Milwaukee Brewers: What to do with Junior Guerra?

The Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation has fallen on tough times recently. No one in that rotation has had it tougher than Junior Guerra lately. Should Milwaukee consider switching up his role on the team going forward?

In the month of August alone, Junior Guerra owns a 7.10 ERA. In his five starts this month, he has given up 40 hits in 24.1 innings pitched, to go along with 25 runs allowed (19 earned). Hitters have been teeing off against Guerra since the All Star Break.

For a team that hopes to play postseason baseball, having a guy like that in the rotation is not going to cut it. After Tuesday’s showing against Cincinnati, Guerra did not make a compelling case to stick around in the rotation.

Guerra couldn’t make it out of the second inning, allowing six runs on eight hits in only 1.1 innings pitched. On the year, Guerra possesses a 4.09 ERA and owns a 6-8 record.

The bullpen is a solution

With Zach Davies reportedly due to come off the DL this Sunday there is no better time for the Milwaukee Brewers to make a move. The easiest solution is to simply move Guerra to the bullpen and put Davies back in the rotation.

It would be a wise move for the Brewers to bring in the young righty, especially since he is coming off of pitching a gem in Single-A Wisconsin. Davies absolutely dominated, throwing a complete game shutout on only 85 pitches.

Even though it was a Single-A start and he should dominate, it was easily one of Davies’ most impressive minor league starts.

It appears the Brewers are strongly considering removing Guerra from the rotation and the timing lines up perfectly with a return for Zach Davies. Counsell would not say something like that if he wasn’t thinking about removing Guerra from the rotation.

Is there another potential solution to Guerra?

If the Brewers wanted to really make a surprise move, they could decide to designate Guerra for assignment and remove him from the 40 man roster. They could then use that spot to add one of the few breakout performers in the minor leagues. One of Quinten-Torres Costa or Christian Bethancourt could be safe bets to be called up if Milwaukee went in that direction.

However, taking that drastic of a step would be highly unlikely and no one should anticipate something like that happening. The bullpen is a much more realistic solution for Junior Guerra.

No matter which direction the Milwaukee Brewers decide to go, it seems like a good bet that Junior Guerra has made his last start this season.