Could The Return Of DL Hall and Bryan Hudson Spell Trouble For 2 Veteran Players?

Have you ever wanted to be a General Manager or high executive for a Major League Baseball team? If you answered yes, then the odds are that you have played couch GM from your house, with your coworkers, or perhaps with family in the past.

For those that are good problem solvers let's take a look at the conundrum that Milwaukee Brewers GM Matt Arnold is currently in. His current situation, from a bird's eye view, is that he has two pitchers in DL Hall and Bryan Hudson whom have completed rehab assignment and are ready to return to the big leagues.

Here we take a look at various factors as to what may influence who gets the boot from the 40-man roster as well as 26-man active roster as a result of their impending returns.

Factors to take into consideration prior to activating DL Hall and Bryan Hudson

Factor #1: Roster Regulations

First let's take a look at the Brewers current roster situation. Their 40-man roster is full and DL Hall is on the 60-day IL. This means that he is not included within those 40 players, so in order to make room for him, a player on the 40-man roster will have to be removed. If they are activating him to the big leagues that person will also have to be on the current 26-man active roster.

Additionally, Bryan Hudson is in line to simultaneously being activated. He is a member of the 40-man roster but in order to re-join the Brewers a second member of the active roster will have to be removed. Optioning a player to the minor leagues is the "easiest" way to do this.

Currently there are 13 active pitchers on the Brewers roster. Of this group Joel Payamps, Bryse Wilson, and Nick Mears are out of minor league options. Ross has enough MLB service time to refuse an assignment.

Lastly, Milwaukee currently has the maximum number of 13 pitchers on their active roster, so in order to activate both Hall and Hudson two pitchers will have to be removed. A team cannot carry 14 pitchers until September call ups.

One other route Milwaukee could take is to bring Hudson back to the big leagues but not DL Hall. In this case, the Brewers would have to use a minor league option on Hall, but they still would have to give up a 40-man roster spot. The advantage to this is that someone on the IL or in the minor leagues like Rob Zastryny, Kevin Herget, or Tyler Jay could be the roster casualty.

Factor #2: What roles will each pitcher have upon returning?

Another important factor to consider is what role will each pitcher have upon returning to the big leagues. Bryan Hudson has established himself as a high leverage reliever and that will hold true upon his return. DL Hall on the other hand began the year as a starter, is stretched out enough to operate as a starter, but the five man starting rotation is currently full.

Pending an injury or the Brewers electing to remove someone from the starting rotation it seems likely that Hall will operate out of the bullpen with the ability to cover multiple innings if needed. Hall thrived in this role during the Orioles playoff run a season ago and its a role that Bryse Wilson and Joe Ross currently occupy.

How might the Brewers navigate DL Hall and Bryan Hudson's return?

What may make the most sense, if both players are returning to the big leagues, is for DL Hall to take Joe Ross's active and 40-man roster spot and Bryan Hudson to take Hoby Milner's spot. Swapping Hall for Ross would continue to give Pat Murphy two long relief choices. Milner being shipped out also makes sense because he has struggled this year (4.92 ERA) and going forward there would still be three left-handed bullpen options (Hall, Koenig, and Hudson).

It will be interesting to see how the Brewers navigate the returns of DL Hall and Bryan Hudson. Things will only get more complex in the near future when Trevor Megill and Enoli Paredes get healthy enough to return.

Overall this is a good problem for Milwaukee to have and ultimately they cannot keep all of these pitchers.