Brewers: What Could Be The Hold Up With The Luke Voit Roster Situation?

Once again, Luke Voit's opt out date for his minor league contract has come and gone without a resolution. In the first iteration, Voit agreed to push back his opt out date to help the Brewers maintain roster flexibility.

He pushed that opt out to Friday, which was yesterday as of this article's publication. Still, he hasn't been officially added to the roster, he's not available to the media, and there's been no word in any direction as to what's happening.

The Brewers told fellow 1B/DH candidate Keston Hiura on Friday that he would not be making the club, seemingly clearing the way for Voit's addition to the roster. Yet it hasn't happened yet. Why.

There could be an external situation holding up the Brewers adding Luke Voit to their active roster beyond his opt out date.

What's likely impacting the Brewers officially adding Voit to the roster is the first base situation in Philadelphia. Rhys Hoskins is now out for the season and there are plenty of at-bats to be had there.

As we've written here at Reviewing the Brew, the Brewers should've immediately placed a call to the Phillies about helping them fill that void with either Keston Hiura or even Luke Voit. While Hiura is the more obvious trade candidate, Voit is the more attractive trade candidate and he likely sees an attractive situation.

The Phillies will have a lot more at bats available for Voit in 2023 than the Brewers will. Rowdy Tellez will be the everyday option at first base and Voit knows he's in a backup role battling for playing time in Milwaukee. In Philly, he's likely an everyday option, at the very least a regular platoon option.

The Brewers are also likely in the process of trying to exercise leverage. They know Voit will have a better opportunity to play over there, they know the Phillies need someone like him, and they know that kind of a need can force a team to overpay. As much as they would love to have Voit on their roster in Milwaukee, if they can get Philadelphia to overpay, they might as well trade him. Voit was a NRI on a minors deal, he cost Milwaukee nothing to get. No one is untouchable, especially a guy like Voit.

With Hiura already out of the picture, if the Brewers move Voit to Philadelphia, then the backup first base job would likely be covered by a combination of Owen Miller and Brian Anderson. Moving Voit would allow the Brewers to roster Miller as well as Brice Turang, both of whom deserve spots, and allow them to roster one of their outfield prospects in Sal Frelick or Joey Wiemer.

If the Brewers can't get a trade to their liking, they can easily just hang on to Voit and keep him on their team and let him mash like he's done all spring. Perhaps as time goes on if Philly doesn't find a first baseman elsewhere and their internal replacement doesn't work out, they might call back with an improved offer.

A resolution should come soon, but the hold up in adding Voit to the Brewers roster likely has a lot to do with the injury to Rhys Hoskins in Philadelphia.

Editor's note: Since this article's publication, it's been revealed that Luke Voit has opted out and will explore his options, but could still return to the Brewers on a major league deal.