When Tyler Saladino and Cory Spangenberg were optioned last week, the Brewers pretty much set their bench heading into Opening Day. Now with another option Tuesday, it looks like they have their bullpen — and 25-man roster — set heading into Thursday. Despite pitching well for much of the spring, offseason addition Jake Petricka is likely the last cut from the roster, being optioned to Triple-A San Antonio today. RHP Jake Petricka has been optioned to Triple-A San Antonio. pic.twitter.com/x9iMUP8aEH — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 26, 2019 Petricka allowed 4 earned runs in 11 spring innings for the Cactus Crew, striking out 13 but also walking 6. He did show some potential to be the latest under-the-radar David Stearns bullpen signing, but he’ll start the year in Triple-A before inevitably jumping on the shuttle along with the rest of the guys at the bottom of the bullpen pecking order. Counsell said he expects Petricka to pitch a lot for #Brewers this season. — Tom (@Haudricourt) March 26, 2019 With that move made, here is who stands to be in uniform Thursday afternoon at Miller Park: C (2) - Yasmani Grandal, Manny Pina 1B (2) - Jesus Aguilar, Eric Thames 2B - Mike Moustakas 3B - Travis Shaw SS - Orlando Arcia INF - Hernan Perez OF (4) - Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Ryan Braun, Ben Gamel SP (5) - Jhoulys Chacin, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, Zach Davies RP (8) - Chase Anderson, Josh Hader, Matt Albers, Alex Claudio, Jacob Barnes, Junior Guerra, Taylor Williams, Alex Wilson Of course, if we know David Stearns, he may not be done adding yet, something that Craig Counsell alluded to today. #Brewers option reliever Jake Petricka to AAA. Down to 25 players but Counsell makes point of saying roster not necessarily set yet. — Tom (@Haudricourt) March 26, 2019 A last-second move is still possible as other teams finalize their own rosters and cut loose players that may potentially be useful to the Brewers — especially in the bullpen, as they try to cover for the early-season lack of Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel.<doc-sep>After winning 86 games and finishing a game out of the playoffs in 2017, the Milwaukee Brewers opened up the pocketbook and added roughly $145 mil in future payroll commitments to the books during the 2017-18 offseason. This led to close to a 50% jump in Opening Day payroll from 2017 ($63 mil) to 2018 ($91 mil). The Brewers proceeded to add even more money to the books during their run through the regular season and into the playoffs. The additional expenditures certainly aided Milwaukee’s cause, as the club improved to 96 victories and captured a division championship, securing their first playoff berth since 2011 before bowing out in game seven of the NLCS. The challenge for David Stearns and company was finding ways to improve the roster for 2019 without the same kind of payroll flexibility they had entering last offseason, and boy did they figure that one out! Total: $119,955,000 There are a few caveats to this chart, of course: Ryan Braun and Lorenzo Cain have deferred money in their contracts which will be paid out at a later date. Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal both have buyouts of mutual options after this season. Eric Thames, Matt Albers, Jeremy Jeffress, Chase Anderson, Jimmy Nelson, Grandal, Jake Petricka, Alex Wilson, Mike Moustakas, and Cain all have various attainable incentives built into their contracts. The MLB league minimum salary rises to $555,000 in 2019 and has been assigned to all pre-arbitration players, though ultimately many of those players will make a small amount over the league minimum. Players highlighted in red are ones who will begin the year on the Injured List. The payroll projection stood at about $110 mil at the outset of winter and rumors started to circulate about possible financial restrictions faced by Milwaukee. But then Mark Attanasio decided to do something that many other owners have actively resisted in recent years — actually spend money on good, available players. The club gave itself some breathing room for additions by non-tendering Jonathan Schoop and dealing away Domingo Santana and his projected arbitration raise. Those maneuvers, as well as several other arbitration contracts officially coming in below original projections, helped to pave the way for Milwaukee’s significant outlays this winter. Since our last payroll projection, the Brewers have re-signed Mike Moustakas to one-year deal with a mutual option as well as agreed with Alex Wilson on a one-year pact. They also subtracted