Brewers: 3 Players Who Could Lose Their 40 Man Roster Spots Soon

We’re nearing the end of spring training and that means some roster shuffling as the Brewers make decisions on who they want to keep around through the 2021 season. For these three players, it may mean they get shuffled out of their roster spot.

The Brewers front office prides itself on accumulating a ton of depth on its 40 man roster. That means a lot of competition and a lot of supply for a very limited amount of spots. For the players that have spots but are near the bottom end of the roster, there’s always a handful of players ready to take that spot immediately.

Having that kind of depth encourages competition and in turn leads to better performances all around.

However, some players haven’t been able to turn in better performances, which means their 40 man roster spots with the Brewers are in jeopardy.

These three players could lose their 40 man spots very soon.

1. C Jacob Nottingham

Barring a last minute injury to either Omar Narvaez or Manny Pina, Jacob Nottingham is practically guaranteed to lose his 40 man roster spot very soon.

Nottingham is out of minor league options and is the 3rd catcher on the depth chart. The Brewers are extremely unlikely to carry a third catcher on the 26 man roster. On top of that, Nottingham had offseason thumb surgery and hasn’t been cleared to catch in games yet. He’s gotten some ABs in spring training as a DH, but that’s it.

The Brewers are taking it slow with Nottingham’s return to catching, partially because the thumb in question is on his glove hand, and one awkward pitch can injure that thumb again.

Nottingham can’t be sent down to the minor leagues again without being put on waivers first, where every team would have a chance to claim him. With other teams still having their rosters in flux and the need for a young, backup catcher is always out there at the end of spring, Nottingham wouldn’t last long on waivers and the Brewers would lose him for nothing. Or they could try to trade him for a low or mid-level prospect, such as they did with Erik Kratz at the end of spring 2019.

But what’s starting to become obvious is that the Brewers don’t want to lose Nottingham, despite the fact that they haven’t given him much of a chance for regular at-bats in the big leagues.

Here’s how this is likely to play out with Nottingham: He gets put on the 10 day IL to start the season, and about two weeks into the season he should be healthy and able to catch games. Then the Brewers will activate him, and if Narvaez and Pina are still both healthy, they’ll try to outright Nottingham to the minors and sneak him through waivers, hoping no one else will put in a claim since everyone should have their catcher situation figured out by that point in the season.

If the plan works, Nottingham is off the 40 man roster, but stays in the organization in Triple-A. Should a rainy day come before Mario Feliciano is ready, then Nottingham can be brought back up. Signing Luke Maile was an insurance policy in case Nottingham got claimed by someone else.

However the situation plays out, Nottingham is very likely to lose his 40 man roster spot in the coming weeks, again barring an injury to Pina or Narvaez.

3. 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach

This is a tough situation for all involved. Daniel Vogelbach is a fan favorite, he’s a clubhouse favorite, and he’s a very good hitter. The Brewers have stated that Vogelbach’s best position is “hitter”, which is great for when you have the DH at your disposal. The Brewers had that last year, but a DH doesn’t appear in the cards for 2021.

With Keston Hiura playing first base full time in 2021, and Travis Shaw being a capable backup with better defense at first base, Vogelbach is really kind of out of options for playing time. On top of that, he’s out of options to the minor leagues.

Despite there not being much of a job for him at first base, the Brewers have been willing to carry extra first basemen in the past.

Jesus Aguilar played his way onto the roster in 2017 with a spectacular spring training, and Ji-Man Choi did the same in 2018, and Choi was the 3rd first baseman on the roster that year.

But with Aguilar and Choi, both of them had strong spring training performances. Aguilar, in 2017, hit .452/.521/.855 with seven homers to force his way on the roster. Choi, in 2018, hit .409/.518/.727 with three homers, 10 walks, and just three strikeouts in the Cactus League.

But Vogelbach, in 2021, is hitting just .250/.400/.464 with one home run. It’s not bad, but it’s not force-your-way-onto-the-roster good.

Vogelbach has never been one to hit for a high batting average, but he did so in the second half of the 2020 season. If he found something there that would lead him to sustained offensive success, the Brewers needed to see it here in spring training to keep his roster spot without a DH. If the DH was here, Vogelbach would be a no-brainer for the roster. Without it, he could be out of a job.

Craig Counsell and David Stearns are still holding out hope there could be a last minute agreement that allows a DH to be used in the National League in 2021, which would allow them to keep Vogelbach. But if that rule change doesn’t arrive, Vogelbach won’t be long for this Brewers 40 man roster.

They could try to stash him after a week or so into the season and sneak him through waivers like they probably will with Nottingham, but Vogelbach likely stands a little higher chance of being claimed on waivers.

These three players are out of minor league options and don’t have a big league job locked up with their spring performances, which puts them in jeopardy of losing their 40 man roster spots with the Brewers very soon.