Brewers’ decision to carry spring standout on Opening Day roster comes with problems

Every baseball fan loves an underdog story and Milwaukee Brewers infielder Vinny Capra is a great example. Despite coming into camp against roster making favorites like Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and even Cooper Pratt, it has been Capra who captivated Brewers fans this spring thanks to his surge of power that carried him to a tie for the spring lead in home runs.

Brewers fans shouldn't get too excited for Capra just yet. While Capra should be applauded for showing out in camp, expecting him to continue his Babe Ruth impression in 2025 in the big leagues is going to be a massive ask since he only hit eight homers total in Triple-A last year.

Still, it does feel like justice that Capra will be added to the Brewers' Opening Day roster. In an actual position battle, it is nice to see the guy who played the best get the nod. However, Capra winning a spot does come with some issues.

Vinny Capra is a fun story, but the Brewers' roster is in a weird place with him on it

This isn't an indictment of Capra as a player. He earned the spot this spring and should be really useful off of Milwaukee's bench given his positional versatility. The real issue here is the other decisions about the Brewers roster this spring puts a lot of pressure on Capra for his breakout to be real.

If you look at who the Brewers still have in camp, it becomes clear that the Brewers will carry Jake Bauers who stunk last year, can only play first base or DH, but who has had a pretty decent spring. Then you have Milwaukee carrying five outfielders including Isaac Collins who is not a name folks should be excited about, but apparently was good enough in the Brewers' eyes to release Manuel Margot.

See the problem? With the overabundance of outfielders, only Capra can play second, third, or shortstop on the bench and that is with Brice Turang dealing with some injury issues and Oliver Dunn's offense at third being speculative at best.

It is for this reason why so many people thought that Caleb Durbin was going to make the Brewers' roster as insurance against potential problems in the infield. Milwaukee could relatively easily bring Durbin or someone else up to help in a pinch, but then that begs the question of who to send down and what impacts it could have on guys' minor league options down the road.

In an ideal world. Dunn plays well and Turang is completely healthy. In that world, Capra and spell guys here and there while provided an unexpected offensive boost. It just feels like an unnecessary risk to rely so much on him when there were seemingly better and deeper alignments they could have exited camp with.

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