , , ,
March 15 projection: Knebel, Hader, Boone Logan, Albers, Barnes, Jeffress, Gallardo, Hoover
Pre-camp projection: Knebel, Hader, Logan, Albers, Barnes, Jeffress, Gallardo, Hoover

Drake isn't a left-hander, but he's out of options and gets left-handed batters out (.685 OPS last season), so he could fill Logan's spot to start the season. The hope, Stearns said, is that Logan will not miss too much time. , the electric-armed right-hander, remains in play for one of the final bullpen spots.