Milwaukee Brewers: What’s the rotation when Davies returns?

With the current success of Freddy Peralta, what does the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation look like when Zach Davies is healthy?

The Current Rotation

Freddy Peralta has looked very good in four major league starts. He has not given up an earned run in three of his four starts. He looks like a possible future ace of the rotation. Junior Guerra looks like the Junior Guerra from 2016. Chase Anderson has not had the type of success he had last year but was our number one starter going into the season.

Jhoulys Chacin has pitched extremely well this year and Brent Suter continues to pitch better with each outing. Known for not going long into games, Suter’s last three outings have gone into the 7th inning. In addition, he hasn’t given up more than three runs in seven of his last eight starts.  Even though we don’t have any new information on Jimmy Nelson, it is still possible that he could return some time this year.

When Zach Davies returns from the disabled list, Craig Counsell has a tough decision to make in order to figure out who is going to be the odd man out of the rotation. Davies has been injured for most of the year and when he has pitched, he hasn’t pitched well.  That may be a result of his shoulder injury. This year he has a 2-5 record with an ERA over 5.00. However, he has shown success as a Brewer and hasn’t had a year with the team where his ERA is over 4.00.  He was also a 17 game winner in 2017.

With the success of this rotation, the Milwaukee Brewers can take their time bringing back Davies.  He seems to have tried to come back too early the last time he went on the disabled list.  Shoulder injuries can be very tricky to recover from.

What will they do

Once Davies is back, I believe the Brewers will send Peralta down to the minors, even though he deserves to stay, and put him back into the starting rotation. This is contingent upon no other Brewers starter getting hurt. I think the team wants Davies to be a starter and has seen enough success over the last few years to put him back in the rotation.

Now that Suter is stretched out and able to make it into the seventh inning, I think they will keep him in the rotation instead of moving him back to a long relief role. Anderson, Chacin and Guerra seem safe in their spots as well.

Next: Rumors: Derek Dietrich on Club's Radar

Regardless of how this turns out, the Milwaukee Brewers have a tough decision to make and a good problem to have.  The depth and success of this rotation may change opinions on what the priority trade target is for this team.