Erik Kratz, sending him to San Francisco in a minor trade. All-in-all, those moves, combined with ones that Milwaukee made earlier this winter, have pushed payroll deep into club-record territory. Cot’s Contracts currently has the Brewers payroll/luxury tax obligations all the up to 14th in baseball, the highest that it’s been since the club ended the 2012 season with the league’s 14th-largest payroll (which was just under $100 mil at that time). Even with the increased expenditures, Mark A. has indicated that any perceived monetary restrictions from the outside wouldn’t be something that holds Milwaukee back from adding players in-season or at the trade deadline. That is especially notable considering the injuries to Knebel and Jeffress in the bullpen. Future Hall of Fame closer Craig Kimbrel is still sitting out on the open market, and while the rumors about a union with Milwaukee are no longer hot and heavy like they were a few days ago, we cannot close off the possibility of him signing until he actually puts pen to paper with someone. Contract information courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts<doc-sep>Six days from the season opener against St. Louis, the Brewers have optioned two utility options down to minor league camp as their 25-man roster begins to take shape. Tyler Saladino and Cory Spangenberg are today’s cuts, meaning the Brewers’ bench to start 2019 is now basically settled: INF Tyler Saladino and INF/OF Cory Spangenberg have been optioned to minor-league camp. — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 22, 2019 With today's moves, #Brewers bench is set: Eric Thames, Manny Pina, Hernan Perez and Ben Gamel. — Tom (@Haudricourt) March 22, 2019 While Spangenberg did show some good pop in his bat this spring, hitting .244/.277/.489 with 3 home runs and 2 doubles in 45 at-bats, his chance of making the Opening Day roster was effectively ended when the Brewers brought back Mike Moustakas. If Thames was going to make the roster as the backup first baseman/pinch-hitting power bat, only one of Spangenberg and Hernan Perez was likely to make the roster. Spangenberg did try to play some outfield this spring to further improve his versatility, but with Christian Yelich able to play all three outfield positions, David Stearns was never likely to keep more than four outfielders on the roster, and that fourth spot was all but guaranteed to be Gamel. Saladino was in the same boat as Spangenberg, hitting .238/.298/.524 with 3 home runs and 3 doubles in 42 at-bats, but seeing his chance at a roster spot disappear before the spring really got started. He was also one of the names of likely San Antonio Missions leaked to the team’s beat writer the other day before he was officially optioned. With the bench pretty much settled, the remaining cuts will come from the bullpen (and whatever happens with Erik Kratz). Injuries to Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel have opened up a couple of unexpected spots, and more moves to address that area of the team are likely in the coming days.<doc-sep>ST. LOUIS, MO - SEPTEMBER 24: Freddy Peralta #51 of the Milwaukee Brewers delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on September 24, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) The Milwaukee Brewers have made their decisions with the starting rotation for this season, narrowing it down to their initial five starting pitchers. Throughout all of spring training, the starting rotation battle has been the talk of the Milwaukee Brewers fanbase. There were seven candidates for five spots at the beginning of camp. We learned Jimmy Nelson would not be ready for Opening Day. Then we were down to six candidates for five spots. Jhoulys Chacin was announced as the Opening Day starter. Four spots remaining for five candidates. There were the young guns; Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Brandon Woodruff. And there were the veterans; Chase Anderson and Zach Davies. The winners of the rotation battle have been announced. The Brewers Starting Rotation All pitchers have been notified and this will be the initial starting rotation for the Milwaukee Brewers. #Brewers starters will be Chacin, Peralta, Woodruff, Burnes and Davies. Order of middle three not set in stone yet. — Tom (@Haudricourt) March 21, 2019 The three young guns of Burnes, Peralta, and Woodruff have all made the starting rotation. The final spot went to Davies, who is an ideal No. 5 starter, and Craig Counsell has placed him as such. Which order those middle three pitchers go in is yet to be determined. Based on ceiling alone, Burnes should