Brewers surprisingly sign former division-rival pitcher as bullpen takes massive hit

Throw out your bingo card and start over. The Milwaukee Brewers have signed Erick Fedde to a minor league deal ahead of their Wednesday night tilt with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The move comes as part of a disheartening blow to the Brewers' bullpen group, as All-Star closer Trevor Megill has been placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Monday, with a right flexor strain. As noted by Jeff Passan of ESPN, that could mean any number of things, including Megill's postseason readiness being called into question, as flexor strains generally take multiple weeks to heal.

However, the bad news doesn't stop there; Logan Henderson was placed on the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster for Fedde. Since Henderson was placed on the IL on August 8, less than 60 days prior to the end of the season, today's placement on the 60-day IL means his 2025 season is officially over.

Trevor Megill placed on 15-day IL, Erick Fedde signed to a 1-year contract

Starting with Megill. It's a massive blow to the Brewers bullpen, which now effectively gets moved up by one inning. The combination of Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig, and potentially even deadline addition Shelby Miller will now be asked to cover the ninth inning, with Uribe emerging as the leading candidate to assume a traditional closer's role, should Pat Murphy assign it to someone.

Megill worked on back-to-back days twice last week and pitched in three games in four days at the end of it. After blowing just three saves all season, Megill has blown three of his last four opportunities. Even still, the Brewers' All-Star closer holds an impressive 2.54 ERA on the season and a strikeout rate north of 30%. Losing him for what is hopefully only the next two weeks is a significant hit to the Brewers bullpen, but it sounds as if his availability for the postseason is not in jeopardy.

According to Sophia Minnaert, the Brewers' on-field reporter, it appears as if Megill's injury is on the less severe side of things, and he expects to rejoin the Brewers shortly.

Now on to Fedde. Just over a year removed from the Brewers narrowly missing out on Fedde at last year's trade deadline, Milwaukee finally gets their guy, albeit in a very different context. Fedde looked like an intriguing middle-of-the-rotation arm at last year's deadline, but fast forward just 13 months and he is in a very different stage of his career. He's been designated for assignment by the St. Louis Cardinals, the team that won the "Fedde sweepstakes" last July, traded to the Atlanta Braves, and subsequently released after just four starts.

He joins a Brewers team that is desperate for innings from their bullpen group, after sustaining injuries to DL Hall, Grant Anderson, and now Megill over the last two weeks. But Fedde, as he is currently pitching, can't offer much more than low-leverage length out of the Brewers' bullpen as they wait for their internal guys to return from the injured list. However, if the Brewers' pitching lab can "fix" Fedde, who holds a 5.76 ERA on the season, it will be further proof that their pitching department is head and shoulders above the rest of the league.

With the three relievers listed above set to return by mid-September, and Robert Gasser nearing a return to the big leagues after more than a year away, it's possible that Fedde's stint in Milwaukee is a brief one. However, with the Brewers wrapping up a stretch of 19 games in 18 days on Monday, they need innings wherever they can get them right now. Fedde, despite his struggles this season, should be able to at least offer that.

It's certainly a surprising move for the Crew, as Fedde has been written off by much of the baseball world. But desperate times call for desperate measures and Fedde was an effective big league starter as recently as last season. He certainly has the potential to at least provide some rest for the other relievers in the bullpen, which the Brewers desperately need at this point in the season.

UPDATE (3:29 pm CT): According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, Fedde will provide the bulk of the innings in tonight's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, following Aaron Ashby who will serve as an opener. The duo replaces Quinn Priester, who has been scratched from tonight's start with a minor wrist injury. Priester's injury does not require an IL stint and he expects to start this weekend in Toronto, per McCalvy.