4 Brewers who could be off the 40-man roster by the trade deadline

The Milwaukee Brewers are approaching the July 31 trade deadline in an excellent position. They hold the best record in baseball, they have a surplus of pitching, and they have a top 10 scoring offense that utilizes a good blend of speed and contact.

The Crew has once again positioned themselves to be buyers at the trade deadline. Adding another bat, whether it be to start at an infield, outfield, or designated hitter position, or to provide depth off the bench, seems likely. The front office could also look to add another reliever to their already strong bullpen. Acquiring a power bat or a lights-out reliever may be the right way to go, but it would spell the end of the road for someone on the 40-man roster.

Here, we look at four Milwaukee Brewers who may be off the 40-man roster by the trade deadline

1. LHP Nestor Cortes

Cortes technically isn't a member of the 40-man roster right now, as he is still on the 60-day injured list. However, Cortes is scheduled to make what is likely his final rehab appearance tonight for the Nashville Sounds (ironically, Cortes will be going up against former Brewer Bryce Wilson in tonight's Triple-A start). Assuming everything goes well, Cortes will likely return to the Brewers’ active roster, and therefore the 40-man roster, early next week.

However, as has been covered extensively throughout the recent deadline talks, Milwaukee has a surplus of pitching, especially starters. Cortes, who was acquired in the Devin Williams trade this off-season, made just two big league starts this year before being shut down by a flexor tendon issue. Even still, Cortes holds trade value, as a proven left-handed veteran pitcher with playoff experience and an expiring contract. To avoid having to remove someone from the 40-man roster in order to make room for Cortes next week, the Brewers could elect to trade Cortes and continue to roll with the rotation of Freddy Peralta, Jacob Misiorowski, Brandon Woodruff, José Quintana, and Quinn Priester that has led them to success over the last two months.

Plenty of contenders are in need of a starting pitcher and would pay a high price for someone like Cortes. The Brewers could net a nice prospect package or even a big-league piece in return for Cortes.

2. 1B/OF Jake Bauers

Bauers is in a tough spot. With his roster spot already in jeopardy, he landed on the 10-day IL 12 days before the trade deadline. When Rhys Hoskins returns to the Brewers lineup in mid-August, Bauers will have to compete with Andrew Vaughn, whose Brewers' tenure is off to an incredible start, and Tyler Black, a former top Brewers' prospect who the team would love to give opportunities to. It's difficult to see where Bauers fits into the future roster picture.

He was off to a solid start this season, but when the opportunities became more scarce, Bauers’ numbers slipped, thus beginning a positive feedback loop that has left Bauers with a .197 batting average in late July.

At this point, it feels like the Brewers can go one of two ways with Bauers in order to open a coveted 40-man roster spot around the deadline. First, they could elect to transfer Bauers to the 60-day IL. He is out with a left shoulder impingement, a lingering injury that will only get better with more rest. While he did receive a cortisone shot a few days ago, as reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, his timeline is unclear. Moving Bauers to the 60-day IL would mean he could return to the Brewers lineup in mid-September at the earliest.

The other option would be to cut ties with Bauers, either in a trade or by designating him for assignment (DFA). It's unlikely the Brewers could get much for Bauers in a trade, but he does have one more year of arbitration eligibility, so an acquiring team that sees something they like in Bauers could take him on with the hopes of him contributing to their squad next year. Regardless of how it happens, with several other options at first base, it feels as if Bauers' time on the Brewers 40-man roster is coming to an end.

3. LHP Bryan Hudson

The idea of the Brewers acquiring a relief pitcher at this year’s trade deadline is starting to pick up steam. The team’s current group of relievers has been overworked through the first four months of the season, and fatigue is likely to start affecting performance if they continue at this pace. However, none of the current big-league relievers are anywhere close to being DFA candidates, so adding another reliever in the next week would likely mean the Brewers parting ways with one of their minor league relief pitchers that is currently on the 40-man roster.

That group includes: Bryan Hudson, Easton McGee, Elvis Peguero, and Craig Yoho. Yoho isn't going anywhere (other than maybe the big leagues in the near future), Peguero has had somewhat of a lost season, but he's been solid in Triple-A, and McGee doesn't have great numbers in the minor leagues, but has been very effective in his three brief stints in the majors this year.

Meanwhile, Hudson, who was a legitimate All-Star candidate a season ago after an incredible start to the season, hasn't found success at either the major or minor league level this season. He holds a 6.65 ERA with the Nashville Sounds and hasn't thrown a big-league pitch since mid-May. It will likely come down to either Hudson or McGee in terms of who the Brewers part ways with to make room for their hypothetical deadline relief pitcher addition, and right now the stats are in McGee's favor.

4. OF Steward Berroa

On July 9, the Brewers acquired Steward Berroa for cash from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The speedy outfielder does not have much big league experience, but he has multiple minor league seasons with 47 or more stolen bases. Back in the day, when active rosters expanded to 40 for the month of September, Berroa would have been the perfect late-season call-up to pinch run in big situations.

However, nowadays, rosters only expand to 28 in September, and with plenty of speed already on the roster, the Brewers likely won't need Berroa's services down the stretch. As such, Berroa is a candidate to be DFA and therefore removed from the Brewers 40-man roster should the team need to open a spot for deadline acquisition.

With other position player DFA options being Oliver Dunn or Andruw Monasterio, both of whom have more big league experience than Berroa and more history in the Brewers organization, it's likely that Berroa is the one on the outside looking in when everything shakes out at this year's deadline.