Pat Murphy teases the long-awaited return of top Brewers pitching prospect

On Wednesday afternoon, the Milwaukee Brewers officially placed veteran left-hander José Quintana on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 15, with a minor strain of his left calf. For the Brewers, who have enjoyed Quintana's steady contributions all season, it was a difficult development, especially given the fact that Milwaukee is hoping to provide rest for their pitching staff down the stretch, and losing a reliable starter like Quintana will make that much more difficult.

While the move did result in the return of Nick Mears to the active roster, the Brewers are still in need of a pitcher who can fill the bulk innings role void left by Quintana's placement on the injured list. Erick Fedde has done a masterful job of filling in as a multi-inning reliever since joining the squad just before the September 1 deadline that would have made him ineligible for the postseason roster. He's tossed 9.1 innings and allowed just two earned runs since joining Milwaukee's stellar pitching department, including two innings of no-hit baseball in last night's win over the Los Angeles Angels.

In addition to Fedde, the Brewers also have Chad Patrick and Tobias Myers in their bullpen, each of whom has the ability to cover multiple innings or even start games, should the Brewers need a starter to fill in for Quintana down the stretch. They could get away with just four starters the rest of the way, but such a move would not align with the Brewers wanting to give rest to their pitchers in the final two weeks of the regular season.

Luckily for the Brewers, another length option is waiting in Triple-A, and if Pat Murphy's comments are to be believed, he will soon join Milwaukee's big-league roster.

Pat Murphy hints that Robert Gasser will soon join the big-league club

The calls for Robert Gasser's addition to the Brewers' big-league roster have started to grow louder. The 26-year-old southpaw who enjoyed a mini-breakout in 2024 before undergoing Tommy John surgery is currently mowing down hitters in Triple-A. In 32 innings for the Nashville Sounds, Gasser has a 2.25 ERA with 36 strikeouts. The Brewers asked him to convert into a multi-inning reliever for the rest of the season, but he could theoretically provide three or four innings at the beginning of a game if need be.

With Gasser continuing to impress down in Triple-A, and the big-league pitching staff suffering injury after injury, team insiders were quick to ask manager Pat Murphy when fans should expect to see Gasser back in the big leagues. As reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Murphy believes Gasser will be back with the Brewers very shortly.

The question then becomes: who does Gasser replace on the big-league roster? Fedde seemed to be the leading candidate, but after his dominant performance on Wednesday night and Quintana's placement on the IL, the Brewers may be more hesitant to part ways with the veteran starter. Sending Chad Patrick or Tobias Myers down would mean swapping one multi-inning reliever/starter for another, which wouldn't help the Brewers' ability to give rest to their rotation regulars and high-leverage bullpen down the stretch.

Given the fact that the Brewers swapped a length option, Quintana, for a one-inning reliever, Mears, on Wednesday, it would make sense that they go the opposite way in the coming days. If they do choose to do so, having Gasser replace Joel Payamps on the big league roster would make a lot of sense.

Payamps hasn't been terrible since rejoining the Brewers' bullpen on September 3. He’s allowed two earned runs in four innings of work, but Milwaukee would benefit from having a more versatile arm like Gasser on their roster down the stretch. Not only that, but with DL Hall still recovering from a right oblique strain, the team could use another left-hander like Gasser on their pitching staff.

Murphy is a straight-shooter and rarely leads Brewers fans astray, so when he says that Gasser is going to join the big-league roster soon, he's likely telling the truth. For a fanbase that enjoyed Gasser's impressive stretch of outings a season ago, and envisions him as part of their future starting rotation, it's certainly exciting news.