Milwaukee Brewers: Time to free Jake Petricka?

Other than Josh Hader, Alex Claudio, and Junior Guerra, the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen is not in a good place. Is it time to call San Antonio for reinforcements?

After Saturday night’s disaster against the Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen has three relievers with sub-3.50 ERA’s. It’s still super early in the season, but it might make sense to move a few struggling guys out, and bring a few replacements in for a look.

It was a surprise to see reliever Jake Petricka head to Triple-A after his solid Spring, but that’s a mistake that could be corrected soon.

How did Petricka do in the Spring?

Petricka appeared in 10 games this Spring, and logged a 3.27 ERA. He struck out 13 and walked six. He didn’t allow any homer runs, but he was tagged for four runs, all earned.

It was thought that he did enough to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster, but the Milwaukee Brewers chose to carry Taylor Williams and Alex Wilson.

He’s only made one appearance for the San Antonio Missions in Triple-A, and he was tagged for a pair of runs in one inning of work.

Who needs to go?

Oddly enough, Williams and Wilson are the two most likely to head to San Antonio if / when Petricka gets the call. Both have ERAs over 10.00, and have struggled recently.

Wilson got off to a decent start, and even picked up a save, but his last outing was really hard to watch. The Cubs tagged him for six runs in 1/3 of an inning on Saturday.

Williams has only enjoyed one clean outing in four appearances this year.

Milwaukee Brewers GM David Stearns loves his reliever roulette, and it looks like the first round could happen sooner rather than later. Unless Craig Kimbrel and the Brewers can come to an agreement, the team is stuck with a thinner bullpen last year. Riding hot hands and churning the bottom of the roster can mitigate the lack of depth in the bullpen, but it can’t fix it. Petricka showed that he’s capable of logging innings in a Major League bullpen, and should get a call in the next week or so if Wilson and Williams can’t turn it around.