be the No. 2 starter in this rotation, and Peralta would follow. Woodruff would be the No. 4 starter, if we go based off ceilings. Throughout spring, Burnes, Peralta, and Woodruff have all pitched extremely well. Woodruff just allowed his first runs of the spring yesterday. Peralta has looked better and more consistent this spring, and Burnes has his five pitch arsenal to work from now. What Does This Mean For Chase Anderson? Chase Anderson will begin the season in the bullpen as the long reliever. He’ll be available for spot starts if need be, but will not be a regular member of the rotation. Anderson struggled mightily this spring and toyed with a new delivery that did not work out for him. He abandoned that delivery in his last start and it increased his velocity a little but the results still weren’t there. Many thought Anderson would get a spot in the rotation because of his $6.5 million salary this season, but the Milwaukee Brewers simply went with the best five starters they had, and Anderson wasn’t one of them. What About When Jimmy Nelson Returns? When Nelson comes back, someone is moving out of this rotation. An argument could be made for a couple of options, but it’ll probably come down to who isn’t performing the best at that point. While it’ll still be early in the season when Nelson returns, if one of these pitches isn’t performing up to expectations, then Nelson will take their place. Outside of Chacin, every other starting pitcher has a minor league option remaining, so the Brewers would not have to release any of their current options and can simply put them in the minors. Zach Davies and Freddy Peralta are the two likeliest candidates to be removed when Nelson returns. Want your voice heard? Join the Reviewing The Brew team! Write for us! This is the starting rotation the Milwaukee Brewers are going with to start the season, and Craig Counsell has determined it’s time to give the young guys a chance to establish themselves.<doc-sep>
MARYVALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 22: Jake Petricka #36 of the Milwaukee Brewers poses during the Brewers Photo Day on February 22, 2019 in Maryvale, Arizona. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images) Milwaukee Brewers: 5 Keys To Success For The Crew In 2019 by David Gasper The Milwaukee Brewers announced their 25-man roster two days before Opening Day. Were there any surprises? Final cuts were made to get the Milwaukee Brewers down to the 25-man limit, and there was at least one surprise when the final roster was announced. Tyler Saladino and Cory Spangenberg were optioned to Triple-A last week, and Erik Kratz was traded a few days ago, so the bench has been set for days. We knew that Jhoulys Chacin and Corbin Burnes were in the starting rotation. Brandon Woodruff and Zach Davies were both expected to make the starting five, and they did. Freddy Peralta was announced as the starter for the second game of the season, and that makes five. Chase Anderson will start the year in the bullpen. Jimmy Nelson will likely start the season in extended Spring Training before getting a few tuneup starts in Triple-A. The only remaining part that needed to be announced was the bullpen. Who made the Brewers bullpen? Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress will start the year on the Injured List. Josh Hader will likely close, while Matt Albers, Alex Claudio, Jacob Barnes, and Junior Guerra were essentially locks for the bullpen with all the injuries that occurred. The final two spots came down to Jake Petricka, Taylor Williams, and the newly signed Alex Wilson. Williams and Wilson earned the final two spots, while Petricka was optioned to the Minors. Didn’t Petricka look like he won a spot? He did. Petricka appeared in ten games this Spring, and logged 11 innings. He posted a 3.27 ERA with 13 strikeouts, and six walks. He also earned a 1-0 record, and logged a save. He did give up four runs, but didn’t allow any homers. The Milwaukee Brewers are concerned by walks from their relievers, and Petricka had a few rough outings down the stretch. The team also clearly likes Williams and Wilson, so Petricka ended up as the odd man out this time. Want your voice heard? Join the Reviewing The Brew team! Write for us! Petricka was close to a job, and he’s likely the first call up when the Milwaukee Brewers need to play ‘reliever roulette’ if their bullpen arms are taxed. He may have missed the Opening Day roster, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to spend all year in Triple-A. He will return to the Milwaukee Brewers this year, and he will likely pitch often.